Science Lab #3

This week, due to the Presidential Inauguration on Tuesday and Honors Day on Thursday, the classes were not able to come to the library. However, I was able to have a little extra time with each group in the lab before we started dissecting owl pellets. We spent about 15 minutes discussing the food web of the barn owl and the reasons an ornithologist might want to discover what the owls were eating.

I've dissected owl pellets with 4th graders several times, so I was prepared for some of the reactions. "No, it's not poop! It's throw-up!" I most admit that this year's group was not the least squeamish about touching the pellets. Each student had their own pellet along with tweezers and a stick, a bone chart and a vole skeleton chart. Once the students had separated most of the fur from the bones, I asked them to color in on the skeleton what bones they thought they had discovered. One thing I have learned from previous dissections is that not all pellets are created equal. Some have very few bones. After it's obvious which students did not get a very prolific pellet, I went around with my bag of bones from last year and gave them a handful.

One student discovered a bird skull in her pellet. The second class had more pellets containing skulls. If there is only one activity you can do with a class studying the food web, dissecting owl pellets is the one to choose!

Science Lab #2

The Thursday lab sessions focused on ecosystems and food webs/chains. Because the teachers were covering the general concepts about ecosystems in the classroom, I decided to concentrate on food webs and chains in preparation for our owl pellet dissection next week. I planned three activities this week. The first group went into the computer lab with the classroom teacher and played a on-line game called Chain Reaction. The second group met with the science lab coordinator andwatched a movie on ecosystems from the Web site Brainpop.
I worked with the third group using cards to sort different living things into producers, consumers (herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores), and decomposers. We had just enough time to rotate each group through the three activities.







Again, the students were engaged and enjoyed the activities. However, because the ecosystem concepts are complex, I hope the teachers will continue exploring them in the classroom.

Field Guides

During library last week, I taught both classes the fundamentals of using a field guide. Our research project for LABS will be to create a personal field guide of the 15 common birds found around the neighborhood. Using the index of a book is a fourth grade reference skill, and I was able to have the students practice this with the field guides. I pointed out that birds with a two-part common name, such as Northern Cardinal, are looked up by the second part much like a person is looked up by their last name. Each student was given a set of the common bird pages that I acquired from notebookingpages.com Students will complete the page for each bird, then we will use the spiral binder to create the field guide. The assignment for the week was to fill in the common and scientific names, then color the picture appropriately.

Brown Thrasher's Bird Club News

On Friday, January 9, the bird club put up 4 Blue Bird boxes on the school grounds and moved around several of the bird feeders. We've seen many Blue Birds around the school and hope that we will get a nest in at least one of the boxes. The feeders were located in front of a large window. We were worried about window collisions, but discovered that there was too much activity near that hallway window and we didn't see very many birds at all. We moved the feeder closer to a pine tree about 25 yards from the window and hope to see more action. Two fifth graders and five fourth graders helped out. Mr. Gaither, a parent, assisted with the mounting of the boxes.

Science Lab #1

The first LABS session was devoted to learning the parts of a bird's body and starting to identify the 10 to 15 birds that are seen frequently in our school neighborhood. I set the lab up as 4 activity centers and with 3 adults this worked out nicely. The teacher in each of the two classes provided the students with an opportunity to learn the bird's body parts. We used the materials from the AAS LABS box.

I ran activity #2, which was bird song identification. I had two devices that use batteries and one book with a built in speaker for selecting songs-The Backyard Birdsong Guide by Donald Kroodsma. I would highly recommend this book for a listening activity with students. I was prepared to use my iPod with Bird Jam but felt that it was too complicated for the amount of time we had available. The objective was for students to understand that each bird has its own particular song and that this is a good way to identify birds in the field.

I set up 2 lap tops for activity #3. I had previously created a simple Powerpoint to help the bird club members learn the common birds. The students were able to manage the activity on their own. This activity seemed to be the students' favorite.

Activity #4 was run by the science lab coordinator. She played a memory/concentration game from the LABS material with the students . Students were asked to identify the bird after turning over the first card. Students spent about 8-10 minutes at each activity and were nicely engaged at each stop.

Data Collection

To provide data as to the effectiveness of the LABS model, I established a pre and post test framework. This past week during each class's scheduled library time, I administered the pre-test which consisted of 9 questions that were similar or identical to questions 4th graders will find on the CRCT in life science. (Criterion Referenced Curriculum Test for Georgia). For the tenth question students were asked to write down the name of every bird they could identify in their neighborhood. Most of the children struggled to come up with 4 or 5 birds, the most common being "robbin" and blue jay. Many others would be able to identify a flamingo, penguin, or ostrich should they appear in their backyard! Three students threw in bats for good measure. Of the 49 students, the mean number of birds named, both specifically (blue jay) and generically (eagle) was 4. The high number of birds named was from a student in the bird club who had 11, all specific. Of the nine CRCT type questions, the mean number correct was 5. Two questions referencing ecosystems were most often missed along with a question about migration. Many students were unable to identify "owls that live in the arctic are white" as an example of camouflage.

What is Learning About Birds?

Learning About Birds (LABS) is a curriculum based instructional package put together by the Atlanta Audubon Society and distributed to teachers and environmental educators willing to lead young people through activities that provide an understanding and appreciation of birds. (Click on the post title for more information about LABS.) As a birder/birdwatcher for many years and a library media specialist at an elementary school in DeKalb County Georgia, I united my avocation and vocation by starting a bird club in 2005 with a group of 5th grade boys. When the LABS program came to my attention, I took advantage of the support, training, and activity box that AAS offered, expanding the club to include 3rd and 4th graders.

In the spring of 2008, I wrote a successful grant application to the Georgia Association of Educators and received funding to implement the LABS program for the fifty-five 4th graders at my school. The framework for the instruction is tied to the 4th grade life science standards and will supplement the in-class instruction by offering the LABS activities during a scheduled science lab period beginning in January 2009.  There were 5 objectives listed in the grant application:

1.  Students will recognize the 15-20 common birds of Georgia that frequent our school and neighborhood. 
   
2.  Students will understand the basics of migration, the food web, the importance of habitat for survival, adaptation, and camouflage.
   
3.  Students will recognize that they are capable of enhancing and protecting the environment for the benefit of birds and other wildlife.
   
4.  Students will participate in a citizen science project, submitting observations and counts online. 
   
5. Students will use information sources such as field guides, online databases, and reference books for investigations. 
   

Posts to this blog will document the 6 weeks of instruction and also provide an opportunity to share some of the bird club activities online.