Picture the scene: birdhouse, with occupants, outside our class window.
Impromptu education comes during read-aloud time when we noticed a bird making frequent jaunts to our window. Bird Watching 101 takes place, window-side.
What'd we see? A mama wren, perhaps, teaching 3 newbies how to fly. She'd make a several yard pass from her house, to table, to window...and her 3 darlings would hop/be inch-airborn for a good foot or so. They all congregated right by our door too, where papa bear bird must have seen us and was quite vocal for us to not even THINK about messing with his young'uns! Later we showed a couple pre-K'ers our little feathered finds, and they crouched down to look at the birds, as I think only pre-k children can! Such fascination!!
It's good when time can stand still for that....plus, it was kind of like "dinner and a show." We had a great spectator sport while I was able to finish the current chapter of our latest class favorite, Dan Gutman's "Million Dollar Kick" where the main character, Whisper Nelson is a pretty opinionated environmentalist. (Come to think of it, so is Dan Gutman--as is evident from his compilation book "Recycle this Book" where he has gathered 100 children's book authors to give their eco-thoughts in 3-4 page essays. Definitely a read you should read!)
Ahh, serendipity....which pairs quite nicely with bird watching!
--To learn more about Eagle Cove School, click on the title above, or go to www.gics.org.
--To learn more about Dan Gutman, go to http://www.dangutman.com/...be sure to click on the top link "Nothing to Do with Dan" to learn more about his thoughts on the environment!
--Picture from http://ibc.lynxeds.com/files/pictures/Cistothorus%20platensis%20falklandicus%20Grass%20Wren%20-%2010.jpg
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