Lesson video

Welcome to today's science lesson.

I'm Ms. Harris and today we are learning all about, "What is hibernation?" What does that mean? And why is it important for animals to hibernate? We are going to have a look today.

Stand up wherever you are, we're going to do our Star Words so get your hands ready.

♪ Star words, star words, star words ♪ Your turn.

Make sure you're saying it really clearly.

Hibernation.

Nests.

Sleep.

Gather.

Survive.

Underground.

Conserving.

To conserve, it means to save.

And sit back down, well done.

On your sheet of paper, we've been doing this every week so far.

I would like you to go up to your window and I'd like you to draw the weather that you can see outside today.

Pause the video, have a go at that now.

Okay, well done.

Now, another similar task that we've been doing, I'd like you to write a sentence to describe the weather and here our star words that you could use.

So my sentence will be, "Today is mm." So I'll write the day of the week.

"Today is mm, the weather is clear and warm." That's what the weather is like today.

It might be different where you are, maybe it's cold and raining.

Pause the video and write your sentence now.

Excellent work.

So today we are learning all about this word, "hibernation".

What is hibernation? I'd like you to take 10 seconds to think.

What is hibernation? So hibernation is when animals go into a deep sleep throughout the whole of the winter.

They do this in order to survive the really long winters, because it gets really cold.

Their body, their temperature becomes very low to match the weather outside and they breathe really slow to ensure that they are conserving and saving as much energy as possible in order to survive.

So let's read the definition of hibernation.

I'd like you to use your finger to track along the sentence, to read the words.

Are you ready? So put your finger next to hibernation.

So I will read it, then you will read it, ready? Hibernation is when animals go into a deep sleep throughout the whole of the winter.

Great job.

Let's read it together now, can you read it with me? So get your finger ready.

Hibernation is when animals go into a deep sleep throughout the whole of the winter.

I would like, you now, to fill in the gaps.

You can write this sentence in your book.

So hibernation is when mm, go into a deep mm, throughout the whole of the mm.

Pause the video, and fill in the gaps.

Great, can you get your coloured pen ready? We're going to tick or fix.

If we're fixing, that means we're changing our answer because it was incorrect and that's okay.

So the first one, hibernation is when animals go into a deep sleep throughout the whole of the winter.

Well done.

Can you use your coloured pen to tick or fix.

Pause the video and check your answer.

Okay.

So we want to know why animals hibernate.

Hibernation is an adaption that helps animals to conserve their energy.

That means they want to remain as inactive as possible.

They want to stay as still and as calm as possible by lowering their metabolism and reducing their temperature.

That means their body just slows right down.

So they save as much energy as they can.

They conserve energy, they? They then lower their body temperature, lower body temperature.

When they lower their body temperature that helps their body to calm down.

And this happens for months and sometimes even weeks and months, lots of times.

They do this to survive.

So typically animals hibernate in order to survive long periods of time when food is scarce.

Hibernating creatures generally eat a lot more food before they hibernate because during the winter is really hard to find.

So they almost eat as much as they can and store as much as they can before they go into the winter, because otherwise they might starve because food is hard to find which is why they hibernate.

The physical changes involved in hibernation are really extreme and this happens during their sleep.

So for some critters, hibernation doesn't even appear to be restful.

Indeed some of the animals can even emerge and wake up exhausted after being asleep for so much time that they have to catch up by sleeping even more.

So, even though they've been hibernating for a really long time, it doesn't mean that they're really rested.

It means that when sometimes they wake up, they're even more tired.

Have you ever felt like that when you've gone to sleep and you woke up even more tired? Yeah, me too, me too.

So, I would like you to write one sentence about why animals hibernate.

So you can use the sentence done here, "Animals hibernate because", and I would like you to give me two reasons.

You can use this map here to help you write your answer.

Pause the video, have a go to that now.

Well done.

Now, we are going to make a fact file about a hibernating animal.

I know you love doing this in Geography so we can just do it again now in science.

So you would need a piece of paper or you could do it in your exercise book if you want to and fold it and on the front, you're going to draw a picture of your animal and on the inside, you're going to write some facts about that animal that hibernates, okay? So if you need to go and get your piece of paper, pause the video and go and get it now.

Great, so these are the four animals that we are going to be looking at today that hibernate.

Can you choose one to start with, so you're going to choose one.

Which one would you like to write a fact file about? So we go to dormouse, a queen bee, a bat and a hedgehog.

Which one would you like to choose? Have you got one in mind? You have? Perfect.

