March Slice of Life No. 6.
I learned a new word.
The text
A limerick by Diane Mayr
There once was a ‘gator named Nathan
who eschewed the state of brumation.
He skied and he skated–
and was truly elated–
to became an Olympic sensation.
The word
burmation.
Chunked it
bru – ma – tion.
Used context clues
State of brumation?  Hmmmmm …. a condition.
A ‘gator avoided this state or condition to ski and skate? Those are winter sports. Cold sports.
Hmmmmm… Could it be like hibernation?
Looked it up
I checked my e-dictionary. The dictionary suggested “Brampton.”
I googled b r u m a t i o n. I found brumation listed in “Rare and Wonderful Winter Words.” That made me feel better about not knowing the word brumation.
- I felt affirmed when I learned that my inference about a brumation – hibernation connection was right.
- I learned that brumation is a word created by American zoologist Wilbur W. Mayhewin in 1965.
- I learned that brumation is a sluggish or inactive state exhibited by reptiles and amphibians during the winter or extended periods of low temperature.
Made connections
Ah, now I get it. You know. All that news about “kamikaze” lizards plunging out of trees in Florida last January. Well, it makes sense now that I know about brumation. It was because the temperature had fallen around freezing and the iguanas were switching into brumation. In brumation, they lose their grip on branches and fall. And they will lie, dead-like, where they fall until temperatures rise again, bringing them out of brumation.
Now you, too, know a new word —a rare and wonderful winter word— brumation!
 * * * *
PostScript
Added from a Comment below.
Check out the photo of this alligator in the state of brumation enclosed in ice! And there’s some poetry to go along! Oh! I can feel the elements of integrated instruction (science / literature) coming together. Thank you, Molly Hogan for sharing with me!
Head over to
http://twowritingteachers.org
for more slice of life stories.
#SOL18
It is always a good day when you learn something new. Thank you! Your definition was made complete with great examples!
Brumation is my natural state after a long day when the thermostat is turned down in the house and my brain is on snooze mode as I crawl under the covers. Brumating.
I can agree with that!
Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Love when I learn a new word such as brumation/ brumating.
You are welcome! Thanks for stopping by.
what a fun post. educational and entertaining. very interesting musing to share for sure – thanks!
Glad you came by, Eddie.
What a great example of how really getting to know a word makes it much more likely that you will remember it. There’s a whole community of readers/writers who have probably permanently added a new word to their vocabulary. Brumation – love it!
Thank you. So glad you joined me today!
Thank you for the education. This would be a great lesson to show students how context clues background knowledge can help us figure out the meaning of words. To then have that derived meaning validated…wow!
Thank you. It was such a clear authentic example of the process we teach and it happened in a couple minutes… I just had to make a record of it and putting it in as a sliced seemed the perfect way.
Love this! I love how you go through the process of finding and learning the word – and I am not likely to forget it now. I may share this with my high school students. We’re trying to figure out how to improve our vocabulary, and I’m trying to convince them that they don’t need *me* to do it. This is a beautiful illustration of what I mean. 🙂
Please do share. I’d love to hear how it goes, what they think.
I used this in my grade 10 class – what a hit! First of all, they insisted that we add brumation to our word list. Second, they really “got” the different ways that you explored the word; they noticed your curiosity and appreciated that you made guesses before looking it up. One of them even pointed out that “she kept working at that word even *after* she knew what it meant.” Amazement all around. And now we will try this out with some words on Friday, the day before March Break. Hey, if they’re in, I’m in!
Woo-hoo! Thanks so much for coming back and sharing this with me. If you write about Friday’s lesson be sure to tag, link, or message so I can read about it.
I think it has a lovely sound….la brume in French means ‘mist’ but I’m not sure if there’s a connection?
Hmmm? I wonder.
Elation!
I found a
new word:
Brumation.
Red squiggles
in the text
tell me
I am not alone
in thinking,
upon contemplation,
that brumation
brings on me
a sluggish
cold winter
New England
resignation.
Spring remains,
merely
anticipation.
-Kevin
Hahahaha – this is amazing!
Fun, Kevin! Spring is coming… !
I learned about brumation this winter. Fascinating, right? Did you see the picture of gators with their snouts encased in ice down south? Amazing! (You can see a couple of pics here: https://mbhmaine.wordpress.com/2018/01/11/alligator-poems/)" I also love the process of word inquiry you followed. Thanks for making it so visible.
Oh, your Alligator Poems is a great one. I am going to add it to my post above since people might not see it here in the comments. Thanks for sharing it!!
Thanks, Alice! I was fascinated by those ice-encrusted snouts!
Me too!
I love how you took us on this journey with you! I have a lizard-obsessed student in my first class. I wonder if he know what brumation is. I’m going to ask him today. Thank you!
Let me know if he knew the word!
This is such a beautiful example of word inquiry. I hope to share it with my 4th and 5th grade teachers as inspiration to them.
Oh! I’d love to hear how it goes, what they think.
That was so much fun to read!
Wow! I learned so much from your curiosity. I especially love the explanation of the lizards falling from the trees in Florida…I remember that happening. Now I’ll have to find a way to use my new word before I forget it. Actually, I think my daughter is in a state of brumation much of the winter. She dreads it and fights her sluggishness as well as she can.
Brumation does sound better than hibernation. Some days in winter, I feel like “brumating” — does it have a verb form? One of the articles I read said we have hibernation for warm-blooded animals and brumation for cold-blooded animals, but no word yet for sluggish humans.