Watch the Birdie

Brief Description

In this unit, designed as a six-week program for 5th/6th graders, students develop language arts skills while studying North American birds.

Objectives

Students will develop such skills as reading, writing, listening, and thinking while learning about birds of North America.

Key Concepts

vocabulary, listening skills, memorization, charts, reading, researching, following directions, compare and contrast, birds, animals

Materials Needed

• Reference books such as My Recipes for the Birds; Ranger Rick's Nature Scope; Guild to Bird's Nests; A Guide to Field Identification: Birds of America; Peterson First Guides: BIRDS
• Web sites, such as Ranger Rick (Search for 'birds of North America.'), ZOOM Birds, Yahooligans! Downloader, WatchList 4 Kids, Audubon Adventures Online Gallery
• Live bird (optional). We use Tweety, a pet canary.

Lesson Plan

• Library activity: Place several books about birds on tables throughout the classroom. Ask students to skim/scan for interesting facts about birds. Write the facts on chart paper or a large piece of white butcher paper. Add facts as students find them. Have students read the fact sheet aloud and copy the facts to their student notebooks.
• Speaker: Invite a speaker from a local Nature Center to visit the class to talk about characteristics and identification of birds.
• Art: Provide students with an outline of a bird and ask them to label and color it. Have students create original bird drawings or make bird drawings from heart shapes.
• Vocabulary: Create a dictionary of such terms as preen, habitat, nest, beak, habitat, niche, nest, and so on.
• Reading: Have students study field guides for birds and create a chart identifying different habitats, food, features, and so on.
• Games: Create a Concentration game and have students match birds with their habitats, birds of the same species, birds with similar features, and so on. Play "Pin the body part on the bird."
• Writing: Have students write and illustrate reports about their favorite birds.
• Math: Help students read and follow recipes to make bird food.
• Observation: Hang containers of food outside and observe the birds that eat from them. Observe the live classroom bird.
• Listening: Provide tapes of bird songs and sounds.
• Memorization: Have students memorize poems about birds.
• Reading: Read aloud, or have students read, Honkers, a fictional story. Discuss the theme.

Assessment

Student learning was evaluated using quizzes and daily and weekly assessment sheets. Students were evaluated on their attitude toward the assignment, as well as their ability to stay on task, participate in class discussions, answer questions correctly, listen well and follow directions, comprehend the material, and complete the assignments.