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    Partnership with Apalachee Audubon Society

    From October 16--November 17, 2006, ESOL students studied about birds. This was a result of our partnership with Dr Elizabeth Platt and local Audubon members.

    Students used the following materials for this unit of study:

    ReadingA-Z.com (available in English and Spanish!): Bird Goes Home, Weird Bird Beaks, Birds and Birds of Prey

    VocabularyA-Z.com: a variety of worksheets

    Audubon Adventures newspaper (available to teachers FREE from National Audubon Society)

    Unitedstreaming.com (students viewed video on laptops): What Is A Bird?

    Eyewitness video: Bird

    A variety of bird books from Pineview Media Center

    During Red Ribbon Week (October 23--27), some students illustrated a bird along with the following quote: "Fly High on Reading, Not Drugs! ESOL students study about birds with the Apalachee Audubon Society."

    Laminated bird flashcards (also provided by Apalachee Audubon Society)

    Students' work were posted on a bulletin board and the door of the Media Center.

     

    		 

    On Friday, October 27, 2006, from 10:30--11:30 am, Dr Platt, Marvin Collins and Dawn Saucier spoke to our ESOL students about birds and our upcoming field trip to Lake Alberta on Lake Bradford Rd next to Church's Fried Chicken. First, Mr Collins projected a slide show about different kinds of birds we may see at the lake. Then Ms Saucier showed a poster of birds along with their names. This was a gift to our classroom. Afterwards, we worked in 3 groups and each guest speaker discussed with the students about beaks, feathers and feet, using the Audubon Adventures newspaper and diagrams of feather shapes.

     

     

     

     

    There was an unexpected highlight to this unit of study. On Wednesday, October 25, I visited my friend's home, Ann Kozeliski, who has an extensive collection of bird sculptures. She graciously agreed to lend some of these birds to display in our classroom: ibis, cormorant, avocet, sandpiper and a cute toucan who hangs from the ceiling on a perch. Students were delighted to view these sculptures. As a bonus, Ann, who is an artist and a designer of her own greeting cards (www.sapphirerose.com) agreed to donate bird cards for each student as a special prize. Students received this prize on November 17, after our field trip.

     

     

     

    On Friday, November 17, 2006, we embarked on our walking field trip to Lake Alberta to view birds. Twenty-six K-5 students, 10 university participants and 2 sets of parents (Salazars and Lamillas) participated in this field trip. The same Audubon members set up 3 viewing stations around the lake with high-powered telescopes and provided binoculars for students and parents to view birds. We saw woodstorks, egrets, herons and ducks. It was a beautiful, breezy, sunny day and everyone enjoyed the trip!