Ducks Don't Get Wet Inquiry

Ducks Don't Get Wet Inquiry

Designed By:  Suzanne Bischoff, Katie Davis, Susan Mendralski, & Cassidy Wilkinson

Age Level: 6-8

Materials Needed

  • Book, The Chick and the Duckling by Mirra Ginsburg
  • Book, Ducks Don’t Get Wet by Augusta Goldin
  • Chart paper
  • Markers
  • Pencils
  • Timer
  • “Ducks Don’t Get Wet” Anticipation Guide & Extended Response Paper (attached)
  • Data Sheet (attached)
  • Feathers (2 per student)
  • Sealable plastic containers (screw on lids recommended) filled 1/3 with water (1 per group of four)
  • Dixie cup filled with 1/4 cup of vegetable oil (1 per group of four)
  • Food Coloring (1 per group of four)
  • Shallow Bowl (1 per group of four)
  • Spray bottle of water (1 per group of four)
  • Pipettes (1 per group of four)

 

Activity Description

(note: this activity, developed as part of the Picture Perfect Workshop, follows the 5Es approach),

ENGAGE

Make Connections: Text-to-Self, Text-to-World, & Think-Pair-Share
1. Show the students the cover of The Chick and the Duckling and introduce the author and
illustrator. Have the students Think-Pair-Share the following questions:
  • Have you ever seen ducks in a lake or pond?
  • What have you noticed about ducks in water?
  • What happens when you spend a lot of time in water?

2. Record student responses on chart paper.
3. Read, The Chick and the Duckling. Discuss what the students noticed was different about the chick
and the duckling.
4. Give the students the “Ducks Don’t Get Wet” Anticipation Guide have them complete the “Before
Reading” column.


EXPLORE

Pass out the Data Sheets and divide students into groups of four.
2. Give each group a sealable container ½ full of water and bottle of food coloring.
3. Ask the students to put 3 drops of food coloring in their containers, reseal the lid, and shake it to
mix the coloring and water.
4. Have the students record and illustrate their observations on their Data Sheet.
5. Give each group 1/3 cup of vegetable oil and have them pour it into their plastic containers, reseal
the lid, and shake the bottle.
6. Have the students record what they observe on the data sheet.
7. Now tell the class to freeze, no one touch the bottle, but just watch what happens to the oil/water
mix. Have the students record their observations.
8. Challenge the students to try to shake the bottle long and hard enough so that the oil dissolves in
the water.

EXPLAIN

Synthesizing, Questioning, Inferring,& Making Connections: Text-to-Text
1. Pull the students back together and discuss the following:
• What did you notice when you put food coloring in the water?
• What did you notice when you put oil in the bottle?
• What happened when you shook the bottle and waited a bit?
• Could you shake the bottle enough to get the oil to dissolve? What happened?
2. Read the book, Ducks Don’t Get Wet by Augusta Goldin. Remind the students to listen for the
questions from the Anticipation Guide.
3. Discuss the class experiment to clarify that oil and water don’t mix.

ELABORATE

Make Connections: Text-to-Text
1. Hold a feather and pose the question, “What would happen if we put this dry feather in water?”
2. Ask the students, “What would happen if we put oil on the feather before we put it in the water?”
3. Pass out 2 feathers per child and shallow bowls of vegetable oil and spray bottles of water to each
group of students.
4. Have them dip their fingers in the oil and pull a dry feather between their oily fingers 2 or 3 times.
5. Once the feather is coated in oil have the students spray the feather once or twice with water.
6. Discuss their observations as a class.
7. Now have the students take a dry feather and spray water directly on it.
8. Discuss their observations as a class.

EVALUATE

Synthesizing, Questioning, Inferring,& Making Connections: Text-to-Text
1. Pose the following questions:
• What happened to the oil coated feather?
• Why did the oiled feather not get wet?
• What happened to the dry feather?
• What does that tell us about ducks?
• In the book, The Chick and the Duckling, why did the chick get wet but the duck did
not?
• Why do ducks have this adaptation, but chickens do not?
2. Have the students get out their “Ducks Don’t Get Wet” Anticipation Guide have them complete
the “After Reading” column.
3. Give students extended response question, “Why don’t ducks get wet?”

INQUIRY PLACE
• Why is it important for ducks to not get wet?
• What are some other adaptations ducks have to survive? Why do they have them?
• Are there any other birds that preen themselves? What kind?
• How often do ducks need to preen themselves?
• What other Ohio animals have adaptations to survive their environments?

Wrap Up


  1. Discuss students’ observations, questions, and hypotheses.
  2. Give students some time to see if they can discover what made the hole inside the acorn.
  3. Pull students back together read and discuss related articles (see articles section).
  4. Try opening acorns to see if any of the larvae can be found. There are two methods to test for larvae; the bounce method and the water method.

Teacher Comments

My class was very curious about the holes that were in some of the acorns. They found it fascinating to learn about the acorn weevil and the other animals that rely on the acorn as a food source. I used this as a way to introduce food chains and food webs. My kids really liked testing acorns to see whether or not any of the acorns would bounce. We were hoping to see weevil larvae when we opened some of the acorns, but were not successful. It would have been nice to try the float or sink method to see if we would have had success finding some larva that way.