10/28/2026

Morning Announcements

Morning Meeting Agenda

Mon · Social Studies Tue · Literacy Wed · Science Thu · Math Fri · ROAR + Houses
Science of the Day

Bats: the heroes of Halloween!

Bats show up on every spooky decoration — but the real animals are helpful, not scary. They eat pests, pollinate plants, and “see” using sound. Let’s separate myth from science.

Bats are helpers! At night they zoom around eating bugs — especially mosquitoes. One little bat can eat hundreds of bugs in one hour!

A friendly bat catching mosquitoes at night

Count the bugs this bat is catching!

Let’s talk
  • Have you ever seen a bat flying at nighttime? What did it look like?
  • Bats eat mosquitoes. Why is that helpful for US?
  • Do you think bats are scary or helpful? Why?
Reveal a bat factHide the bat fact
Bats are the ONLY mammals that can truly fly! And baby bats are called pups — just like puppies!
Try it

Fly like a bat! Flap your “wings” fast. Now close your eyes and listen very carefully — can you hear something across the room? That’s how bats find their way in the dark!

Bats hunt in total darkness using echolocation. They send out high-pitched sounds, then listen for the echo bouncing back. From that echo, a bat learns an object’s distance, size, shape, and even which direction it’s moving.

A diagram of a bat sending sound waves that bounce off a moth and return

Blue = the bat’s call. Red = the echo returning.

Let’s talk
  • If the echo returns quickly, is the object close or far away? How do you know?
  • Where else do humans use this same idea of bouncing sound or signals?
  • Myth check: are bats blind? Are they rodents?
Reveal the answersHide the answers
A fast echo means the object is close — less distance for the sound to travel. Humans use the same principle in sonar (ships finding the ocean floor), radar, and ultrasound imaging. And both myths are false: bats are not blind — most see about as well as we do — and they are not rodents. They belong to their own order, Chiroptera, and are more closely related to primates than to mice.
Try it

Echolocation test! One partner closes their eyes. The other claps once from somewhere in the room. Can the listener point to where it came from? Now try it with a much softer clap — harder, right? That’s the challenge a bat solves every night.

Additional Notes/Activities

If additional activities are needed for the Morning Meeting, they will be added here.