Study The Rabbit

European Rabbit.

       The  rabbit  is  a  small  rodent  of  the  family  Leporidae - the  same  family  to which  the  hare  belongs.  The  short  fore  legs  have  five  toes  or  digits,  while  on the  long  hind  legs  there  are  only  four.  It  is  smaller  than  the  hare,  and  has shorter  ears  and  hind  legs.  Rabbits  are  so  prolific  that  they  may  become  a pest  as  they  have  in  Australia.  Hares  and  rabbits  differ  from  squirrels, beavers  rats,  mice,  and  other  members  of  the  rodent  family,  in  having  an extra,  though  useless,  pair  of  cutting-teeth  in  the  upper  jaw.   

Required for Compare/Contrast Observation: A live pet rabbit and cat for comparison to each other in the classroom. 

• The first meeting of a cat and rabbit by The Fluffiest

Method of Student Observation:

• Compare and contrast the fur, tail and legs of a cat to a rabbit.
• The rabbits legs are adapted for leaping, on the account of the unequal lengths of their legs. Rabbits cannot walk well.
• Compare the claws of a cat to the rabbit. The claws of a rabbit are not sharp because these are not protected in the way that the claws on a cat are.
• Compare the ears of the cat to the rabbit.
• Observe that the eyes on either side of the head allow a rabbit to see behind its self without turning its head.
• Contrast the teeth of the cat; and note that there are no sharp conical teeth like those of the flesh-eating mammals.
• Show that the rabbit's teeth are not adapted for tearing, but for biting and mastication. The rabbit does not bolt its food like the cat.
  

How to Grade Study Notes For Student Journals: Every student will need a journal to write in weekly for this online nature study series. Teacher will assign the weekly content in advance.

• Make sure the facts are: written in complete sentences, the first word of each sentence capitalized, and a period should be included at the end of each sentence.
• Spell check your vocabulary and write the words correctly.
• Dress up your journal entries with student clip art, drawings of your own in color or in black and white.
• Student may also include photographs of their own taking for extra credit.

Look for the following facts about rabbits inside of student journals. Assign a point value to the quality of the content.

• Structure of a rabbit. It's fur is soft  and  thick. It's tail is short. It's legs in front are short and it's hind legs are long and powerful.
• The rabbit's feet have distinct toes, which are provided with claws; but the claws are not retractile.
• Rabbit's ears are long and can be moved to collect sound from different points of origin.
• Rabbits eyes are very prominent and located at the sides of it's head.
• Rabbits front teeth are sharp for cutting and biting. Their back teeth are for grinding.
• The habits of rabbits include frequent cleaning of it's fur and biting food with front teeth, chewing food with the back.
• Sometimes people eat rabbit or save it's fur for clothing, particularly in the past. 
  

Video at Youtube for Students to Watch:

1. Rabbits versus Cats: Which pet is better? by Sincerely, Cinnabun
2. Meet the giant Flemish rabbits by Jeff the Nature Guy
3. Cocoa Puff has the best family by The Dodo 

The Art Lessons associated with rabbits from my Easter blog may be completed for this assignment are linked to below. Remember the important features of a rabbit when working on the projects. The eyes are located on the sides of the head, rabbits have long ears at the top of their heads and their front legs are shorter than their back ones.

• Stencil rabbits eating clover and then color  - for 3rd through 4th grades
  
• Positive and negative bunnies - paper cutting project and poem about Binny and Bunny - for 1rts through 2nd grades
• Doodle a design that includes a rabbit . . . - for 5th and 6th graders
• Draw a bunny step-by-step - for first through 3rd grade
  

Extended Learning Content: 

• Animal Intelligence - article
  
• Craft a rabbit ring toss game
• Cottontail Rabbits - article

Free Student Clip Art: Clip art may be printed from a home computer, a classroom computer or from a computer at a library and/or a local printing service provider. This may be done from multiple locations as needed because our education blog is online and available to the general public.

Anatomy of a rabbit: skull, teeth, tail, legs, eyes and ears.

The Power of Music

Music can be powerful magic.

