Ask students how birds help plants, animals and people. Show them 1-2 video clips as examples.
Video of birds eating fruit/ spreading seeds
Video of bird eating bugs/ticks off of larger animals
Video of bird (duck) eating bugs in a garden or a pet bird.
Video birds laying eggs/ people collecting eggs from birds to eat
Explore:
Divide students into small groups or partners. Assign each group a bird helping scenario to act out; give each group a charade card. Alternatively, do this activity whole class and call up a few students at a time to whisper to them what to do in front of the class. Have students guess what the bird is doing that is helpful.
Bird eating fruit and dropping seeds out in the dirt. The seed grows to be a plant.
Bird eating ticks/bugs off of a larger animal.
Bird eating bugs out of a garden.
Pet bird singing and owner smiling.
Bird laying eggs, human collecting eggs and cooking them to eat.
People watching birds with binoculars, taking pictures, having fun.
Hummingbirds drinking nectar and moving pollen from plant to plant.
Seeds/burrs attach onto bird feathers and are rubbed off to fall/grow somewhere else.
Explain:
As each group acts out their scenario, discuss/explain how birds are helping plants, animals and people.
Elaborate: (optional)
Read students a book about homing pigeons and how they used to help people send messages.
“Pigeon Hero!” by Shirley Raye Redmond
“Mr. Potter’s Pigeon” by Patrick Kinmonth
“Lofty’s Mission” by Krista Bell
You could write your own story about homing pigeons carrying messages, but there are some great children's books out there about them. ???
Evaluate:
In their Bird Study Journals, have students respond to the opinion writing prompt, “Are Birds Helpful?”. Ask students to include 2-3 details of evidence to explain how birds are (or are not) helpers.
Have students share their responses with a partner. Review responses and provide feedback/ reteach as needed.
*Note: For 2nd grade students, you may want to provide evidence of how birds can be harmful and then they can write a response of yes or no with evidence for either side.
Elaborate (Engineering a Seed-Spreading Device):
Review the ways that birds help spread/fertilize seeds in a habitat (eating fruit, seeds sticking to feathers, hummingbirds spreading pollen). Provide students with a scenario:
“The birds in the Sunshine Forest all got sick and were moved away. The forest started struggling to grow since the seeds were not getting spread around by the birds. Design a device that could help spread seeds like the birds do. Draw a picture of what the device would look like, what it would be made of, and how it would work.”
Have students fill out the design page for the Seed-Spreading Device.
