Blog Post: Big Schools Birdwatch- What can it do for your school?

Big Schools’ Birdwatch - What can it do for your school? Pack requests close on 2 nd February and submission of results is open now https://www.rspb.org.uk/fun-and-learning/for-teachers/schools-birdwatch/ This is an exciting time for young people with many young leaders taking action for nature recovery with a louder voice for conservation issues than ever before. There is a heightened awareness of conservation issues such as; the impact of climate chance, habitat loss, plastic waste to name a few and many young people are proving to a be driving force for chance. This is an impassioned context for an activity such as Big Schools’ Birdwatch which gives tens of thousands of children the chance to take collective action to help save nature across all four UK countries. See two schools who completed their survey during December 2019… *Pendock Primary School near Worcester; https://community.rspb.org.uk/getinvolved/learning/b/learning-blog/posts/pendock-primary-school-s-big-schools-birdwatch *Northgate High School and Sixth Form in Ipswich, Suffolk https://community.rspb.org.uk/getinvolved/learning/b/learning-blog/posts/big-schools-birdwatch-at-northgate-high-school-and-sixth-form Time to fit ‘extras’ into the school day is an ill-afforded luxury for most teachers so here are some suggestions about how to use Big Schools’ Birdwatch to enrich the curriculum and use it to support the delivery of something you would be doing anyway; Maths The most natural link in maths is through statistics or data handling. This year’s survey sheets have been updated this year to support concept of number by including tens frames and subitizing dots. Once you have submitted your results, you will see them presented in the format of your choice; pie chart, bar graph or pictogram. Science Applying knowledge of habitats, adaptation, biodiversity and food chains/webs to the birds they find or expect to see. This links especially well if they have taken actions to help wildlife already such as putting out food and water or planting for wildlife where they can start to monitor the impact their actions are having. Afterwards children could share if anything in their results surprised them, why do they think this was? Didn’t see anything? What does this tell us? The results may prompt further investigation/projects into habitats and a retest? English The survey lends its self to a wide range of writing styles; non-fiction? Write a news report about your school’s participation- perhaps even send it to the local paper! Or a persuasive piece to your local council about what more they could be doing for wildlife in your area based on your results. Fiction? Birds have featured in so many forms of writing throughout time; poetry, diaries, stories etc. How about writing from different points of view? The observer and the bird- like Roald Dahl’s Magic Finger! Take a book about birds as inspiration; Owl Moon by Jane Yolen and John Schoenherr (younger children) or The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico (older children). https://www.rspb.org.uk/fun-and-learning/for-teachers/schools-birdwatch/ It contributes to your Wild Challenge Award… One of the activities for Wild Challenge is Big Schools’ Birdwatch so you could use this year’s Birdwatch to start your Wild Challenge Award or as part of gaining your next award. It is a great way for children to monitor the impact of the other activities they have done as a part of Wild Challenge such as putting out Food and Water for Wildlife, Planting for Wildlife or Homes for Birds. Working together- By sharing your class’s results with us, we can create an enormous and diverse data set giving an insight into which species are visiting school grounds and in what kinds of numbers. Importantly, the children will have had a voice and have acted to help nature. We send you a downloadable certificate and post out a thank you pack containing an A1 wall poster and information about our FREE Wild Challenge Award scheme for schools to help you continue your journey to help save nature. https://www.rspb.org.uk/fun-and-learning/for-teachers/schools-wild-challenge/

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8239592 https://community.rspb.org.uk/getinvolved/learning/b/learning-blog/posts/big-schools-birdwatch–what-can-it-do-for-your-school
via IFTTT

source https://childrenssafetyflooring.tumblr.com/post/190039467545

Blog Post: Big Schools' Birdwatch at Northgate High School and Sixth form

Big Schools Birdwatch at Northgate High School and Sixth Form is in Ipswich, Suffolk Written by Gemma Irwin We are lucky to have lots of green spaces and a supply of bird food funded by the PTA. We carried out our Big Schools Birdwatch on the afternoon of 11th December. Students who participated are members of Forefront Group, who undertake activities that enrich spoken language, encourage listening, and expand their knowledge of the local area. We observed birds in our playground, our Wildlife and Wellbeing garden and a green space for staff. Our playground is extremely popular with black headed gulls and pied wagtails! Our results: Blackbird 3 Black headed gull 34 Blue tit 4 Carrion crow 1 Magpie 5 Robin 1 Greenfinch 1 Dunnock 1 Woodpigeon 4 Long tailed tit 3 Pied wagtail 19 Wren 1 We sat in the greenhouse to observe the birds in our Wildlife and Wellbeing garden. Watching the birds that visit a green space for staff. We have hung up lots of feeders. Our Wildlife and Wellbeing Garden Our Magnolia tree with its many feeders Quotes from students: “I enjoyed seeing rare birds” Rayan “Seagulls seem to like to come to our school” Ioana “It was nice looking at the nature of our school” Reanna “It was calm to watch” Ioana “We will be more aware of looking and listening for birds that visit our school” everyone https://www.rspb.org.uk/fun-and-learning/for-teachers/schools-birdwatch/

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8239592 https://community.rspb.org.uk/getinvolved/learning/b/learning-blog/posts/big-schools-birdwatch-at-northgate-high-school-and-sixth-form
via IFTTT

source https://childrenssafetyflooring.tumblr.com/post/190039467420