Sharing Happiness

Our entire student body of about 500 is involved in one way or another. Southside's Student Technology Leadership Program (STLP) group created a Hyper Studio program about the bluebirds and won the Kentucky Region 1 STLP competition at Murray State University in December of 2001.  I am attaching an overview of our project from it's beginnings.

INTRODUCTION

Students at Southside Elementary in Hopkins County, (Nortonville), Kentucky have found the old saying about “bluebirds as the bearers of happiness” to be true.   A partnership between the children and this small member of the thrush family began in 1997 with the building of 5 bluebird boxes as part of an Earth Day project and has grown to include an entire school, individual students, their families and the community as well. 

Tammie Sanders, Library Media Specialist and Environmental Education Coordinator at Southside, has developed the “bluebird project” with the help and guidance of Ed Ray, Education Director for the Kentucky Bluebird Society (KBS).   The project goes hand-in-hand with the Kentucky Core Curriculum in Science including the study of organisms, their environments, and life cycles.  Students have the opportunity to ask scientific questions and then seek answers through observation.   The Southside project includes:  research, technology, practical living skills, and community involvement. The entire student body of 494 students is involved in the observation and study of bluebirds, while individual groups and classes play special roles.

METHODS

During the 1999-2000 school year third grade students in Lea Isenberg’s class restored the boxes built in '97 and began monitoring bluebird activities at Southside.  Their records were submitted to the KBS to become part of a statewide record.

The Kentucky Bluebird Society furnished 8 new bluebird boxes in 2000.  Mrs. Seiber’s and Mrs. Durall’s fourth grade students measured the thirteen-acre school property and determined the best locations for the boxes.  They were placed one hundred yards apart, because bluebirds are territorial, and at least 4 feet from the ground to avoid predators and still allow fourth graders the chance to look inside.  The students used compasses in order to face the boxes East, generally the best direction for box placement.

Nesting begins in March. Students are on the scene to monitor the process and progress.  Weekly records are made of eggs laid, hatched, and fledged.  Students use the digital camera to make a visual record.  Whole classes sit within 10 yards of the boxes and watch silent and amazed as the parent birds bring a variety of insect meals to the young.  

PRESENTATIONS

In the fall of 2001 the Southside Student Technology Leadership Program (STLP) under the direction of fifth grade teacher, Denise Ross and Media Specialist, Tammie Sanders, with the help of parent volunteer, Dana Pyles began the production of a hyper studio program documenting the results of research, study, and observation of Southside’s bluebirds.   Ed Ray worked with the group as they compiled the results of their studies and prepared for a community service project. The STLP community service project was a bluebird box-building workshop held on September 27. The workshop led by STLP students included 17 Southside families (54 individuals) who produced 17 bluebird boxes to place at their homes.  The two-hour workshop included a program on the life and habits of bluebirds and, of course, building the boxes. The KBS provided kits for the boxes.  Other sponsors were the Southside Family Resource Center and MEMCO Inc. of Dawson Springs, Kentucky.

The Southside STLP presented their “Bluebird Project” and hyper studio program at the STLP Showcase and Conference held at Murray State University in December.  Groups from Region 1 schools presented over 70 projects.   The hard work of Southside’s creative young people paid off.  They were selected as winners and will represent Southside and Region 1 at the Kentucky Teaching and Learning Conference in March 2002, at Louisville, Kentucky.   Southside Students will proudly share the birds and their project with hundreds of educators.  The success of these students is the success of our natural world.   Their works and study benefits the students and bluebirds of today as well as building a foundation for the rewarding coexistence of both in the future.

FUTURE ENDEAVORS

The Kentucky Bluebird Society is ready to help your school establish a bluebird trail.   They will provide up to five free boxes to any Kentucky school and information on how to manage the boxes.

Once a trail is established, the trail manager is asked to help students learn about conservation and natural resources and monitor the bluebirds’ nesting success. 

For more information, contact Ed Ray at (270) 924-5831 or eray@commandnet.net

The Southside Student Technology Leadership Program (STLP) presented their “Bluebird Project” and hyper studio program at the STLP Showcase and Conference held at Murray State University in December. They were selected as winners and will represent Southside and Region 1 at the Kentucky Teaching and Learning Conference in March 2002, at Louisville, Kentucky.

If you have a study or project that you conducted on behalf of cavity-nesting birds, please share it with us. All text must be submitted in electronic format. Images can be submitted in either electronic or paper format.
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NestWatch
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You can also e-mail your photo as an attachment to:
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Thank you in advance for your contribution. 

Please note, all submissions become the property of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.