        One Sunday evening, five choristers were walking on the banks of a river; after some time, being tired with walking, they sat down on the grass, and began to sing an anthem. The field on which they sat was terminated at one extremity by a wood, out of which, as they were singing, they observed a hare to pass with great swiftness towards the place where they were sitting, and to stop at about twenty yards' distance from them. She appeared highly delighted with the harmony of the music, often turning up the side of her head to listen with more facility. As soon as the harmonious sound was over, the hare returned slowly towards the wood; when she had nearly reached the end of the field, the choristers began the same piece again; at which the hare stopped, turned round, and came swiftly back to about the same distance as before, where she seemed to listen with rapture and delight, till they had finished the anthem, when she returned again by a slow pace up the field, and entered the wood.

Paper Cuts of Farm Animals

        Below, I have restored a few paper farm animals: horse, cow, goat, duck, rooster, sheep, dog, bunny, pig and cat. These may be freely used by students and teachers for the classroom. Silhouettes on my blog are not to be redistributed by alternative websites and are not meant to be sold or purchased.

These paper cuts of animals found on the farm would make great design
elements in a classroom or any other art project a young
student might need them for.

The Snow Storm

 The Snow-Storm
by Anne M. Cooper

It is fun to sit in the window-seat,
When all outdoors is snow and sleet,
For everywhere I look I see
Things that are n't what they seem to be.

The fence-posts, each with a cap of snow,
Look like soldiers all in a row;
While just over there, the kitchen pump
Looks like a rabbit about to jump.

Down by the gate, that tall white ghost
Is really only the hitching-post;
While under the tree, that polar bear
Is only our rustic chair.

St. Patrick's Day Silhouettes

       I will collect for this post, those few St. Patrick's Day paper cuts that I happen across in the archives. So far there are: angelic harps, a vintage pipe with shamrocks and a rabbit nibbling on a piece of clover.

St. Patrick Silhouettes for the classroom and child paper crafts.

Wildlife Stencils for The Classroom

Stencil of bird in flight with out-stretched wings.

    Be sure to click directly on the stencils in order to download the largest file size. These four wildlife stencils for educators to use in their classrooms are duty free: bluebird, jay, running rabbit and a squirrel holding an acorn.

Stencil of a jay sitting on the limb of a tree.

Stencil of a running rabbit or hare.

Stencil of a squirrel holding a hazel nut.

6 Books to Celebrate Valentines Day

6 Books to warm your child's heart is the days leading up to Valentine's Day!

Mamma, Do You Love Me? by Barbara M. Jones. Set in the arctic, a little girl tests the boundaries to see just how much her mother really loves her... and it's a love without end or limits.

Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney. Can you measure how much you love someone? It can be hard to do... even harder to put into words as this father and son rabbit discover.

Happy Valentines Day, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff. Mouse is busy at work making valentines to share with each of his friends to tell them exactly why he loves them.

The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams. The classic tale of a little stuffed rabbit who dreams of nothing else but to be real. He learns though that becoming real is a process that requires a great deal of love, and sometimes love brings heartache... but equally, joy!

The Valentines Bears by Eve Bunting. This bear couple cut their hibernation season short to celebrate Valentine's day with each other, a jar of honey saved from summer, and other surprises for each other. (Update: see how we used this book in our classroom to practice making inferences here.)

How Raggedy Ann Got Her Candy Heart by Johnny Gruelle. After a disastrous flight high up on a kite, Raggedy Ann gets a thorough cleaning up, and a special gift of a candy heart.

Animal Intelligence

       It is generally known that many animals possess in a greater or less degree the same senses that we ourselves have: sight, hearing, smell, touch, temperature and so on and that many of them experience such emotions as: anger, grief and joy; but it is not by any means so certain that they have even the elements of reason as we understand that term.

       The sense of touch in man is keenest in the finger tips, the lips and the tip of the tongue. In the lower animals the regions of greatest sensitiveness are often different, and in some animals special and very delicate touch organs have been developed; as, for example, the whiskers of the eat and the long hair on the rabbit's lip, by means of which these animals can readily find their way in the densest darkness. The wing of the bat is also very sensitive to touch.

       In man the sense of taste is keen and resides in the taste bulbs which cover the tongue and palate. In birds and reptiles the sense of taste is not very well developed. Insects recognize the difference between sweet and bitter, but do not seem to be affected by other flavors. Many animals show an instinctive dislike for certain foods, but it may be more from the sense of smell than from taste, for the two are very closely allied.

