Dissecting Owl Vomit to Connect Fiction to Real World

"Are those brains?" asked 6th grader Alyssa Scales.

"How many skulls did this guy eat?" followed classmate Carson Johnson.

Students in Jennifer Craig's 6th-grade class have been reading Frightful's Mountain by Jean Craighead George. A student question about a passage describing an owl unable to eat because it hadn't expelled its pellet prompted the class to dig into the issue - literally.

Armed with tweezers, a reference guide and strong stomachs the students dissected owl vomit to see what was inside. They found ribs, skulls and other material to show what kind of rodents and other smaller creatures owls ate.

Photo of students dissecting owl pellet


"My best friend doesn't actually think we're doing this but when you walk into the class, you see," said Johnson.

When students found body parts in the pellets thats' when the real work began. They had to identify what kind of part it was and what kind of animal it belonged to.

"I hope they realize there is a connection between reading about nature and real life," said Craig. "The world around them is very real and they need to get that experience that is memorable, too."

So just how does real life compare to fiction?

"They make it sound less gross in the book," said 6th grade student Parker O'Connor.

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