D-H Students Go Bonkers for Birds
by Debbie Rosso
Delmar-Harvard fourth and fifth graders spent the day “birding” at Tower Grove Park on May 5 with park rangers from the National Great Rivers Museum. (www.meetingoftherivers.org) In preparation, a park ranger visited Delmar-Harvard and presented information on bird characteristics, using binoculars, and identifying birds. On the field trip, the students participated in hands-on activities including matching beak types with various food, a migratory bird game, a bird facts bingo game, as well as walking through the park to identify birds.
Bonkers for Birds: a Bird Book by Kids for Kids is an annual project of this program which has participation by many schools in the metro area. Each school is given a bird to research and students draw pictures; our bird was the red-winged blackbird. The book is published with the drawings judged the best. Alonna Williams received first place and Brandi Redmond received honorable mention. (www.meetingoftherivrs.org/html/bonkers.html) Naturally, we have a copy of Bonkers (with the drawings by Alonna and Brandi) in our school library!
Alonna Williams, fourth grade Brandi Redmond, fourth grade
This program is offered by the Missouri Corps of Engineers Outdoor Education Program. We are grateful to the Parkview Gardens Association for providing bus transportation for this event. It is our hope that students will learn to appreciate the outdoors, especially our parks, and become active caretakers of the earth.