       In some animals the sense of smell is exceedingly acute. The dog can track his master through the crowded street; the deer recognizes the presence of an enemy very quickly. But birds have little sense of smell, and reptiles also are dull in this respect. Fish differ; it is said that the shark is almost entirely dependent on his sense of smell for his food. In insects this sense is most keenly developed.

       Most of the mammals and the birds have a keen sense of hearing. The astonishing manner in which some birds will imitate the songs of other birds testifies to the accuracy of their hearing; but fishes hear little, though it has been proved that they can hear to some extent. Certain insects hear and can distinguish sounds that are pitched higher than the human ear is able to recognize.

       The keenness of vision possessed by birds is most remarkable. The swift, flying high through the air, detects on the ground its minute food. The eagle sees his prey from long distances entirely beyond the range of the human eye. Some animals, such as frogs and toads, have keen vision only at short range, and fish seem to be entirely unable to distinguish prey at any great distance from themselves. It is known that certain insects distinguish between colors.

       That the higher animals have memory is very certain; a puppy, having been stung by a bee, will ever after avoid the insect, and may even flee at the sound of its humming. Dogs are known to have recognized their masters after years of absence, and they have been known to show strong resentment after many years against an individual who mistreated them.

       Animals certainly draw inferences from what they see, but apparently in purely instinctive manner. The best writers seem to doubt whether an animal can put together different facts and establish a conclusion. The extent to which the intelligence of animals goes in this direction, however, is a subject of dispute. Some writers maintain that animals really teach their young; others protest that nothing of the sort is ever done - that the actions of a bird in throwing her young from the nest are purely instinctive, and not with any thought of the young birds' welfare. Many modern writers have taken a different stand and have written exceedingly interesting accounts and imaginative histories of many animals.

• How Smart Are Animals? 
• What makes an animal clever? Research shows intelligence is not just about using tools
• Of all the animals on the Earth, these 15 are the smartest...

Egg Hunt Silhouettes and Vintage Coloring

A little girl and the Easter bunny hide eggs in straw nests.

A little girl dumps dyed eggs from a large pot at the feet of the Easter bunny.

The Easter bunny paints eggs while a little girl collects them in her basket.

We're all dressed up and on our way,
To church, first thing on Easter day

Color a vintage picture of children going to church.

Easter Index/ Previous Page/ Index Page

The Story of Easter Eggs

The Story of Easter Eggs

by Christoph Von Shmid

       Many hundred years ago, a good and noble lady, Duchess Rosilinda von Lindenburg, at a time when a cruel war was devastating the land, was obliged to fly from her beautiful home accompanied only by her two little children and one old manservant.

       They found refuge in a small mining village in the mountains, where the simple but contented and happy inhabitants did what they could for their comfort, and placed the best of all they had at the disposal of the wanderers. Nevertheless, their fare was miserable: no meat was ever to be found, seldom fish, and not even an egg; this last for the very good reason that there was not a single hen in the village! These useful domestic fowls, now so common everywhere, were originally brought from the East, and had not yet found their way to this secluded place. The people had not even heard of such "strange birds." This troubled the kind duchess, who well knew the great help they are in housekeeping, and she determined that the women who had been so kind to her should no longer be without them.

       Accordingly, the next time she sent forth her faithful old servant to try and gather news of his master and of the progress of the war, she commissioned him to bring back with him a coop full of fowls. This he did, to the great surprise of the simple natives, and the village children were greatly excited a few weeks later at the appearance of a brood of young chickens. They were so pretty and bright, were covered with such a soft down, were so open-eyed, and could run about after their mother to pick up food the very first day, and were altogether such a contrast to the blind, bald, unfledged, helpless, ugly little birds they sometimes saw in nests in the hedges, that they could not find words enough to express their admiration.

       The good lady now saved up eggs for some time, then invited all the housewives of the village to a feast, when she set before them eggs cooked in a variety of ways. She then taught them how to prepare them for themselves, and, distributing a number of fowls among them, sent the dames home grateful and happy.

       When Easter approached, she was anxious to arrange some pleasure for the village children, but had nothing to give them," not even an apple or a nut," only some eggs; but that, she concluded, was, after all, an appropriate offering, "as an egg is the first gift of the reviving spring." And then it occurred to her to boil them with mosses and roots that would give them a variety of brilliant colors," as the earth," said she, "has just laid aside her white mantle, and decorated herself with many colors ; for the dear God makes the fruit and berries not only good to eat, but also pleasant to look upon," and the children's pleasure would be all the greater.

