TOPIC: ON THE WING
LEVEL: Intermediate/Advanced
"Silhouettes of Birds in Flight"
[information |
preparation |
activity ]
- SCIENCE CONCEPT:
-
Birds in flight have a silhouetted shape against the
sky. Their streamlined body shape displays their ability to fly with
ease.
- STUDENT OBJECTIVE:
-
The student will be introduced to the shapes of birds
in flight. Each bird has its unique size and shape which contributes to
the silhouette it displays in the sky. Every species has its own
signature in the sky as it soars the heavens.
- OVERVIEW:
-
Not all birds fly, but the majority do. Birds are the most
varied and the most successful of the vertebrates. There are about 8,600
species of birds living today. They are found everywhere in the world,
from the tropics to the poles. However, each species has its own range:
determined by oceans, climate, availability of food and nesting places.
No one bird is found everywhere. But every bird has special adaptations
to fit their unique lifestyle and niche.
- TEACHER TEXT:
-
Birds are vertebrates; they have a backbone. Like
mammals, they are warm blooded; their body temperature remains constant
regardless of the surrounding conditions. Like other vertebrates, except
most mammals, they are oviparous. That is, they lay eggs. Unlike most
vertebrates, they have no teeth. Instead, they have a bill or a beak
with which they gather food and defend themselves. All birds have wings
which are modified forelimbs, and their primary mode of locomotion is
flight. However, all birds cannot fly. But it is the ability to fly
that characterizes birds in most peoples' minds.
PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes
LESSON TIME: 45 minutes
TEACHER PREP:
-
The teacher will need to have on hand pictures of birds
in flight. You will also need an opaque projector.
WORDS TO KNOW:
- silhouette
- projection
- wing span
- flight
- pattern
MATERIALS NEEDED:
- black construction paper
- tracing paper
- pencils and erasers
- fishing wire
- electrician tape
- opaque projector
- STEPS TO FOLLOW:
-
1. Using the pictures that you provide for the students have them
determine the silhouettes of birds in flight.
-
2. The students can project the silhouettes from your pictures of the
birds onto a wall with an opaque projector and trace the projection onto
construction paper.
-
3. After tracing the projection of the bird in flight onto the
construction paper, the students should cut out large-scale silhouettes
of the birds in flight. (The students can use tracing paper to draw the
shape of flight from the pictures you provide onto the construction paper
as well.)
-
4. The silhouettes can then be displayed from the ceiling on fishing
wire. The top part of the fishing wire can be secured to the ceiling
with a couple of pieces of electrician's tape.
-
5. Each silhouette should be labeled. You may want the students to group
the silhouettes by families to show the similarities.
- WHY?
-
The breathtaking view of a bird in flight shadowed
against a mountainside cannot be forgotten. The simplicity of this view
and yet the majesty of the quest of flight will forever be a fascination
for man. Even though we have made flying machines -airplanes, hot-air
balloons, spacecraft, hang-gliders-
we would still love to be able to fly without assistance. And that is
the ultimate beauty of a bird in flight. He does it naturally and
without any apparatuses.
- ASSESSMENT: Can the student communicate what they observed?
-
4....Student is able to successfully design, draw, cut out the
silhouetted bird, label, and display the silhouetted bird in flight.
-
3....Student is able to successfully design, draw, cut out the
silhouetted bird, and label.
-
2....Student is able to successfully design, draw, and cut out the
silhouetted bird.
-
1....Student is able to successfully design and draw the silhouetted
bird.