Birds (Week 9)

Manna Moment:  Where did the World Come from?

This is the text from the fifth day of creation that we discovered today.

​"The sky was now ready for birds to fly in it;
Chirps, squawks, and coos filled the air in a minute! -  
There were black birds and brown birds and yellow and blue- 
With long beaks and short beaks, and tails and wings too!.-
God’s Word filled the waters with fish right away;- 
The seas were soon swimming with orange, blue and gray-  
Good were the creatures made on the fifth day- "

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What is a Bird by Lola M Schaefer

This was a very simple book that states one characteristic of birds on each page along with a vivid photograph.  These simple books with pictures really draw out all the ideas from these young minds.

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I gave each student one of these reading guides as well that mentions some of the characteristics of birds with a keyword for them to trace as we are discussing some facts about birds.  For a review, students can color it.

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Bird Beak Buffet

Now that we know some characteristics of birds, it is time to focus on one.  I chose to focus on their beaks.  Their beaks will determine what food they are able to eat.
The students had to 'pretend' to be birds and not pick up the 'food' with their hands but see if they could do it with a spoon, tweezers, scissors, clothespin or binder clip.  The materials that they needed to pick up were paper clips, toothpicks and and rubberbands.  Here is an investigation sheet that you can use if you have some older students.  You can time each student to see how many things they can pick up in 30 seconds and then count and write the number on the chart.  My students loved stacking the toothpicks and scooping up as many things with the spoon as they could.

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Making a miniature Bird Feeder

I wanted to have the students make their own bird feeder and so I picked this very simple design.  Students all received a chenille stem and some circle shaped cereal to place on it.  Once it was full, they can shape their chenille stem into any shape they wanted and hang it on their tree at home.  They can then watch all the birds that might come by for a snack.