Woodland Hills Private School

Animal & Nature Studies

April 2026 Curriculum Highlights
Try This at Home

How Smart Are Crows?

Kindergarten students explored a classic water displacement puzzle inspired by research on crows. As they tested different approaches, they began to see how animals solve problems through observation, memory, and experimentation.

It’s a simple activity, but one that opens the door to deeper questions about intelligence, behavior, and how scientists study the natural world.

Crow water displacement video

What Students Explored This Month

4th–5th Grades — Evolution & Fossils

  • Observed the growth of class-planted nasturtium and calendula.
  • Examined the human traits that contributed to our evolutionary success, including big brains, tool use, and bipedalism.
  • Imagined creatures evolving the ability to create and utilize new tools.
Highlights: Explored phenotypic plasticity in plants and animals and compared short-term environmental response with long-term evolutionary change.
What’s Next: Students will compare human and animal physiology, focusing on lungs and skeletons, and watch to see whether our ducks snack on the class-grown nasturtium and calendula.

2nd–3rd Grades — Discovering Species

  • Explored human evolution, beginning with LUCA, then meeting Lucy, and ending with us.
  • Imagined and illustrated changes in animal physiology between summer and winter in different biomes.
  • Investigated extinction and species change through interactive gameplay.
Highlights: Made connections between environment, adaptation, survival, and the ways populations change over time.
What’s Next: Students will compare human and animal body systems, with a focus on lungs and skeletons, and learn about population bottlenecks.

1st Grade — Secret Agent Scientists

  • Defeated Dr. Shrubslayer’s plan to turn off photosynthesis by deducing the password to his diabolical device: chlorophyll.
  • Played a binomial nomenclature guessing game, using the roots of scientific names to uncover animals’ common names.
Highlights: Connected science, language, and reasoning through creative problem-solving and scientific vocabulary work.
What’s Next: Students will practice calmly handling and grooming the donkey, horses, and cow, and learn the difference between poison and venom in animals and plants.

Kindergarten — Animal Actions

  • Investigated parental investment by pretending to gather food for baby birds in a nest.
  • Compared animal intelligence by solving a crow-inspired water displacement puzzle.
Highlights: Began connecting behavior, problem-solving, and survival through active experimentation.
What’s Next: Students will play a clicker-training game to learn about animal conditioning and take a donkey on a supervised lead walk.

TK & Preschool — Animal Care & Scientific Observation

  • Led horses and donkeys on supervised walks around the Barnyard.
  • Explored responsible pet ownership and made connections to animals at home.
  • Learned the names of and interacted with baby animals, including our goat kids and brand-new albino snakelet.
Highlights: Built confidence through hands-on care, observation, and early responsibility within a real animal environment.
What’s Next: Students will prepare a goat puzzle box filled with treats and participate in a Barnyard scavenger hunt.