Littlest Bird Watchers

One side of Forsyth’s Pre-K classroom space is an east-facing, curved window wall that fills the room with light and warmth on a sunny day in the winter, and as a bonus, it has a great view of the bird feeder. The Pre-K children (3-4 year olds) have begun their study of birds, starting with Cardinals: bright red males, brownish females, tufted heads, and strong beaks to crack seeds open.

Bird Watcher is a new classroom “job” in Pre-Kindergarten. The Bird Watcher goes to the window during Calendar/Math/Weather time to see if there are any Cardinals on the feeder and then, records the findings on a chart. As more species of birds are added to this study of birds, they will be added to the chart for Pre-K graphing.  

To celebrate their new redbird friends, Pre-K children made Cardinal puppets–paper birds attached to craft sticks. After library time, the class flocked to Falcon Field, assembled in a circle, and sang “One Little, Two Little, Three Little Cardinals.” With paper Cardinals in hand on a brisk gray day, the Pre-Kers popped up and ran around Falcon Field so their Cardinals could fly. The wind challenged their paper birds, but their handicrafts remained mostly intact.

After soaring in the wind, it was time to collect their library book bags, line up, and head back to Fillmore.