Activity 

(3 class periods)

Class period 3

Exploring Migration Technology

What to do:

1. Distribute copies of the two activity sheets: “A Bird, a Map, a Migration Story” and “Birds Here, Birds There.”
2. Go over the activity sheets together and make sure students understand the directions.
3. Have students work individually or in pairs to complete the activity sheets. Encourage them to help each other and to ask you for guidance when they get stuck. When students have finished the activity sheets, go over their results together. Compare and discuss their answers.
4. For “A Bird, a Map, a Migration Story,” use your interactive whiteboard to display the migration of each bird, one after the other. Invite students to comment on similarities and differences in the migration journeys of the two species, including where they migrate and when they migrate.
5. For “Birds Here, Birds There,” use the interactive whiteboard to open the “Locations” feature and select your school or your town or city as the location. Ask if any students chose this location, and if so, ask them to point out how many species connect to it. Continue inviting students to suggest places to connect this species to and answer the rest of the questions on the activity sheet.

Extensions

1. To extend students’ engagement with bird migration, have them work individually or in pairs or small groups to create an illustrated travel brochure from the perspective of a bird represented in the Explorer. They can choose any bird, learn about its migration, and then learn about the habitats and climate conditions when that bird is in different locations as it journeys from place to place. Ask them to think about the food that bird eats, the type of habitat it needs, and the challenges it faces throughout its journey, and take that information into account in the brochure they create. They can illustrate the brochure with original illustrations or with pictures from magazines or other sources. In another class period, create a display of students’ brochures.
2. In subsequent classes, revisit this topic. Have students begun to notice birds more? What questions do they have? Based on the level of interest expressed, see the Naturalist’s Bibliography for additional resources for learning about birds that would be appropriate for individual students.