Visit to Cape Horn-Skye Elementary School

On Tuesday, May 17, members of the Admin team visited two of Cape Horn-Skye First grade classes. There were approximately 48-50 students that participated in Fish Prints, and Owl Pellet discovery. Donna Allard introduced the team and proceeded with a video of “Bats”. Immediately the children were enticed. We split both of the classes into two groups, while one went to Fish Prints others delved into the Owl Pellets and vice versa.


I was in a separate classroom where I had laid out little foil-wrapped Owl Pellets along with little skewers to start digging away at them. The children were initially grossed out by the looks of the pellets (they were brown and truthfully they did NOT look like a pellet but as one of the children so quickly pointed out and said with a scowl on his face, "it looks like 'poop'! We discussed what bones of what critters may be found that the Owls may have devoured and regurgitated. Donna had provided an overhead transparency of the bones of a vole. After looking at what bones may be found, the children began to poke open the pellets and discovered the numerous little bones.


They found a lot of little skulls that still had the yellow teeth of a vole. One of the children found a head of a little bird as we saw a beak. The children gathered their bones and put them into a little baggy to take home to show their siblings or parents. Some were able to take the whole pellet home to do further discovery. Many children were so taken by their findings that they shared bones with fellow classmates. They were very pleased with their findings.

It was an enjoyable yet very busy morning for both of the classes; we enjoyed getting away from the office to share a little bit of what wildlife is out there. We later received wonderful and creative “Thank-you” cards depicting what they liked the most. That is what made the whole thing worth it!

Submitted by Mary McGrew