Posted in Homeschooling

I did not make a real "lesson plan" for our bird study which is a little odd for me but here is an overview of what we have done and will be doing over the next few weeks and the resources we are using.

Week 1:
Hang bird feeder & suet feeder
Clean out bird bath & make a "mini" lake in our yard
Paint bird houses the boys got for Easter
Make pine cone bird feeders
Learn to identify birds using field marks
Identify birds in our backyard using a pocket field guide (got to buy a book still)
Watch birds daily - mark off those we identify on a chart
Visit Birds of Prey in Maitland
An overview on birds - from a science encyclopedia we have, different birds wing spans, how many species of birds and how they break down into different groups

Week 2:
Use Considering God's Creation lesson on Birds and pull bird lessons from other sections in the book.
    *Birds - in general (1st week)
    *Flight - parts of the feather, bones are hollow
    *Beaks & Feet - different birds are shaped for where they live, how they eat, etc.
Make bird folder to hold papers, drawings, coloring pages, etc.
Build a bird (looking for link still, you download different parts of the bird and then  
   make the bird to fit a certain habitat)
Talk about wingspan - use yarn to measure out the wing span of
    certain birds
Start reading "Hoot"
Continue watching birds in our backyard
Take pictures of birds in our backyard
Make & paint bird houses out of dried gourds
Color pictures of birds we identify (Dover Publication Bird Coloring Book or
     download a free bird coloring book here )
Watch eagle cam & other web cam of birds
Sunrise bird walk @ the beach (identify water birds)

Week 3:
Continue: reading "Hoot", watching/identifying/coloring/taking    
     photos of birds
Color owl pages & do crossword (downloaded from kidwings.com)
Virtual owl pellet dissection @ kidwings
Watch movie - "The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill"
More in depth on habitats/what birds eat
Listen to bird songs online & identify birds by their song in our yard
Pick a bird to study & make poster

Week 4:
Continue watching/identifying/coloring/taking photos
Use lessons for things we have not covered from The Bird Site
Watch movie - "March of the Penguins" ?
Birds in art: look at and discuss pictures, paintings with birds (are they realistic, make believe, colors, good, bad, etc.) google search
Using paper mache make our own sculpture of a bird
Go see "Hoot"
Dissect real owl pellets

Other Resources we are using not listed above (we don't use all of it but take a little from here and there):
Lesson plan from Illinois
Cornell.edu
What Makes a Bird a Bird?
Bird Feeding
GA/FL Bird Photos