A Field Guide of Backyard Birds Let s Make a Book

By KinderKay

Children will love following the step-by-step diagrams that show how to draw the birds that they can see in their own backyards! Children will learn that the food birds eat is related to their beak shape by par:cipa:ng in a fun science ac:vity using common tools and food items. The step-by-step diagrams are easy to follow and can be used either as an independent ac:vity or as a teacher-directed group ac:vity. Pages are copied and stapled together for each student to have as their own bird eld guide! This booklet uses an emergent reader format focusing on the sight words "this, is, and a.
Graphics digiscrapkits www.digiscrapkits.com Cynthia K. Feeney 2011 Permission is granted for reproduc:on of ac:vity pages for classroom or home use only

 Cynthia K. Feeney 2011

Ac:vi:es for Backyard Birds

Day One: As with all units, it is fun and educa:onal to begin with reading picture books about birds. There are many c:on and non-c:on books available that are a wonderful way to get children thinking about the similari:es and dierences of birds that are found in their backyards. AOer a discussion about birds, we go on a bird walk around the school grounds. I give the children a set of binoculars to use as we look for birds. To create binoculars, wrap black paper around 2 toilet :ssue rolls and secure with tape. Hot glue the tubes together along one long edge. Using a paper punch, punch two holes on the opposite sides of the tubes. Thread a piece of yarn through the holes and :e to secure. Make sure that the yarn is long enough to go over the heads of your students.

Each child brings a notebook, a sharpened pencil, and their binoculars with them as they begin their walk. Hint: Small spiral notebooks work great for this because children can secure their pencil inside the spiral rings while not using it. You also can ;e yarn onto the spiral rings of the notebook for children to wear around their necks with their binoculars. Day Two: We review what we saw on our walk and share our drawings. We look at the pictures of birds in our books and brainstorm the dierent foods that they eat. We discuss their beaks and how this is the tool that birds use to gather their food. We do the Bird Beak ac:vity found at the end of these direc:ons. At the conclusion of the Bird Beak ac:vity, do the Bird Beak worksheet together. Day Three un/l the booklets conclusion: We begin our bird drawings. I have given you a few sketches for ideas, but with the basic How to Draw a Bird direc:ons, you and your students should be able to come up with several more birds that I have not included! Extended Ac/vi/es Match real pictures of bird to their names. Graphics digiscrapkits Students write about what they learned on the paper included at the end of this packet. www.digiscrapkits.com

 Bird Beak Ac:vity

Break students into small groups and tell them that they are going to pretend to be a bird. The tools (nutcracker, straw, tweezers, and scissors) are to be their beak. Using only their beak, they decide which food can be eaten easily with each tool. At the conclusion of the ac:vity, gather children together and discuss their discoveries. Ask students these ques:ons: Which beak works like a straw? Which beak works like tweezers? Which beak works like a nutcracker? Which beak works like scissors? Why do eagles eat small animals? Why do hummingbirds sip nectar? Why do cardinals eat sunower seeds? Why do robins eat worms? Can you tell by looking at each beak why birds eat the food that they do? An Eagles beak works like scissors. It eats animals. A Hummingbirds beak works like a straw. It sips nectar. A Cardinals beak works like a nutcracker. It eats nuts and berries. A Robins beak works like tweezers so that it can reach into the ground to eat worms.

Graphics digiscrapkits www.digiscrapkits.com

Cynthia K. Feeney 2011

By _____________________________

Bird Beaks
Tool

Food Marshmallow (Animal)

Beak

Peanut (Nut)

Water (Nectar)

Raisins (Worms)

Cynthia K. Feeney 2011

Cut and glue the beak and the tools next to the picture of the food that they eat!

