Grades 6-8
These free resources provide educators with an opportunity to explore nature and science in the classroom and in their school yard.
Explorer’s Guidebook
We want to help you get kids outside and enjoying their local parks and natural areas. Take kids on a habitat scavenger hunt, create a sound map, and test bird ID skills with this adaptable activity book designed to be used by families, school groups, and anyone looking for a fun way to connect to nature. It’s also available in Spanish, French, and Portuguese!
Spark Guides
These five guides offer quick and easy activities to spark your student’s curiosity about the natural world. Depending on your student’s interests, you can choose one or complete all five. Each guide has an activity than can be used alone or used as an entry point into inquiry-based science.
Habitat Scavenger Hunt
These Habitat Scavenger Hunt cards will help children see their local environment in a new, fun way! Each card contains an image-rich beginner version on one side and an advanced version on the other, great for both younger and older students! Spanish and French versions are included with the download.
Bird Bingo
These bird bingo cards will provide an easy and engaging way to encourage young people to find birds and notice their behaviors. Each sheet contains two different bingo cards that will keep children focused and challenged on a nature walk. Spanish version is included in the download.
Bird Count Tally Sheet
Use this tally sheet when submitting to eBird.
Bone Identification
A mole, a vole or a shrew? What could those bones in your owl pellet possibly be? Download our free bone identification guide to solve the mystery!
Think Outside the (Nest) Box
Build, install and monitor nest boxes to help your students grasp a better understanding of life cycles. Download the free lessons to accompany the videos and activities.
Evolution in Paradise
These lessons, ideal for students in grades 6-12, explore the topics of science process, natural and sexual selection, behavior and heritability through hands-on activities and lively discussions… all with the help of the Birds-of Paradise Project videos.
Flap to the Future
To supplement Bird Academy’s online game Flap to the Future, we’ve created Jump, Glide, or Fly? Exploring Bird Evolution lesson plan. Lessons and game are free and engaging!
Educator Guides
eBird Essentials Educators Guide
Participatory-science projects like eBird can help make concrete connections between classroom learning and life skills, preparing your students with the tools they need to thrive in the world. This guide gives educator-tested tips, tools, and activities for scaffolding students in identifying birds and submitting data as a class.
eBird Explorers: Youth Action for Birds
Designed for out-of-school settings in collaboration with New York State 4-H and the New York State Network for Youth Success, these 11 lessons use birds and the eBird participatory-science project as the spark to get youth ages 8-15 excited about nature and inspire them to view themselves as scientists. Through hands-on activities, youth explore what it means to be a scientist, learn to identify birds, contribute to real scientific projects, and design an action project to help birds in their own communities.
FeederWatch Classroom Guide
Engage your students in Participatory Science with Project FeederWatch. This Guide helps you engage K-8th grade students in participatory science by providing the necessary tools and skills to help monitor bird communities across North America.
BeastBox Activity Guide: Calls of the Wild
The BeastBox game explores how animals use sound to communicate within their ecosystems in a fun and interactive way. This Calls of the Wild activity guide will help educators engage middle school students with the game while addressing key concepts.
Students as Scientists: Nature-based Inquiry
Are you looking for a way to make science exciting, meaningful, and hands-on for your students? Give them the tools to explore the natural world, ask their own questions, and design their own investigations with our Students as Scientists: Nature-Based Inquiry unit.
Free eBird Explorers 6-8 Lesson
By middle school, students crave the opportunity for science that is real and relevant. Download your free copy of eBird Explorers: Biodiversity Detectives 6-8 lesson to help you make science real. Dive in to adaptation by exploring the connection between dinosaurs and birds with your students. Use interactives such as the Wall of Birds to make science fun.
Discover adaptable curriculum units and kits that explore science and nature themes inside the classroom and out.
eBird Explorers: Biodiversity Detectives
Aligned to 6-8th grade Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core State Standards, this dynamic curriculum provides everything you need to teach confidently with eBird while exploring animal evolution and speciation, diversity, and adaptations. We use birds as a hook, utilizing exciting online interactives and hands-on explorations to engage students deeply. Students learn about the power of participatory science and apply their knowledge during bird counts and using real eBird data to discover patterns of migratory and non-migratory birds!
Owl Pellet Kit
Dissecting an owl pellet is a great way to learn about the different ecological roles organisms play in their environment. Our all inclusive kit challenges students to think critically about these ecological roles and to make evidence-based predictions.