Happy Spring from the Forest Dreamers!
This week we began to explore birds. We read a book called “Feathers: Not Just for Flying” by Melissa Stewart and learned that birds use their feathers for many things. Some use their feathers for shade, others for flotation, others for warmth and we were surprised to learn that the Red Tailed Hawk uses its feathers for sunscreen! Since the Hawk spends so much time flying high in the sky, it needs its feathers to protect it from the sun’s rays. We then looked at a collection of different bird feathers and tried to figure out which would be best for flying.
We had the opportunity to meet the Red Tailed Hawk at Irvine! She came out to see us and we were able to observe her feathers and notice other things about her. We looked at her hooked beak and her sharp talons and hypothesized what she uses them to hunt. We compared her beak and talons to those of a taxidermy Oriole and the House Sparrows at Irvine. We played a game were we tried to pick up beans with different types of beaks (straws bent in two like a tweezer for birds that peck and a spoon for birds that scoop). Everyone agreed that the scooping beak was easier to use but was harder to be precise with.
On Monday we hiked around Irvine looking for birds and bird nests. We kept a running tally of all of the birds we spotted and all of the bird boxes we found.
On Tuesday, when the first day of Spring brought snow, we jumped at the opportunity to do a little sledding in the Outdoor Classroom. We buckled up and sledded on the first snow until the hill was nothing but mud!
Unfortunately, there was too much snow for class on Wednesday or Thursday but we are all excited to see what else Spring has in store for us.
Mon:
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- Being Silly on the Mulch Pile
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- Bird Beaks
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- Charcoal Art
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- Checking for Ticks
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- Feathers for Flying!
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- Found a Note
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- Found some Dirt!
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- Found Some Mud
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- Friend on top of the Pile
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- Hummingbird Beak
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- Learning about Different Uses for Feathers
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- Learning Different Birds
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- Meeting the Red Tailed Hawk
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- Mulch Pile Queen
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- Red Tailed Hawk
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- Scooping like a Pelican
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- Sitting on a Stump
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- Tally for a Bird!
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- Tallying Birds and Bird Houses
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- To the Mulch Pile
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- Tweezer Beaks
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- Using our own Beaks
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- Writing with Charcoal
Tues:
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- Which Feathers are Best for Flying?
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- What Beak is Easiest to Use?
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- Spring Sledding
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- Snake Visitor!
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- Red Tailed Hawk
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- Saucer Time
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- Scooping like Pelicans
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- She Can’t See Where She’s Going!
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- Ready for Takeoff
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- Mud Sledding
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- Meeting the Red Tailed Hawk
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- Exploring Feathers
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- Bird Beaks
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- Bird Skull
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- Comparing Hawk to Sparrow
