Fun Studies

Some fun learning about July 4th

Our Bird Study

Birds

For the past 8 months we have been studying birds informaly. A birdfeeder hangs outside our kitchen window and binoculars and a bird chart are handy for the children to use in identifying birds. Their interest in birds has grown to the level that they willingly "study" birds on the weekends or whenever we have a "free day". The material that I use is entirely from the net and is very teacher and student friendly. Check out some of these sites and tell me what you think.
I used these Lesson plans & student sheets as the base for our study and added a few crafts, coloring pages and mazes that especially appealed to the younger crowd. For all ages we also used colorful, illustrated general reading material as well as illustrated pages on birdwatching for the under 10 crowd and for those over 10, illustrated sheets on what to look for and categorizing by visual features. For our oldest I also included illustrated worksheets on flight, illustrations on bird anatomy (leaving out the evolutionary drivel), bird history, and migration. All the children are enjoying the bird trading cards on which they paste small photos from the image gallery or if the bird isn't found there, by using a search engine. One of the most exciting part of birding is learning to identify bird songs. This is easier than one might imagine by using mnemonics along with Peterson's "Backyard Bird Song" which is especially designed to teach bird calls. We tried other tapes before locating this one, which is superior in its presentation style and use of mnemonics. For feeding and bird house information Wildbirds has good information, as does Bird Greetings and Backyard Birding If you don't have a feeder and want to show your children something different visit this unique site which displays the live video from their Florida backyard. It takes a few minutes to load, but is worth the wait.

July 4th-Some fun learning ideas

We'll hopefully prepare for the 4th by reading a simple overview on Why We Celebrate followed by making a few of the various US Flags out of tissue paper and construction paper. I might even splurge and buy some white sticker stars :) The older kids will get a chance to make their own 5 point stars. We'll probably make some Patriotic Jello regardless of the dismay of those with discerning palates. More sites to come as we find them.

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