You are on page 1of 3

Resource Description Comments

Art teacher The art teacher at school was very excited Because there would only be two of us in the room, I
to collaborate and support our project of had to streamline the process for students’ involvement
building bird feeders. She offered up in building. I would have wanted them to have more time
materials and insight into how best to to explore and practice engineering skills, but safety
structure the groups. concerns about poking holes in the milk cartons led me
to decide to use students’ design ideas, but to prepare
most of the materials ahead of time in such a way that
students were mostly just decorating.

Arte de Old, beautiful book that houses a collection Most poems are way above first grade level, but there
Pájaros of poems about birds (both real and made are some excerpts that use simple enough language
up) by Pablo Nerudo, including some that they can serve to inspire students to think about
beautiful naturalist and fantastical paintings. imagery and descriptive language.

Birds of a NSTM article by William Ritz and William Many of the ideas were geared towards concepts that
Feather Straits. Includes a lot of great ideas for didn’t fit neatly into my curriculum, but served as a good
bird-related lessons, as well as questions to overall guide against which to check my planning. Also
ask to guide students to make thoughtful provided some ideas for DIY bird feeders.
observations about birds.

Birds: Set of primary source photos about birds Some of the more surprising photos could be a good
Unstacked from the Smithsonian. way to spark questions and practice making
observations.

Birdsleuth Resource from the Cornell Lab of Resources are organized to last over the course of the
K-12 Ornithology featuring lots of year, and many activities seem aimed at older students.
child-appropriate resources and lesson Still a good framework to check that I am introducing
plans on bird biology (including migration), important concepts and understandings, and to get
bird identification, bird feeding. some ideas for how to frame things.

Caged Bird Poem by Maya Angelou about the caged Students learned about Maya Angelou towards the end
bird singing for freedom. Accompanying of February as part of Black History Month. The poem’s
PBS video of Maya Angelou herself reading language is relatively simple but students will need to be
a couple stanzas, paired with photos of guided to explicitly identify the metaphor.
black and white families in the Jim Crow era.

Celebrate (Partly) bilingual kit from the Cornell Lab of Aimed at older kids, but could be adapted to work for
Urban Birds! Ornithology with information on common later in the unit, after installing the bird feeders.
urban birds, observation and data recording
sheets and opportunity to contribute to
citizen science project, all aimed at students

Cornell Lab of Cameras are set up near a variety of bird Of course it would be preferable to have students watch
Ornithology feeder sites, broadcasting video of bird birds in-person, but for practical purposes this is a great
Feeder Cams activity 24/7. way to introduce them to birdwatching without having to
trek to areas of great bird activity/worry about scaring
away the birds. Serve as inspiration and background
knowledge for bird feeder designing/installation project.
La Jaula It just so happens that the book the students The lessons that ReadyGen proposes for this book have
Dorada were scheduled to read according to the objectives about identifying character traits and story
ReadyGen curriculum is a lovely trade book elements. I will adapt these to focus more on what we
by Alma Flor Ada called ​La Jaula Dorada​, can learn about birds (and people’s ideas about birds)
through the book.
which heavily features the theme of birds in
cages vs. birds who are free to fly

National Informational videos that introduce students Good for introduction and a jumping off point for
Geographic to a wide range of birds, organized around questions and observations, but a little too fast and
Kids essential classification information and with quick to be material for sustained study.
captivating footage.

Spruce Hill Small patch of land in a residential block of Too far for a field trip, but I visited myself to get ideas for
Bird Sanctuary West Philadelphia set up to attract birds. what makes a Philadelphia environment bird-friendly.

Urban Bird Online audio guide to help recognize the Might not be feasible to introduce until after installing the
Sounds songs and calls of many birds that are found bird feeders.
Project in urban centers. Created and produced by
students in Boston.

Picasso Arts organization that will be at the school I’m not sure we will really need help installing the bird
Project thanks to a grant to help older students paint feeders, but it is nice to give the students the
a mural outside. They are excited to help opportunity to connect with other people in the school
our class install our bird feeders once they community.
are finished.

Raquel Salas Poet laureate of Philadelphia, Puerto Rican. I did find one poem of hers featuring bird imagery in the
Rivera I emailed her to ask if she had any poems last stanza. Would need to be excerpted and heavily
about birds. She responded and said no, but scaffolded for first graders.
offered to provide a list of Puerto Rican
children's books authors.

Read-aloud I found most of the following books at the Obviously I will not have time to read all of these during
Book List Free Library, and will be choosing among the two weeks, but it is great to have such a wide
them for read alouds of folktales, stories, collection so that depending on what our conversations
and poetry about birds: ​Un turpial muy are like inclass, I can find a book that speaks to
students’ questions and interests
impaciente ​(Martínez), ​My Book of Birds
(Valério), ​When Birds Could Talk & Bats
Could Sing ​(Hamilton), ​The Girl Who Drew a
Phoenix ​(Demi), ​Wings on the Wind: Bird
poems ​(Kiesler), ​On the Wing: Bird poems
and paintings ​(Florian), ​Arroró mi niño:
Latino lullabies and gentle games​ (Delacre),
Little Home Bird​ (Empson), ​The Bird House
(Rylant), ​Pío Peep!: Traditional Spanish
nursery rhymes​ (Ada), ​Mamá Goose: un
tesoro de rimas infantiles​ (Ada), ​North
South, East, West​ (Brown), ​Bring on the
Birds​ (Stockdale), ​Nest (​Hurley), ​I Spy in the
Sky​ (Gibbs), ​El gallo de bodas​ (González), ​I
am Phoenix: Poems for two voices
(Fleischman), ​Ling-li and the Phoenix Fairy:
A Chinese folktale​ (Greene), ​Arthur​ (Levine)
La Sorpresa Another book by Alma Flor Ada to be I will supplement this book with further materials about
de Mamá introduced after ​La Jaula Dorada​. Book the 8 featured birds.
Coneja features 8 different birds and their eggs.

Taller Puerto Rican arts and cultural center located Not sure if will be able to arrange in time, or if they will
Puertorriqueño <2 miles from school have material specifically relevant to our bird studies.

Year of the 2018 has been designated the Year of the Many of the articles featured in honor of the Year of the
Bird Bird in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Bird would need to be modified heavily for use in the 1st
passing of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. grade classroom. Still a lot of great information and
Special articles and features by many key resources.
bird-loving institutions, such as the Cornell
Lab of Ornithology, the Audubon Society,
and National Geographic

Youtube I searched on youtube to create a playlist of Many songs have lyrics which are difficult to
songs in English and Spanish about birds understand, and which would require a lot of scaffolding
and/or inspired by birds. for students to be able to engage with the bird-relevant
material, which might defeat the purpose of having
these songs as somewhat casual background media
during breakfast.

You might also like