• Give a slide show of the birds commonly found at feeders in your region to learn bird identification. Contact Project FeederWatch (LINK) for information on how to obtain a copy of the slide show for your region.
• Invite parents and teachers to an evening presentation about goals and objectives of bird programming you have planned.

      "We invited all the students and their parents to an evening presentation. After preparing a family packet and inviting a representative from Wild Birds Unlimited (WBU) to come and join us, we prepared a Powerpoint presentation on the goals and objectives of the program.
      Our evening started out with slides of local feeder birds. When the parents saw how excited the students are about identifying birds, we had them! The rep from WBU brought seed and feeders and gave an educational presentation about purchasing those items. He was wonderful. Then we showed various bird guides that we will sell at our book fair.  Each family took home a folder which included a poster of the birds and articles about feeders, seed, and other related topics.
      That evening gained us so much parental support! If we need money for additional feeders or seed, I am sure we would have no trouble raising it!"

• Have a local "expert" (from a nearby nature center, raptor center, bird club, etc.) come to the classroom to help kids identify birds.
• Read short stories about birds to children (see the CLO web page on book readings and related activities [LINK]).
• Give presentations at your local and regional science teacher meetings

    -- How to collect and enter data.
    -- How to use the data you've collected for creating graphs (see BirdSleuth web site for more information).

• Offer a hands-on session at the local library or a nature festival on how to use field guides and binoculars.
• Give a presentation about backyard habitats to the local garden club.

Many of the ideas on this page were sent to us by teachers and other educators. Send us your favorite activity idea:

Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Education Department
159 Sapsucker Woods Road
Ithaca, NY 14850

Email: baj3@cornell.edu