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Teacher’s Guide to

Backyard Birds

KNOW #27, May/June 2010


Home Sweet Coconut (page 4)

Classroom Link: Biology

Students may enjoy watching a video showing the octopus using the shell.

Have a class discussion or assign a research project on other animals that use tools. For example, chimpanzees and crows use tools. (As do humans.) Past articles on this topic can be found in KNOW, Issue 2 (page 4), Issue 10 (page 15), and Issue 13 (page 3).


Dung for Dinner (page 5)

Classroom Links: Biology

To see the tree shrew visiting the pitcher plant, watch this video.

Introduce the word “symbiosis.” Symbiosis is a close relationship between two species that lasts over time. For example, a termite has a symbiotic relationship with a species of bacteria that lives in its gut. The bacteria help the termite digest the wood cellulose it eats. The termite provides the bacteria with habitat. In this relationship, both organisms benefit. In other symbiotic relationships, one species benefits while the other is harmed. This is called parasitism. For example, the plant, mistletoe, is a parasite on pine and fir trees.

Ask the children if the relationship between the shrew and the pitcher plant is a symbiotic one? Is either species harmed in the relationship? Do they both benefit?


Mind Game (page 5)

Classroom Links: Mathematics

If you cut very carefully, using very close cuts, you can do this activity with a playing card or even a business card. Young children, however, will have more success (and less frustration) with larger sheets of paper. You can help children make straight cuts by having them fold a sheet of paper in half lengthwise. Then fold it in half crosswise. Keep folding crosswise until it is divided into 16 sections. Unfold the sheet (but leave it folded lengthwise) and have them cut along each line, reversing the direction each time as shown on page 31. Instead of cutting out the piece as shown in step one on page 31, you can also just have them snip the central fold in all of the strips except the two end strips.


LEGO (page 6)

Classroom Links: Physics, Mathematics

For ideas on using LEGO bricks in math class, go to the web site Little Brick Schoolhouse. This site also has dozens of ideas for other subject areas.


Your White Blood Cells (page 7)

Classroom Links: Biology, Health

This web site has excellent information on blood and its various components. It also has a short video on what a child can expect when he or she gives a blood sample.

Activity: Using the information in the article and/or on the web site mentioned above, have students create a short skit explaining how the different parts of the blood help heal us. Also refer to past issues of KNOW. (Issue 11 – bruises; Issue 21 – scabs; and Issue 26 – heart).


Dandelions (page 8)

Classroom Links: Biology, Math

Activity: If dandelion seed heads are available, bring one into the classroom. Have students examine the parachute-like seeds. Placing them on a black sheet of construction paper, or under a microscope, will help. What characteristics help this seed spread?

Bring in seeds, or photos of seeds, from other plants. Try to include at least one seed that is prickly or sticky.

Most seeds disperse in one of four ways. Seeds can be:
Hitch-hikers – Stick to fur, feathers, or clothing. They are then carried by their host to a new spot where they eventually fall. Example: burrs.
Droppers – Simply fall to the ground. Sometimes these seeds are spread by other animals who eat them and then poop them out elsewhere. Example: apple.
Poppers – Burst from seed pods. Example: Scotch broom seeds. (Also see this video of the Himalayan Balsam seeds.
Fliers – Carried through the air by the wind. Example: dandelions.


Theme Section:
Backyard Birds (pages 9 to 19)

Classroom Links: biology, outdoor education

No matter where you live, there are birds. Even the most common of birds, such as sparrows and robins, have a lot to teach us and bird studies can easily be incorporated into the classroom.

1.Bird ID
Find a bird guide that is appropriate for your area. Try to be quite specific. For example, Birds of Northern California rather than Birds of North America. If you are unsure of the best guide, contact a local naturalists’ club or chapter of the Audubon Society.

A good-quality identification booklet, appropriate to your region will go a long way to helping you and your students identify birds. Most bird books will have illustrations rather than photographs. This is so birds in various plumages (male vs. female; summer vs. winter; adult vs. juvenile, etc.) can be illustrated.

Invite a local birder into your classroom to help students identify four or five local birds. The tips on pages 10-11 give the basic features to watch for. For more on bird field marks, see KNOW, Issue 20, page 10.

If each student in your classroom wrote a short primer to one bird that lives in your region, you would have a great field guide to the local birds.

2.Citizen Birder
There are many excellent programs in which students can help with research on birds. For example, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s BirdSleuth and PigeonWatch; Project Feeder Watch, a joint project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Bird Studies Canada; the Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count, and many local, national, and international programs. Many of these projects have an education component with support materials for teachers.

Contact a local museum, nature center, or natural history club for information on programs related to birds and bird watching.

3.A Banquet Fit for a Bird (pages 16-17 and page 20)
If appropriate, set up a bird feeder or two for your school. Before establishing the feeder(s) have students develop a plan. For example, have them consider:
• the type of feeders appropriate to birds in your locale
• the type of feed to be used in these feeders (they could also calculate costs)
• how to keep the area safe for the birds (for example, are the feeders out of the reach of cats and other predators and competitors for food, such as squirrels)
• a class cleaning schedule for the feeders

Once the feeders are established, the students could provide interpretation. For example, they could offer “tours” to young students or they could set up posters near a viewing area so other students can identify the birds.


Great Moments in Science: The Bird Ladies of Boston (page 22)

Students may enjoy reading the book She’s Wearing a Dead Bird on Her Head! by Kathryn Lasky, which also tells the story of the bird ladies of Boston.


Reviewed by You (pages 28)

We are always keen to hear from students who would like to do a book review. Even students who are learning to read can participate as they can read the book with an adult. Here’s how it works. If a student is keen, they should send their email to us at info@knowmag.ca. (Or, they can phone 1-888-477-5543 or write KNOW magazine at 501-3960 Quadra St., Victoria, BC, V8X 4A3.) We will put the student on a list and when their turn for review comes up (usually within six months), we will email them a list of books to choose from. Once the student has chosen, we’ll send along a book and a list of questions to answer. The student gets to keep the book.

Feedback
We are interested in making this guide as useful as possible. Please let us know if we've provided enough, too much, or not enough information. Any other thoughts or comments are appreciated.

Email: teacher@yesmag.ca

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