Posts Tagged With: vocabulary

SCIENCE WORD OF THE WEEK!

Hello students and welcome to class this fine Monday! I hope you have had a wonderful weekend! I hear that Ellie and Edmond are heading to South America this week! That should be so exciting! I bet they will see some animals with prehensile tails! Prehensile is our word of the week too!

Prehensile (prē-ˈhen(t)-səl, –ˈhen-ˌsī(-ə)l): the ability to grab or hold something by wrapping around it.

Most of us think of tails when we think of prehensile limbs- such as monkeys (only monkeys that live in Central and South America have prehensile tails). Other appendages and body parts can be prehensile too- like a giraffe’s tongue or the lip of a black rhino. One of my favorite example of prehensile body part is Ellie’s trunk! The two proboscides (the lip like projections on an elephants trunk) are prehensile; they are capable of picking up a single blade of grass! Wow- who knew! Can you think of other animals who have prehensile body parts, like the panther chameleon below?

SCIENCE WORD OF THE WEEK!

Welcome to class students! Last week we learned about the adaptation camouflage; this week we’re learning about hibernation- an adaptation that some animals have to help them survive winter when resources may be scarce.

Hibernation: a state of rest when animal’s heart rate and breathing slows and their body temperature drops. Animals like black bears hibernate during the winter because the food they eat (nuts and berries) are not present during the cold months. Bears will eat as much as they can to store fat before hibernating. They use very little energy during the period of hibernation. Some bats, fish, badgers and some rodents. Some of these animals don’t store enough fat so their hibernation is a lighter state of sleep, so they can wake up and eat.

SCIENCE WORD OF THE WEEK!!

We’re back from our summer break! We hope everyone had a lovely holiday weekend here in the states and a great regular one for international friends! We’re recharged and ready to learn! This week’s word is:

CAMOUFLAGE: an animal’s appearance allows them to blend in with their surroundings.  Camouflage can take on different forms, with size, shape, texture and most often color. Camouflage is a defense mechanism that allows animals to hide from predators. It can also be used to help conceal ambush predators while they wait for their prey! Do you have camouflage to blend in with your surroundings? See if you can spot the animals in the pictures!

SCIENCE WORD OF THE WEEK!

Welcome back to class everyone! We hope you celebrated World’s Oceans Day with Ellie and Edmond yesterday! If not, make sure you check out the post and the coloring sheet! Today’s word is a big one- so let’s get ready to learn!

Today’s word is Biology: the study of living things. This includes all five kingdoms of living things on our planet. Those are animals, plants, fungus, protista (single and mutilcellular algae and flagella and monera (single and colonial bacteria and blue-green algae). Whew that is a mouth full. Biologists- the scientist who study living things specialize in all of these different kingdoms. Some biologist study one kind of fungus or just one species of animal, where others study whole groups! Biology is one of the best kinds of sciences out there!  Do any of our students want to be biologist?

SCIENCE WORD OF THE WEEK!!

We hope everyone here in the U.S. had a lovely holiday yesterday! I know I enjoyed relaxing at the University pool with ant snacks and Ellie and Edmond were at the beach! It’s time for us to get back to class today! Ellie and Edmond picked today’s word since they were at the beach! They saw crabs, sea birds and some dolphins! All of those animals live in or near water!

Aquatic: an animal that lives in or near water! There are many animals who call the worlds oceans and bodies of fresh water their homes. Many of those animals like fish must live in water to survive. Other animals like aquatic turtles and frogs may only spend part of their lives in water! Do you have a favorite aquatic animal? I really like sawfish!

SCIENCE WORD OF THE WEEK!!

We’re so happy to be back here in class today! We’ve been having trouble with the computers here at the University- so that is why there has been a lack of posts from your favorite elephant and horse! They’ll be back in full swing tomorrow with World Turtle Day!

Last week we learned about animals that live in trees, today we’re learn about animals that live on the ground.

Terrestrial (tə-ˈres-t(r)ē-əl): animals or plants that live on or in the land. Many insects, animals and loads of plants call the ground their home. These creatures can not or do not climb. They find shelter in bushes, burrows or vegetation.  Can you think of any terrestrial animals? I can think of two!

That’s right- horses and elephants are terrestrial animals! Because of their size and hoofed feet they run and live on the land! They have been known to take the occasional dip in water too! Hahaha!

SCIENCE WORD OF THE WEEK!

It’s time for class here at the University! Is everyone ready? Let’s take our seats and talk about animals who live in the trees!

Our word of the week is ARBOREAL: (ärˈbôrēəl) animals that live in trees. Many different animals live on or amongst trees, such as insects, primates, birds and reptiles. Trees provide shelter and food for all these animals. Each animal lives in a different part of the tree. Some animals build nests in trees, like birds and orangutans. Others live in hollow holes. And still some animals live on the leaves. Trees make a wonderful habitat!

SCIENCE WORD OF THE WEEK!

Welcome to class this week, students! We’re ready to learn here at University of E&E. Are you ready for today’s word?

Last week we learned about insectivores like me! Today we are talking about frugivores!

Frugivores (froo-juh-vawr, -vohr) : animals who eat mostly fruit as their main diet.

Can you think of any frugivores? I know one- orangutans! These large arboreal great apes love their fruit and spend a large part of the day looking for and consuming their favorites when they are in season!