Beaks Tools

Eagle

Hummingbird Straw Tweezers Nutcracker Scissors

Cardinal Robin

Cynthia K. Feeney 2011

 Show students real pictures of birds and discuss their physical characteris:cs. Look for shapes in the pictures such as I see a circle head. I see straight legs. I see an oval body. I see a triangle beak. Next comes the Warm-up lesson where students are given the opportunity to prac:ce drawing or cudng the basic shapes on plain or scratch paper. As with any beginning lesson, the warm- up takes more :me at the beginning of the year and can be eliminated as students gain condence in their drawing and cudng skills as the year con:nues. Drawing lesson: Give each child a stapled booklet and a sharpened pencil. Make sure that each child has an eraser available. I use large chart paper aeached to my easel and posi:on myself so that all students can see what I am doing. As I draw each shape, I say its name and remind children of the shapes they just drew in the Warm-up lesson. We decide whether the shape is to be big, small, skinny or fat. I remind students that we try to start all our drawing at the top. Make sure that students are on the correct page! I did not number the pages so that you can decide what order you want to introduce the birds. Once you have decided upon the order, number the pages and then copy and collate. (Do>ed lines shown on the How- to- Draw diagrams are lines that need to be erased.) As the year progresses, this becomes an independent ac;vity rather than a teacher-directed one. The How to Draw diagram can be posted in a place in the classroom where students can see the strokes. Using their observa;on skills, they independently draw and color their picture using the prac;ced strokes.
These are the strokes needed for How to Draw Birds

General Drawing Direc/ons

Circle Oval Mountain Curved V Smile Rainbow Wavy Straight Line

Cynthia K. Feeney 2011

House Finch
Photograph purchased at www.fotolio.com

Robin
Photograph purchased at www.fotolio.com

Blue Jay
Photograph purchased at www.fotolio.com

Sparrow
Photograph purchased at www.fotolio.com

Downy Woodpecker
Photograph purchased at www.fotolio.com

Grackle
Photograph purchased at www.fotolio.com

Mourning Dove
Photograph purchased at www.fotolio.com

Cardinal
Photograph purchased at www.fotolio.com

 Photograph purchased at www.fotolio.com

Ruby Throated Hummingbird

Goldfinch
Photograph purchased at www.fotolio.com

Follow these direc:ons for drawing a basic bird shape. On large chart paper, draw the birds with your students. Talk about the shapes you are making as you draw. To draw a crest on a bird, tell students to use a mountain stroke making a crown on their birds head. The hummingbirds wings are a curved V shape with wavy lines on the boeom. Students draw addi:onal details with pencil and use crayons to color. Look at beaks, stripes, colors, and feet. Use the colored pictures I have aeached as a reference, but with this basic bird shape, you and your students can adapt it to any bird!

This is a half-size booklet. To construct, copy and collate the pages you want to use; fold horizontally, t inside the cover page and staple. I have given you full size sketches of the birds that you may copy, collate, and staple together to use as a teachers copy. I have also included a blank page at the end for you to use to add birds that are not included in the How to Draw sketches.
Cynthia K. Feeney 2011

My Field Guide Of Backyard Birds!

Graphics digiscrapkits www.digiscrapkits.com

By _________
Cynthia K. Feeney 2011

This is a Robin.
Cynthia K. Feeney 2011

This is a Grackle.

This is a House Finch. This is a Goldfinch.

Cynthia K. Feeney 2011

This is a Cardinal.
Cynthia K. Feeney 2011

This is a Blue Jay.

This is a Hummingbird. This is a Sparrow.

Cynthia K. Feeney 2011

This is a Mourning Dove.

Cynthia K. Feeney 2011

This is a Downy Woodpecker.

My Field Guide Of Backyard Birds!

By _________
Cynthia K. Feeney 2011

This is a Robin.

This is a Grackle.

This is a House Finch. This is a Goldfinch.

This is a Cardinal.

This is a Blue Jay.

This is a Hummingbird. This is a Sparrow.

This is a Mourning Dove.

This is a Downy Woodpecker.

This is a ___________.

This is a ___________.

__________________________ __________________________

___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________
Graphics digiscrapkits www.digiscrapkits.com

________________ ________________ ________________ ________________ ________________

Graphics digiscrapkits www.digiscrapkits.com

Graphics digiscrapkits www.digiscrapkits.com

Thank you for downloading this free product from my Teachers Pay Teachers store! I hope it is a valuable resource for you! Please contact me with any ques:ons you may have at: kinderkay1921@gmail.com Feedback is important to me! If you liked this product, would you please tell me? You may leave a comment at: www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kinderkay/Products If you are unhappy or if this is not what you thought you were gedng, please email me and I am sure that we can work together to resolve the problem! Your sa:sfac:on is my goal! If you like my products and would like to be alerted when I post new items, return to my home page and click the follow me bueon at the top leO hand side of the screen. Thank you again! Cindy (KinderKay)