Five for Friday June 10

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. Thank you for hosting, Kacey! My blog background disappeared- poof! And so did my Pin button.  My sweet daughter Ellie saved the day and fixed it back up for me. Thank you, Ellie. I need to take her shopping...

       

We had so much fun with ducks this week!  We've been working with birds a lot and LOVING it.  I do love my birds, and now the kids do, too.  Isn't that sweet how you can pass on an excitement or love of something to children?  I hope some of them keep that love forever.

This duck activity is simple and really shows the kids why ducks stay dry in the water.  

I traced the ducks on brown grocery bags  and the kids cut them out.  I also traced some feet that they attached with a brad so the feet can go around.   Once they cut the duck out, they dabbed some vegetable oil on the duck.  Then, each child got to spray their duck and see the water bead up on the duck, and not soak in.

Our lesson explained that ducks and waterbirds have a special oil gland by their tail.  When they "preen" (or clean themselves), they spread this oil over their outer feathers.  This oil helps to  waterproof those feathers.

Underneath those waterproof feathers are soft, down feathers that keep the duck warm.  I explained that the waterproof feathers are like a raincoat, and the down feathers are like our warm, dry clothes underneath the raincoat that stay dry and keep us warm because the raincoat keeps us dry.

This lesson is just one of MANY of our bird lessons in the new Birds and Bird Nests Packet that Dr. Jean and I made.  It's 60 pages of Birds and Birds Nests.  The are so many great hands-on, STREAM ideas, my Bird Nest Prezi, writing prompts to go along with books, 10 QR Codes for a center or Read the Room Activity, fingerplays, pictures for a bird journal,  and Dr. Jean's song download, "Birdies." That song is one of the kids' FAVORITES.  They think it's hysterical!  



If you would like a copy of this Duck Activity, just click HERE.  I included a simple duck pattern if you'd like to use it- or feel FREE to make your own!  I added a yellow craft feather to each duck, just for fun.

         

We read some great duck books to go along with this activity!  I LOVE Just Ducks by Nicola Davies.  Her books are so much fun because they are excellent non-fiction books with a story  that the children love to listen to.  We read the story the first time through, and then go back for the facts she scatters all throughout the book.  

Here are some sample pages:

Perfect for this activity!

Always great for the "uck" word family and rhyming


     

 We did some writing after we learned lots about birds and nests from our Prezi...

 made our nest packets

 and bird feeders, and read and listened to lots of bird stories.

If the story has a QR Code, I added that to the prompt so the children can have the story to listen to when they go home.  The prompts are simple and quick enough to be independent, but to really let the children be creative and answer questions.  Here are some samples of writing prompts we did about birds, that are also in the packet.

 

 

 

 

Have you watched the DC Eagle Cam in your classroom?  My class LOVED watching the eagles and their babies! I had it on during free choice time. It's quiet and so peaceful. OK- I say that... and then a duck ended up in the nest- which made us all stop and watch!  I saw a kitten was in one nest- but we didn't see it (thank goodness...).  So, it is LIVE and it is NATURE.  But the thrill of watching the eagles is just amazing.  Some of the kids are just mesmerized! 

 There are lots of online live camera feeds that are fun to watch.  Africam is another one we love.  Sometimes you can see some really neat animals at the waterhole- some days it's pretty quiet. 

Writing this time of year is very creative for me...because I feel like the kids are excited for some different ways to write.  When you think about it, it's the first time in their LIVES they can really get down on paper what they want to say.  That's huge!

Sticker writing is always fun.  We read lots of animal books to get some ideas about illustrations and facts.  Then,  everyone got a paper with two stickers on it.  Nobody knew which ones they'd get. I put them face down on the table, and they turned the paper over and had to draw a detailed background and write something about their animals.  They loved it. Nobody even complained! Maybe because as I was handing them out, some of the kids started with, "You get what you get, and you're thankful for it!"   I love that little saying.  I love it so much better than "You don't throw a fit."  It makes it so much more positive.

The gorilla was looking for a friend.  The fox was looking for a friend, too.

I live in the jungle.  I know, I know.  I am big and strong, but I am nice.  

These are my sweet girls.  I took the fairy wings outside to play- well, just because I can... and they had a ball!  Oh I love these sweet fairies!

This saying made me think about not worrying about falling, but instead trying to fly.  Apparently, I  must like that reminder, because this is my phone case!  

I'm just sharing this video because I thought it was sweet of Nicole and Keith. (I say that like they're my friends...) I know it's not a Christian song, but the chorus makes me think of God telling me that He won't let me fall. He won't ever make me cry.  And when everything seems to go wrong, He will fight for me.  <3  Another great reminder. 

Thank you for stopping by. Have a wonderful weekend!

Birds, Nests, and Freebies!

