Today, the 1st graders learned some of the ins and outs of being a wildlife biologist! They started by learning that words can often be broken into smaller chunks to figure out their meaning. 

bio=life

ology=the study of

ist=someone who

They learned that wildlife biologists study how animals interact with their environment. They also learned that an adaptation is a behavioral or physical feature that helps a plant or animal survive in their environment. They practiced identifying adaptations of lots of animals.

The 1st graders also drew connections between their understanding of adaptations and inventions by learning about biomimicry, or copying plant and animal adaptations to improve human life. They played a matching game and learned about all sorts of biomimicry projects such as honeycomb-inspired army tires, a kingfisher-inspired bullet train, and boxfish-inspired car!

We finished the day by video chatting Dr. Rachel Stein from the University of Idaho (okay, she officially graduates on Saturday...) Dr. Stein is one of my graduate school classmates and a wildlife biologist! The 1st graders practiced asking relevant questions and follow-up questions and couldn't get enough of hearing about her work with pigmy rabbits, bats, and other small mammals. Thanks for taking time to talk to us, Dr. Stein!!