Birding Field Trip

Junior (Age 9 – 12)

Curriculum Goal

Junior

  • Investigate the characteristics of living things and classify diverse organisms according to
    specific characteristics
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Context

  • This whole-group activity will take place in a green space outdoors
  • Students should have experience using investigative tools, such as binoculars, magnifying glasses, cameras or field guides for plants, trees or birds
  • Whole-group discussion back in the classroom for closure

Materials

  • Binoculars
  • Sketch Pads (on clipboards)
  • Pencils and erasers
  • Field guides
    • Ahead of this lesson, educators should create field guides featuring birds that students may see during the field trip. The eBirds website provides information about birds in the area; The Allaboutbirds website provides excellent visual identifiers for birds.
  • Magnifying glasses
  • Cameras

Lesson

  • In-class introduction:
    • As a class, you may want to check the eBird website for any recent sightings at the field trip location. We will explore this website further in Lesson 2. Have students determine some physical characteristics of the birds registered on the site so they know what to look for once they get outside.
    • Give students time to find the spotted birds in their field guides and ask them to share strategies for how they found them (e.g., Northern Goshawk: “It is probably a hawk because its name is Goshawk, so we checked the birds of prey section.”).
    • When all students have found the bird in their field guides, talk about the key features (e.g., large size, white stripe over the eye, orange eye).
    • Ask students, “How are we going to tell this species apart from other species?”
  • Have students get into small groups and ask them to collect their birding materials (binoculars, sketch pads, pencils, erasers, magnifying glasses, field guides, and cameras)
    • Review safety protocols and field trip expectations prior to leaving for the outdoors.
  • At the field trip location:
    • Ask students to look around and observe. Does anything surprise them? Share observations with the whole class.
    • Provide students with a brief history of the location. Discuss reasons why wildlife such as plants and birds live or grow in this location.
  • Provide children time for a guided or self-guided exploration in their small groups:
    • Encourage students to use the investigative tools to explore plants, birds, soil, habitats, and other wildlife.
    • Have students use their sketch pads to draw what they see. Focus on key characteristics. Use labelling to describe colours or textures of their findings.
    • If possible, have students take pictures of their findings so they can reference them later.
    • Try to confirm/match any findings using their field guides.
  • Upon returning to the classroom, have students gather as a whole group for a Knowledge Building Circle. Ask the following questions:
    • What is something that surprised or excited you at our field trip location today?
    • What questions do you have that arose from those experiences? Is there something you would like to start researching?
    • What can we do now to bring some of what we enjoyed from that experience into our learning, and day-to-day lives here at school
  • Record student responses somewhere that they can be seen by the whole class. Use these ideas as inspiration to guide the rest of the inquiry. Try to make connections back to these ideas whenever possible.

Look Fors

  • What did students already know about the field trip location or species living there?
  • Were students able to decipher key characteristics of their findings?
  • What strategies did students use to locate their findings in their field guides?
  • Where did students look for their species? Were they using the appropriate investigative tools?

Extension

  • See Lesson 2: Getting to know eBird
  • Have students research what happens to the species they found in the winter months? (e.g., Where do they go? How do they survive? Do they prepare for winter by storing food, building nests, etc.?)

Adapted from a lesson created by Charlotte Henderson

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