Miss Florin's Third Grade Class
Clinton Avenue Elementary School
Port Jefferson Station, New York

MYSTERY ROCKS

The students in Miss Florin's class had a great time opening up their "mystery rocks" and trying to figure out what they were. Here's what they had
to say:

Today we did a very fun experiment. Miss Florin gave us a Mystery Rock. It was an owl pellet. We took it apart. A pellet is an owl throw-up. I had fun doing the pellet experiment. I found a meadow vole. I found its skull, jaw, butt bone, its ribs, its cervical vertebrae, and its scapula.
By John P.

I had fun opening up the owl pellets. I got a shrew and a meadow vole. I had
fun sorting the pieces out. It was very interesting. I tried to put the bones together but I didn't have enough pieces to. Owl pellets are things that owls spit out. It has the things that the owl couldn't digest.
By Glenn N.

I got to open up owl pellets. It was a little disgusting. Miss Florin said it was a rock. I was wondering where she got that rock from. Owl pellets are the stuff that owls spit out after they eat. They spit it out because they eat food whole. Inside the owl pellets, there were a few bones. The animal it eats is a mole. After we found all of the bones, we got a paper with a diagram of all the bones. We put it together. I found a head.
By Brian D

When we opened the owl pellets, I found the skull of a meadow vole. It was really gross! I found the claw too. That was cool! I saw all the fur. The owl spits that up because when it eats something it can't digest the bones, so it spits it up.
By Dominick P.

I did a project with my class. We first needed to make a prediction of what it was. It was owl pellets. We needed to open it. We found bones of voles. Some people found bones of rats and mice. Mine was a vole. A vole is like a mole. It was hard trying to put it together.
By Carl R

Sweetbriar Nature Center In-school Field Trip

Two wonderful "owl experts" came to Miss Florin's class to talk all about owls. They also brought some real live owls with them for us to see.  It was very exciting. Below, see some of the letters Miss Florin's students wrote to Sweetbriar to tell them what they learned and liked.

CINQUAIN OWL POEMS

Owl
Snowy, white
Flying, eating, swooping
Cold in the Arctic
Meat-eater

By Brian L

Great-horned Owl
Feathery, brown
Flying, swooping, gliding
Hunts at night bravily
Bird

By Brittany S

Barn Owl
Screecing, swift
Flying, catching, swooping
Owls fly very silently
Whoooing

By Michael C.

Owl
Screeching, reddish-brown
Flying, swooping, gliding
Very scary, sneaky bird
Bird of prey

By Ariana M.

OWL FACTS

Miss Florin's students each researched their own owl that lives on Long Island. Below you will see some of the interesting facts they learned about their owls.

The screech owl lays its eggs high in a tree so nothing will eat them.  They
change color from reddish to grayish. Their eyes are big and round.  Their
feet are shaped like stars. They have tufts on their heads. The male is
smaller than the female. The babies learn to fly when they're two months old. The babies are white when they're born.
By James L.

Short-earred Owl

The short-earred owl is yellowish and white, and it has black around its eyes. Its wings are longer than other owls. The short-earred owl eats small rodents and birds and field mice. Its habitat is in the open country, the open field and the weedy fields. It lives in North America. The owlets are covered with feathers called down.
By Christina I.

Great-horned Owl

My owl is the Great-horned owl. It can turn its head almost all the way around. When it swoops down with its legs shooting forward, it very seldomly misses the mark (its prey). The baby owl's feathers are called down.  The horns look like ears but they're not.
By Samantha C

Did you know that owls have keen eyesight?
Did you know that owls have keen hearing?
Did you know that owls fly silently?
Did you know that owls have a heart shaped head?
Did you know that owls can see in the dark?
Did you know that owls can turn their head almost all the way around?
Did you know that owls live in tree holes?
Did you know that their are many different species or kinds of owls?
Did you know that when they are born they are white?
Did you know that owls camouflage with their surroundings?
These are a lot of interesting facts about owls.
By Nikki B.

Whoowy: Hi, I'm Whoowy and this is my friend Screecher. Even though we are a different species, we are best friends. I am a great-horned owl. He is a screech owl.

Screecher: We are looking at a short-earred owl's nest.

Whoowy: Wait Screecher, we don't want to get too close.

Screecher: Look, here comes the mother.

Whoowy: The mother is feeding the babies worms and mice.

Screecher: Cool! Let's go home Whoowy. I'm tired.

Whoowy: We don't want to go that way. Their mother might try to attack us, and think we are trying to take their babies.

By Richard L

Fiction Owl Stories

One night, way past my bedtime, I went owling. I had to go in the scary
woods. Then I started going, "Whoo! Whoo! Whoo!" That's how you call owls. An owl heard me. When I saw it, it was eating a mouse. That's because
they eat rodents. They are also swift my dad said. I like owls - especially the barn owl. I can't wait until I go owling again so I can learn more
about them. Also, most owls are nocturnal which means they sleep in the day and hunt in the night.
By Natalie R.

The Owl in the Barn

Once when my mon, dad, sister, and I were on vacation, my dad and I went for a walk. We saw an old barn. We looked in to see if there were any sheep inside. Instead a barn owl flew out! It had a heart shaped face. It
was mostly ornage and brown. There was a big rat crawling nearby. The owl ate it. It flew back in the barn. When I looked in, I saw one fly away, get a
rat and feed it to the baby. When it was flying, it was very swift. I felt brave.
By Elizabeth S