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.