Cornell Lab of Ornithology: BirdSleuth K-12
FREE WEBINARS
BirdSleuth offers a variety of free webinars each month open to all educators. All our fun and interactive webinars provide background content, highlight new and relevant educational resources, and allow discussion for successful implementation of such information and activities. Each webinar is roughly 45 minutes with 15 minutes allocated for questions.
September: Blending Science and Language Arts
October: From Observations to Questions: An Introduction to Inquiry
November: Dissecting the Food Web: An Owl Pellet Investigation
December: Exploring Evolution
January: Great Backyard Bird Count
February: Supporting Student Investigations
March: Gardening for Birds
April: Bird Communication
Blending Science and Language Arts
The Common Core ELA standards ask students to read content that develops their understandings and critical-thinking skills. BirdSleuth’s Books and Activities help Elementary-aged students meet ELA standards through cross-curricular learning.
From Observations to Questions: An Introduction to Inquiry
Encourage your students to go beyond observing the outdoors, to being engaged and asking authentic science questions. Using BirdSleuth’s Investigating Evidence, we will use case studies that exemplify how you can engage students in the scientific process.
Dissecting the Food Web: An Owl Pellet Investigation
BirdSleuth just released its newest kit Dissecting the Food Web: An Owl Pellet Investigation. Take students through the complexity of ecosystem food webs, and better understand how top predators such as owls impact food webs.
Exploring Evolution
From Darwin’s finches to the Birds-of-Paradise, birds have been a common figure to study diversity and adaptation. Utilizing online interactives from the Bird Academy’s website and BirdSleuth’s Evolution in Paradise lessons, we will explore natural and sexual selection and how it’s contributed to the diversity of birds through behavioral and anatomical adaptations.
The Great Backyard Bird Count is the perfect starting point for any educator who is interested in getting young learners excited about citizen science and birds!We will give you ideas and introduce you to resources that will encourage students and communities to participate.
Supporting Student Investigations
Scientists are curious. Designing experiments and interpreting complex data is the foundation all scientists have. Fortunately these are skills your students can develop! Students can even share their findings in our student publication magazine BirdSleuth Investigator just like a real scientists would.
Gardening for Birds
Spring is in the air and kids are anxious to get outdoors. School gardens provide the context for lessons across subjects and offer a wonderful opportunity to engage students in hands-on, project-based learning. Students who engage in school gardening are likely to experience academic, physical, emotional, social, and even behavioral benefits. School gardens not only benefit students, but they can also benefit birds!
Bird Communication
After a quiet winter, your school yard is probably buzzing with bird songs and calls, a sure sign that spring here. But what are the birds saying? Become more familiar with the sounds you hear outside everyday.
Observing Bird Movements
Birds are on the move, but what can we learn from those movements? Migration provides a rich opportunity to participate in citizen science, see new birds, and engage with STEM. Using citizen-science data, students can monitor bird movements and predict bird occurrences.
