Science ? Learning About Hibernation

Summary
Activity A reinforces the knowledge, obtained from the reading, of true hibernation and Activity B is a brief comprehension exercise based on temporary hibernation.

Objectives
• The children will be able to understand why some animals hibernate.

• The children will be able to explain what happens to the animal during true hibernation.

Suggested Grades
2nd Grade
3rd Grade

Excerpt
What is hibernation? It looks like sleep, but it is different in many ways. When we sleep, we move around in our beds. A loud noise will quickly wake us. When an animal hibernates, its heart rate slows right down. Sometimes its heart only beats a few times a minute. Its body can become almost as cold as the temperature outside and it breathes so slowly that it appears to be dead. You could move a hibernating animal and it wouldn?t even know that you had touched it. I wouldn?t try this though!

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