So when I get to your animal, that's when you can write all the facts down and pause the video then, okay? If not, you can just wait and you can hear about the other animals first.

So the first animal we are starting with is the hedgehog.

A hedgehog is a hibernating animal, A hedgehog eats lots of insects like worms and earwigs, beetles and snails.

They do this before they hibernate because it's harder for them to find food during the winter.

So this is why they need to hibernate.

They lose lots of weight when hibernating, because they're not eating and when they emerge from sleep, they need to find food quickly.

So they often store some of it as well.

The hedgehog makes its nest from dry leaves and grass to keep warm when it hibernates.

So it has to do all this preparation before it goes into hibernation.

So they're very, very busy in the autumn getting ready to hibernate.

And lastly, they hibernate anytime from November to January, and sometimes up until spring, depending on the temperature outside.

If you like to write about the hedgehog, you can pause the video now and complete your fact file.

If you've chosen a different animal, we're going to continue.

Now, this is a dormouse, it's a? Dormice are tiny, tiny little animal as you can see here, look a it in this person's hands, it's so small.

Dormice hibernate between October and April.

So they hibernate during the autumn as well and through into the winter, they hibernate for quite a long time.

They roll themselves into a little ball to keep as warm as possible.

They eat lots of things during the summer and the autumn like berries and nuts and fruits and seeds.

They love to eat all of these things to prepare themselves for when they are asleep in the hibernation.

They also make nests from dry leaves and grass to keep themselves warm.

Just like the hedgehog does.

They are tiny little animals.

If you would like to write about the dormouse, you can pause the video now.

Fantastic job.

Now, the next one is a queen bumblebee.

My turn you say queen bumblebee.

The queen bumblebee is the queen of the colony.

So the queen bumblebee kind of hibernates for up to nine months in the year.

That's a really long time.

It's like they hibernate for nearly all of the year pretty much.

They hibernate in the soil.

So you can see the picture at the bottom here.

They dig a hole, a 10 centimetre hole into the ground and they hibernate under the ground.

I didn't know that the bumblebee would hibernate underground.

I don't know where I thought that the bumblebee went for it's hibernation, but I didn't know it went under the ground.

They usually hibernate and the rest of the nest eventually dies.

Meaning that the new queen bees are often bumblebee, sorry, the new queens are the only bumblebees to survive until the following year because the rest of the bees, unfortunately they die.

Whereas the queen bee can hibernate and stay for a really, really long time.

Sorry, if you would like to do this one for your fact file, you can pause the video now.

Okay.

The last one is the bat.

The bat hibernates from November until March, April time until the springtime.

They can hibernate in buildings, trees and caves anywhere where often where there aren't a lot of people, so abandoned buildings usually.

So they won't hibernate somewhere where people live because they might get a bit scared.

They eat lots of things like insects, fruit, or even blood of some animals.

They can hibernate on their own or in small groups.

Bats often sleep upside down and they can live for up to 20 years.

Now they sleep upside down because when they, with birds they can stand on the floor and flap their wings and fly, project themselves into the air, but bats find that really, really hard.

So they hang upside down so they can drop and catch flight to able to take off again.

They don't just hang upside down because they're like the vampires.

They do it because they can't fly very well.

They also can't see during the daytime.

If you like to do your fact file about bats, pause the video, have a go at that now.

Great job.

Now here we have got some different animals.

We've got a snake here.

I would like you to use your knowledge of hibernating animals that we've just learned about.

Can you use your finger to draw a line from the animal to its hibernation place? So animals like to hibernate in places that are dark and quiet.

So, can you have a go at drawing a line from this, from the animal to its place of hibernation? Pause the video, have a go at that now.

Okay, should we check our answers? So the snake likes to hibernate under the ground in almost like little tunnels, little burrows.

A hedgehog likes to hibernate in grass and dry leaves.

The bat likes to go into caves, abandoned buildings and trees and the queen bee, we know likes to bury itself underneath the soil.

Here are four more that we haven't learnt about.

So we have got a turtle, a squirrel and a bear.

Only some squirrels and some bears hibernate.

But for the purpose of this exercise, I'd like you to have a go at drawing a line from where, from the animal to its hibernation place.

Pause the video and have a go at that now.

Great, let's take a look.

So turtles like to hibernate in the mud.

Hibernating animals like to be in a safe place so that predators, animals that might harm them, won't be able to find them.

Some squirrels hibernate in the trees and some bears like to hibernate in caves.

Well done.

