Show and Tell

My first grade students know I like birds.  Every now and then I show them my blog or flickr site with different photos of birds.  Whenever we're outside, they know to be on the lookout for birds.  A couple of weeks ago one of my first grade students came to school very excited that he had seen a hawk in his backyard.  I was thinking Cooper's Hawk and showed him some photos online.  But he wasn't convinced.  So the next day he brought me a CD of some photos his dad had taken of a Red-tailed Hawk.  I projected them on the board and Francisco began an elaborate presentation to his classmates of his hawk sighting.  He drew laughs when he told them his little sister had named the hawk "Hawkie".  He dramatically demonstrated to us how the hawk hopped and pounced on a horned lizard.  There was even an action shot of the hawk carrying the "horny toad" to its perch on the fence.  We were told, "This is where the hawk ripped it to pieces and ate it."  So cool!  He did such a great job, I had him give the presentation again in the afternoon to another class.  For his bravery and enthusiasm I gave him a bird calendar from Project FeederWatch.  I think we have a potential birder on our hands, or maybe even an ornithologist!  Yesterday he asked me if I knew what DNA was.  He said, "I could get a feather from a bird and take it to the museum.  Then they could test it and trace it back to the dinosaurs!"  How about that from a six year old!!!

Red-tailed Hawk with horned lizard

*Photos used with parent's permission. 

Read another story about my amazing first graders!