Last week, I wrote a post about Birds at PreK and K Sharing.  I love Kevin Henkes' book, Birds, and I wrote about activities I use to go along with that book and other Kevin Henkes' books. 

This week, we have been using my Bird Nest Prezi a lot. We've watched different videos of birds building nests and looked at/talked about lots of different birds, types of nests, and what birds use to build their nests.   Spring is such a wonderful time of year to introduce children to different types of birds, and maybe even introduce them to a lifelong hobby of bird watching or just feeding and being aware of different types of birds.  

Every year, I have my children make Bird Nest Kits to help the birds in the spring.   I have trays with different items on them that the birds could use to make their nests.  The children fill up a brown lunch bag with whatever they would like to use to help birds build their nests.  Then, I staple the bag shut and put on one of these labels. 

The children's homework is to find a spot outside at home to dump the ingredients of the bag, so the birds can find some special treasures to use for their nests.  We talk about how exciting it would be to actually find a nest with a piece of yarn in it that they put out for the birds!

    

I love this picture because this bird used a snake skin in its nest!

This bird used some newspaper.

This video shows how the little robin uses its body to make the shape of the nest. I love this!

Then, the robin puts something softer on top of the mud for the eggs and babies. I love how the robin uses mud for the base to keep it sturdy.

As I call children over a few at a time to make the bird nest kits, the other children write about what they would use to make a nest if they were a bird.   If you would like a copy of this paper and the Bird Nest Kit label that I used, you can get it HERE!



The children love learning the different types of nests.  The names make sense: A cup nest is the shape of a cup.  The spherical nest is a sphere shape.  The platform nest is built on a platform.  The cavity nest is in a hole, just like a cavity in a tooth is a hole in a tooth.  A pendulum nest hangs from a branch like a pendulum on a clock.  We learned lots of vocabulary as we talked about the nests. I used the pictures for each type of next from my Prezi.

These pictures are always favorites!  I have had these  in my "Bird" file for EVER, so I am not sure where I originally got them.  The children love seeing the silly places that some birds built their nests.

How about in  a traffic light, on a mop, or on the top of a bird house?

We also talk about fiction and non-fiction books regarding bird nests.  My little "help" for this is that fiction is "fake" and non-fiction is "not fake."  The children love to point out how they never see birds wearing little hats, so that is fiction.  

 We also love this story!

 

Library Centers shared this great activity to go along with The Perfect Nest.

Here are some other wonderful FREEBIES that I found on TPT to use with a bird nest unit.  

Twinkl Printable Resources shared this  Eggs in Nest Addition Sheet 

and this Eggs in Nest Counting Sheet that would be fun for an independent math activity.



Cindy from KinderKay  has a precious Eggs in a Nest Subtraction Craftivity. I love all of her products. 

 

This Robin's Nest Addition activity  by Julie Van Alst is a fun way for the children to practice addition facts! I also love Julie's products. 

 

This site, Allen's Hummingbird by S. Beals,  has beautiful photographs of  72 bird nests.  The children love seeing pictures of the different types of nests.

Here are some more of Sharon Beal's beautiful photographs of bird nests.

  

We made some simple bird feeders to hang in a tree above where the children leave their bird nest supplies, just in case the bird needs a little snack.  The children put multigrain Cheerios onto a pipe cleaner.  I made it into a circle, so they could hang it on a branch.  So easy - but they loved making them!  The kids thought that maybe the bird might even use that pipe cleaner in a nest.  You never know!

Here are some more  wonderful bird FREEBIES from TPT.

Montessori Print Shop has a great freebie showing 12 different Birds and Beaks with real photographs.



Mrs. Nelson is Missing shared a student Bird Book that would be a great addition to a non-fiction study about birds.  The students can record what they learn about their favorite bird.

Jennifer Hier shared a sweet Counting Eggs: Bird Emergent Reader.



Debi Forsyth shared a wonderful Types of Birds Easy Reader.  Love this!

I made this little paper to go along with her book, to show the children what each bird really looked like, so they could use it as a guide as they colored their books.  If you would like a copy of my bird pictures, just click on the picture below.  

I actually saved the page as a picture, and printed it out as a 5x7 picture, just to save some ink.  Then, I cut each one in half (since there are two strips on each page) and stapled a strip right onto the cover of each child's book.

The books came out so sweet! Thank you, Debi!



Mark Johnson made a Birds in a Tree math word problem freebie activity.



 

Amber Bass shared a How Many Birds Do You See? counting activity.

 

Simply Kinder has a darling Spring Subtraction  activity! 

Bronwen Aiston made a great PowerPoint to show how to design a birdfeeder with recycled materials around the house.

Danielle Irons shared these cute Bird Behavior Rules. They would be fun just to review with the class during a bird unit- and a great little vocabulary lesson.

Thank you for stopping by. Have a wonderful day! What do you think of these nests?