So some animals we have looked at are hibernating animals.

How about, okay can you point to the animals which you think hibernate? Some of them don't.

Pause the video and have a go at that now.

Okay, shall we see which animals hibernate? So the animals that do not hibernate are kangaroos, chickens and cats.

But the animals that do, we've got a couple of new ones here.

We've got a toad, we've got a snake, some snakes, a chipmunk, a queen bumblebee and a bat.

But also we know that some ground squirrels like to hibernate too.

Now, in order for animals to hibernate successfully, they almost need to do a checklist to prepare themselves for hibernation.

So what I'd like you do is, I'd like you to get your exercise book and hold it in front of you.

So I've got my book here.

I'd like you to hold it in front of you like this.

I'd like to get your pen.

We're going to pretend that we have got a checklist to get ourselves ready for hibernation.

We're going to pretend that we're now, I'm going to be a hedgehog.

What are you going to be? Fantastic.

Let's get your ticking hand ready and your book ready too.

Pretend to tick it.

So animals before they go into hibernation, they need to store food for the winter.

So here you can see my cupboard, but animals don't have cupboards.

They can store it in whichever place they choose to hibernate in, because when they wake up, they're going to be very hungry.

So often they need to surround themselves by food so as soon as they wake up, they can go and eat it.

Tick, can you tick that off? So store food for the winter, tick your turn.

Good, make sure you say, "Store food for the winter tick." Now the next one is they eat a lot.

Animals need to eat lots of food before they go into hibernation because they lose a lot of weight because they're not eating any food.

So animals need to eat a lot before hibernation.

Eat a lot, tick your turn.

Okay so you tick, right.

Now they need to also prepare their winter home.

So we know I'm a hedgehog.

I know the hedgehogs need to prepare their dry leaves and their nests getting ready, their dry leaves in the grass to prepare themselves to sleep in it for the whole of hibernation.

So they need to prepare their winter home.

Tick your turn.

Prepare their winter home, tick, your turn.

And lastly, when animals hibernate their heart in their chest beats slower and their body temperature cools to match the weather outside.

They do not use any energy using hibernation.

So they need to slow that heart and relax.

So they need to slow their heart down.

They need to? Tick.

Well done.

So when they slow their heart down, they don't just think, "Oh, I need to slow my heart down." And then it slows down.

It's something that happens naturally in their body when they go to sleep.

Your heart slows down when you go to sleep too, but they sleep for a really long time.

So, I have a question for you, how do animals eat? Animals that collect their food for the winter, do they, can they wake up when they are hibernating? Some animals do wake up during their hibernation.

They wake up, they eat and then they go straight back to sleep again because sometimes they might not survive if they don't eat anything because we look at for example, the queen bee hibernates for nine months.

If she didn't eat during those nine months, she could definitely not survive because she'd be really hungry.

And here we've got some true or false.

You can choose whether you want to write these down and write true or false, or you can just point to the correct answer.

So I'm going to read it first and then you're going to pause the video and have a go.

So the first one, true or false? Animals prepare by eating lots, true or false? During hibernation, the animal's body temperature, lowers to match the temperature outside? Animals hibernate during the winter? And if animals do not hibernate, they could freeze and die? Pause the video and point to the correct answer.

Fantastic, let's check.

Animals prepare by eating lots.

True, they do.

During hibernation the animal's body temperature lowers to match the weather, true.

Animals hibernate during the winter, true.

If some animals do not hibernate, they could freeze and die.

True because it gets so cold.

Now, before we finish the lesson, I'd like you to think about this.

Why don't humans hibernate? Why don't we hibernate? We sleep every night, but why don't we during the winter? Why don't we go into a long sleep for the winter? Can you have 10 seconds to think about that? So humans have come a long way since ancient times.

It's a long, long time ago in the past.

Humans used to live outside in the wilderness with very little shelter.

They often used trees for their shelter.

And sometimes the winters got so cold that some people could not survive.

Over time, humans have found ways to consume food and build warm houses, to help us get through the winter.

And we sleep every night as well in our nice warm snugly beds.

So imagine if we sat outside and we didn't have that, it'd be quite cold, wouldn't it? And it'd be hard to survive.

It's quiz time, the best time of the lesson.

Let's see how much you know about hibernation.

You could even send me a picture of your quiz to show me how many you got right.

I'd love to see your fact files as well.

So ask your parent or carer to send me a picture on Twitter.

Have a wonderful rest of your day, year one and I will see you for our next lesson, bye.