Bird study soaring high

Wow! We concluded another fabulous week and with many activities and events connected to our Bird Study.

During our Library visit, Michelle read us a very funny Pigeon tale by Mo Willems, “Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!” The Pigeon books are always great fun and this is just another irresistible tale. In this delightful story, the pesty pigeon returns trying to convince the reader to let him stay up late. Should we? Make sure to ask us all about it!

During our Outdoor Play, a few Cardinals decided to create a nest using big hollow blocks and tree cookies for the eggs.

“Here. You sit here and be the baby.”

“O.K., Will you be the Mommy bird?”

“No. I will be the Daddy bird. I will sit here to take care of the eggs. She’s Mommy bird and she’s going to get us food.”

“Hey! I got a worm.”

Ahh, the beauty of imagination! It is through imagining and doing that a child learns, using objects to represent something else while giving them action and motion. The process of pretending builds skills in many developmental areas such as language, abstract thinking, social skills and problem solving.  As the Cardinals engage in pretend play, they are gaining an understanding of the power of language as they learn that words give them the ability to reenact a story or organize play. This process helps our Cardinals make connections between spoken language and thought, a skill that will later help them learn to read.  

Providing opportunities for children to practice and develop skills in observational drawing is an important component of our studies. Observational drawings invite children to be careful observers of the world around them and to take notice of details that can lead to important learning. Interest in feathers seemed like a natural opportunity for us to provide an invitation for the children to practice the skills of observational drawings.  A craft feather was handed out to each Cardinal and the children were encouraged to observe the feather noticing even the little details. The children spend time looking closely at the feather and then translated their understandings of the feather to paper. They drew exactly what they saw adding as much detail as they could.  The children were asked to take notice of the color, size and shape and were encouraged to draw a realistic representation of the feather they selected.  Although it was challenging for some, it was amazing to see the detail the Cardinals were able to achieve. With future opportunities for the practice of observational drawing, the Cardinals will improve concentration, drawing skill and an overall ability to see the world around them.

  

Erin too invited us to a feather activity. Erin is Kate’s Mommy and also our Middle School Social Studies Teacher. During her free time period, Erin stopped in to share her favorite pigeon book and a crafty feathery idea. She first read another of Mo Willems’ stories, “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!” In this tale, the pigeon tries various tactics to get behind the wheel of the bus. What did the Cardinals think about this story? Hilarious! (The adult listeners enjoyed it just as much.) Thanks, Erin!

After the read aloud, Erin gave each Cardinal a cut-out silhouette of a bird and invited them to draw and/or glue details on it. What stunning work of art the Cardinals created! 

But where can we display all these beautiful birds? On a tree of course! So, after Erin’s visit the Cardinals got very busy in creating a habitat for our new “friends”. Please stop in and say "Hello." 

When used age-developmentally appropriately, technology can be used to help enhance our understanding. Stella brought in two very tiny eggs along with a very tiny feather and shared with us that they belonged to her finch. When one Cardinal asked, “What does a finch look like?”, an iPad was used to put a visual for the word. Amazing!

This technology also helped us find fun facts about an Emu when one of our teachers brought out an emu egg. We learned that this animal lives in Australia and it is the second biggest bird, the first is the ostrich. It is a flightless bird that has “knife-like nails on their toes” and can run up to about 30 mph. Wow!

We are truly enjoying our research! Stay tuned ....