Mr. Salsich's Class
Third Grade Explorations in Learning
Sep
19
Classroom of Chameleons
In science we are studying habitats and adaptations.
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- A habitat is the place and conditions where a plant or animal lives.
- An adaptation is the way an animal’s body (or its behavior) help it survive in its habitat.
We did an activity to learn about one of the chameleon’s special adaptations – its amazing tongue. Here is a video about the activity and what we learned:
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A few of the other cool adaptations that chameleons have are:
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They can rotate and focus their eyes separately to look at two different things at the same time! Then they can focus both eyes on their target.
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Chameleons can change the colors and patterns of their skin. They do this mostly to communicate and “talk” with other chameleons. Changing their colors also helps them to camouflage, or blend into, their surroundings.
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Their five toes are split into two groups (like a thumb and fingers) so they can hold onto branches easily.
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Chameleons have “prehensile” tails. This means their tails can wrap around and grip onto things like branches.
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Here are some excellent videos of chameleons in action from the “Arkive” website.
And here is a link to more information about chameleons from the San Diego Zoo.
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September 19th, 2012 at 1:01 pm
Dear Mr. Salsich’s Class,
This is a great view into your classroom. I’m forever telling people about the great things you do. I’m just getting back into blogging again and I’ve been thinking about the post you did some while ago about the ‘blubber mit’ and polar bears, I bet you guys would love it and it’s about adaptations.
I’d like the skill of changing my colour to blend in … it’s hard to hide as a principal!
I wonder if you get to see Chameleons in the wild? My sister lives in Belize so she might. In England chameleons are so good at hiding … nobody has ever seen one!
Mr E
Hawes
England
September 19th, 2012 at 4:53 pm
Dear Mr. Salsich,
The chameleon video was very cool. The coolest part was when “Mr. W” caught the fly. It was even cooler in slow motion. That was a very clever idea to put that part in slow motion.
Your student,
Piper
September 19th, 2012 at 5:36 pm
Dear Mr. Salsich’s Class,
What a terrific hands-on chameleon activity! You will all always remember how the chameleon uses its tongue to catch insects. I will always remember that the chameleon’s tongue is as long as its body after seeing one of your classmates showing the long red paper tongue. It was a great visual.
Wouldn’t it be great if human eyes worked in the same way that the chameleons do? Having a 360 degree view of the world would be interesting!
Thank you for an outstanding blog,
Nora’s Grandmother
September 19th, 2012 at 6:26 pm
Dear Mr.Salsich,
The chameleon activity was amazing!
I thought it was fun trying to be a chameleon!
I think I would like to change different colors, because then people would know what I was feeling the second I turned that color!
Your Student,
Sandy
September 20th, 2012 at 8:19 pm
Dear Mr.Salsich,
The chameleon activity was very fun and I learned a lot from it. Like, that the chameleon’s tongue could catch prey faster than a blink of an eye.
I definetly would love if I could change color instead of talking.
Yours Truly,
Ivy
September 21st, 2012 at 10:50 pm
Mr. Salsich,
What an outstanding hands-on learning activity. Piper has taught her family quite a lot about adaptations the last few days.
We are excited to get a “glimpse” of all the interesting topics the students will be learning in the future.
Fantastic blog! Wonderful video capturing students at their best, learning and enjoying themselves at the same time!
Kindly,
Piper’s Mom
September 22nd, 2012 at 11:23 am
Dear Mr. Salsich,
I really like when “Mr. B” and “Miss I” were doing the chameleon thing to show how long the tongue is.
From,
Kali
September 27th, 2012 at 5:38 pm
Dear Kali,
I agree, I also liked it when Mr. B and Miss. I were doing that part of the video.
Your friend
Alicia
December 28th, 2012 at 4:39 pm
Dear Alicia,
It was funny when Mr. B held it up.
From,
Kali
September 23rd, 2012 at 1:23 pm
Dear Mr. Salsich,
I loved the chameleon activity. It was really fun. My favorite part of the video was when “Mr. W” hit the “bug” in slow motion. What was your favorite part?
Sincerely,
Nora
September 24th, 2012 at 10:50 am
Dear Nora,
Thank you for the wonderful comment! I agree that the part where “Mr. W” caught the “bug” was very cool. It is hard for me to pick one favorite part, because I thought the whole video was awesome. I did like the slow motion parts a lot though.
Your teacher,
Mr. Salsich
September 25th, 2012 at 7:53 pm
Dear Mr. Salsich,
I think all of the slow motion parts were awesome. I also liked the part when Miss I and Mr B held up the chameleon’s tongue that was as long as it’s body.
Sincerely,
Brendan
September 27th, 2012 at 6:02 pm
Dear Mr. salsich
I really liked the part of the video when Mr. W caught the fly in slow motion. It was pretty cool the first time, but the second time in slow motion was awesome! Keep up the good work!
your friend,
Alicia
September 27th, 2012 at 6:17 pm
Dear Mr. Salsich,
I really like the video.
from,
Kali