Easter Blessings

       Accordingly, on Easter Sunday, after the church service, all the little ones of about the age of her own met together in a garden; and, when their kind hostess had talked to them awhile, she led them into a small neighboring wood. There she told them to make nests of moss, and advised each to mark well his or her own. All then returned to the garden, where a feast of milk-soup with eggs and egg-cakes had been prepared. Afterward they went back to the wood, and found to their great joy in each nest five beautiful, colored eggs, and on these a short rhyme was written.

       The surprise and delight of the little ones when they discovered a nest of the gayly colored treasures, was very great, and one of them exclaimed: "How wonderful the hens must be that can lay such pretty eggs! How I should like to see them!"

       "Oh! no hens could lay such beautiful eggs," answered a little girl, " I think it must have been the
little hare that sprang out of the juniper bush when I wanted to build my nest there."

       Then all the children laughed together, and said, "The hares lay colored eggs! Yes, yes! the dear little hares lay the beautiful eggs!" And they kept repeating it till they began really to believe it.

       Not long afterward the war ended, and the Duke Amo von Lindenburg took his wife and children back to their own palace; but before leaving the Duchess set apart a sum of money to be expended in giving the village children every Easter a feast of eggs. She instituted the custom also in her own duchy, and by degrees it spread over the whole country, the eggs being considered a symbol of redemption or deliverance from sin. The custom has found its way even to America, but nowhere out of the Vaterland are the eggs laid by the timid hare.

       To this day children living in the country go to the woods just before Easter, and return with their arms full of twigs and moss, out of which they build nests and houses, each child carefully marking his own with his name. They are then hidden behind stones and bushes in the garden, or, if the weather be cold, in corners, or under furniture in the house. And on Easter morning what an excitement there is to see what the good little hare has brought! Not only real eggs boiled and colored but sugar ones too, and often wooden ones that open like boxes, disclosing perhaps, a pair of new gloves or a bright ribbon. 

• Helpful Hints for Painting and Dyeing Easter Eggs
• The Paschal Greetings Easter Egg
• Origins of The Easter Hare

Draw an Easter Egg to Look Like a Little Man!

Above is our example of a funny face on an Easter Egg. You can copy this little man too!

 

It's always fun
At Easter time
To paint up eggs
With dots and lines.

And many shades
From blue to brown;
Then set them standing
All around.

To see who's fixed
The cleverest egg,
And who has mixed
The nicest shade.

       Did you know that of all Easter customs, the use of Easter eggs is the most universal? This is also of pagan origin, the egg having been considered a symbol of immortality by the ancients.

Easter Index / Previous Page / Next Page

The Snow-Bird

Snowy pine or fir trees and a squirrel eating nuts.

The Snow-Bird 

by Williams Cullen Bryant

The snow-bird twittered on the beachen bough,

And 'neath the hemlock whose thick branches bent

Beneath its bright cold burden, and kept dry.

A circle, on the earth, of withered leaves,

The partridge found a shelter. Through the snow

The rabbit spring away. The lighter Track

Of fox, and the raccoon's broad paths were there,

Crossing each other. From his hollow tree

The squirrel was abroad, gathering the nuts

Just fallen, that asked the winter cold and sway 

Of winter blast, to shake them from their hold

This version was shortened and illustrated for school children. Read the original in it's entirety at the poetry foundation.

Make Shadows on Your Wall

       Shadowgraphy has progressed a long way from the rabbit on the wall; but in the house, ambition in this accomplishment does not often extend further than that and one or two other animals, and this is why only the rabbit, dog and swan are given here. The swan can be made more interesting by moving the arm which forms his neck as if he were prinking and pluming, an effect which is much heightened by ruffling up and smoothing down the hair with the fingers forming his beak. To get a clear shadow it is necessary to have only one light, and that fairly close to the hands.

This illustration show the positioning of the hands to make a bunny, swan and dog.

"Laundry Day" by Kathryn Carr

"It is a warm sunny summer day and the bunnies are out hanging laundry. This is an image from my papercut designs, Please go to http://www.cafepress.com/gocarrgo to see more images and purchase images on t-shirts and totes and more ... Thanks"