Bird Basics and Your Backyard

Bird Unit Study - week 1

(This unit study is meant to be a general guide with ideas for grades K-5. I have left it up to you to decide how much to do and how to organize the various activities.)

Indigo Bunting and male Cardinal

Learning objectives:

• Be able to identify what distinguishes a bird from other animals
• Understand and explain the history of the Audubon society
• Use the scientific method to analyze, compare, collect data and determine favorite food choices of backyard birds
• Design and create a bird feeder
• Design and create a birdhouse using math principles 

Bible:

• Learn a hymn this week that talks about birds: "His Eye is On the Sparrow"
• Day 1- Review the days of creation and focus on day 5 (Creation of birds) and what does  "according to its kind" mean.
• Genesis 1:20-21 "Then God said, 'Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.' So God created... every winged bird according to its kind." (NKJV)

• Day 2 - Read object lesson "Bird" from Nature Corner vol. 2 A-23  (MyBibleFirst)
• Day 3 - Bible verse for study is Job 12:7 "But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; and the birds of the air and they will tell you." Discuss what it is that birds can teach us. Have each kid come up with an object lesson.
• Day 4 - Read object lesson "Bird" from Nature corner vol. 2 A-19

 Language Arts:

• Book options: (many of these can be found at your local library)
• Burgess Bird Book for Children  (preK-7)
• Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman (K-2)
• About Birds: A guide for children by Cathryn Sill (K-3)
• Robin at Hickory Street (Smithsonian's Backyard) by Dana Meachen Rau (K-3)
• The Boy Who Drew Birds by Jacqueline Davies and Melissa Sweet (K-5)
• Into the Woods: John James Audubon Lives His Dream by Robert Burleigh (1-8)
• Aubudon: Painter of Birds in the Wild Frontier by Jennifer Armstrong (2-5)
• John Audubon: Young Naturalist by Miriam Mason (3-7)
• What Makes a Bird a Bird by May Garelick (3-6)
• Look up! Bird Watching in your own Backyard by Annette LeBlanc Cate (3-7)
• Animal Records: Amazing Book of Bird Records by Samuel Woods (3+)
• Backyard Birds Field Guide 

• Start a nature journal (draw pictures, write down things learned, write down observations)
• Do research on one common backyard bird (ex. American Robin). Each day of the week learn something new and write it in the nature journal.
• All about Robins - learn about the Robin
• Day 1 - draw a picture of a chosen bird/find a picture in a magazine/color a printout. Label the identifying marks. Write down it's dimensions (how long/tall/wingspan). Listen to its song.
• Day 2 - find out what its favorite food is. Where does it like to live (habitat)? Draw its favorite habitat
• Day 3 - What kind of nest does it build (how high from the ground, what materials does it prefer to use, what tree/bush does it prefer, how big is the nest usually). How many eggs does it lay? How long does it take before they hatch? How long before the babies can fly away? 
• Day 4 - How does it typically behave (is it shy, nocturnal, loud...). What does it like to do? Does it migrate? find out some interesting facts and/or document your observations

• Check out these 13 Bird themed worksheets: bird worksheets

Vocabulary/Spelling/Handwriting:

•  Look up 5-10 words from the books currently being read for which the meaning is uncertain or unclear. Copy the words and write their definition. These can also become spelling words.
• Spelling options for older kids: do a short dictation at the beginning of the week. Any misspelled words become the spelling words for the week. 
• Copy the memory verse for the day in cursive handwriting
• Extensions: look up any words that are not understood. Write down any thoughts on the passage. Put the quote into your own words.

• Write down the following quote. Then, have the child rephrase it using their own words, write their thoughts about what is said. Do they agree or disagree? How does it make them feel? What do they think it means? 
• "Don't count your chickens before they are hatched."
• "A chattering bird builds no nest"
• "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush"

• Special notebook paper for handwriting practice

Science:

• What makes an animal a bird: discuss bird characteristics (ex. feathers, wings, hollow bones, lay eggs, warm-blooded)
• what makes a bird a bird lesson plan  (3-7th grade)
• For the Birds (teaching unit for grades K-2) 
• Amazing Birds (elementary lesson plans) 
• Study bird opposites: 
• biggest wingspan is the albatross (12 ft) 
• heaviest bird is the Ostrich (300lbs)
• Smallest bird is the male bee hummingbird (2.75inches)
• fastest bird is the Peregrine falcon (242 mph)
• Slowest bird is the American Woodcock (5 mph)
• Fastest swimming bird is the Gentoo Penguin (40 km/hour)
• Longest bill is of the Austrian Pelican (13-18 inches long)
• Use the scientific method to design and carry out experiments to explore the food preferences of birds that visit your backyard. (Wild about birds activity)
• For discussion: do all birds eat the same thing? Have kids describe their own observations and experiences. Record their answers on a board or paper without labeling them as right or wrong. Explain that they are going to conduct an experiment to determine whether birds prefer some foods over others.
• One or more bird feeders are needed.
• Several types of bird food should be put out: black sunflower seeds, gray striped sunflower seeds, white millet, thistle seed, mixed wild bird food, cracked corn, fresh or dried fruit...
• Field guides and other resources for identifying birds
• journal to keep track
• Extension/variation: find out if certain birds prefer one feeder design over another; find out whether birds choose foods based on color (use nontoxic food coloring to color seeds you know birds will eat); find out whether birds eat more at different times of day.

History:

•  Learn about the history of the Audubon society (a society whose goal is to save birds and their habitats)
• read the book John Audubon: Young Naturalist by Miriam Mason 

Math:

• Counting is for the Birds by Frank Mazzola (counting up to 20 and rhymes)
• When doing the scientific study of what birds will eat, measure/weigh what is put at each feeding station. After 10/20/30 minute intervals (or at the end of the day as desired), weigh/measure each amount again and calculate the difference. For example: in the morning you set out 1 cup of sunflower seeds, at noon only 1/3 cup was left, how much did the birds eat? What percentage of the food was eaten/left? (you can do this by weight as well). Which bird food had the biggest difference? (ex. The birds ate 10% of the millet, 50% of the thistle seed and 70% of the sunflower seeds). What does that tell you about their food preferences? 
• this can be a lesson on subtraction, percentages, comparisons, greater/lesser

• Build a birdhouse (out of wood for the older kids; out of cardboard for the younger)
• Birdhouse activity
• Math (angles, finding perimeter, calculating area, surface area, faces/edges/volume) - math project
• Check out over 50 free bird house and bird feeder plans

 Art:

• Make a bird feeder:  homemade bird feeders
• Make a bird (materials: feathers of all colors and sizes, glue, paper, googly eyes, popsicle sticks). Stick bird craft
• Draw a bird step-by-step: how to draw birds
• Coloring book of birds: Birds of America Coloring book
• Color practice for toddlers: coloring activity

Cooking:

• Make bird food recipes:  winter bird food recipes
• Make pinecone bird feeders (need pinecones, yarn, peanut butter and birdseeds)

Miscellaneous activities:

• Set up a backyard bird feeding station. Discuss what attracts birds (food, different types of feeders, water, shelter)
• Join the Big Backyard Bird Count or Project Feeder Watch
• Watch some of the following movies
• Fishing for a Living
• The Insatiable Appetite 
• Secret Life of Birds DVD set (watch an excerpt)

Week 2 unit study - Bird Identification