TOPIC: BIRDS
LEVEL: Beginner
"Bird Walk"
[information |
preparation |
activity ]
- SCIENCE CONCEPT:
-
Birds are best observed in their natural habitat. Any
park, playground, or neighborhood is going to have a host of birds to
watch. The best time to look and listen for birds is in the spring or
during their fall migration. The bright-colored males are singing loudly
and going about their duties of territory defense and courtship in the
spring.
- STUDENT OBJECTIVE:
-
The students will experience first-hand the world of
the birds in their habitat. Looking for robins, starlings, sparrows,
doves, and pigeons is a great place to start. Add to those birds
hummingbirds, flickers, and herons. The student will begin to see not
only differences in their physical appearance but also variations of song
and habit.
- OVERVIEW:
-
The class will go on a walk by their school in search of birds
over a three day period. Each day discuss together what you observe
about the habits of the birds you see. Take along a few pair of
binoculars to get close-up looks at nests with eggs and young birds, and
a clearer view of the birds in flight.
- TEACHER TEXT:
- Most birds do not fly faster or higher than necessary.
It takes too much energy to climb against gravity and higher air means
less oxygen to breathe and support the bird. Maneuverability is another
variable in flight. Some birds can make sharp turns at top speed, others
fly primarily in straight lines. The difference is in the tail design.
It is used like a rudder. The tail feathers are broad and stiff and can
open and close like a fan, move up or down, or twist left or right.
Birds and planes must bank as they turn. They tilt one
wing higher than the other to prevent sliding. If they try and turn
without banking, they skid because there is nothing but air to hold them.
Their bodies keep going in the former direction even though they are
facing in a new direction. Banking braces the underside of the wings and
body against the oncoming air and reduces the skid. Banking is not the
only method for turning. Some birds beat one wing a little faster than
the other. They then turn in the direction of the slower moving wing.
Steering up and down is accomplished with the tail by moving it opposite
the desired direction. Turning while gliding and soaring is accomplished
by two different wing designs. Birds that soar over land have broad,
slotted wings, while those who soar over water have long, narrow wings.
Both are equally good.
PREPARATION TIME: Variable
LESSON TIME: 60 minutes
TEACHER PREP:
-
Locate a park, neighborhood, wooded area, etc. where
there are many birds in residence. Also, ask for volunteers to go with
you to assist the children with the binoculars.
WORDS TO KNOW:
- migration
- observing
- robins
- starlings
- sparrows
- pigeons
- flickers
- herons
- hummingbirds
- nest
- courtship
MATERIALS NEEDED:
- binoculars
- "Bird Watcher" Badges: Made from construction paper
- STEPS TO FOLLOW:
-
1. Discuss with the children the various birds that you think you will
encounter on your walks.
-
2. Discuss with the children that while on the walk they will have to be
very quiet so that they will not scare the birds away. Also discuss the
fact that they will not take a bird nest or eggs back to the class, but
that it will be left in the habitat.
-
3. Discuss with the children the habits of birds in general and their
flying patterns. The Teacher Text will help with information on flight
patterns. The library will have resources for general information on the
habits of birds.
-
4. Pair the children up into groups of two. Ask each group to walk and
not to run before starting out. As a motivation to help the children to
be quiet during the outing: give out a paper badge to those groups that
listen and watch as they walk and observe the birds. Label the badges
"Bird Watchers". These can be easily made by the teacher the day before
out of construction paper.
-
5. Because they will be going out for observation for 3 days you can
either do it in succession or once a week for 3 weeks. Keep a log in the
classroom of things that the children share when they return to the
classroom about the birds.
-
6. As an extension you could have the children make a bulletin board
display of birds that they draw from their experience out on their walks.
- WHY?
-
Birds are wonderful to watch in their natural
surroundings without artificial stimuli. Not all birds build nests;
migrating birds travel one-way distances of up to 11,000 miles. Some are
capable of pin-pointing their exact same nesting spot year after year.
The smallest birds in the world are hummingbirds. Some species are
barely larger than a bumblebee and weigh less than a dime. Flightless
birds are not too uncommon. The penguins of Antarctica, the ostriches of
Africa, the kiwis of New Zealand, and chickens all do not fly. Ostriches
are the largest birds - standing eight feet tall!
- ASSESSMENT: Can the student communicate what they observed?
-
4....Student is able to communicate what they have observed during their
Bird Walk about all of the habits of the birds that have been watched.
-
3....Student is able to communicate what they have observed during their
Bird Walk about most of the habits of the birds that have been watched.
-
2....Student is able to communicate what they have observed during their
Bird Walk about some of the habits of the birds that have been watched.
-
1....Student is able to communicate what they have observed during their
Bird Walk about one of the habits of the birds that have been watched.