Barbara Herkert

Dear Teachers,

You can use Birds in Your Backyard in the classroom. Here are some ideas:

Create a schoolyard bird habitat by providing food, water and shelter. Plant shrubs, trees and groundcover that will attract birds, such as junipers, holly, or strawberries. Build nesting boxes according to the directions on page 34 and put them up in late winter or early spring. Make bird baths out of pie pans or shallow dishes. This is a great project for the entire school to enjoy and pass on to future generations of students. For more information, contact The National Wildlife Federation's Schoolyard Habitat Program at www.nwf.org

Another idea is to participate as a class in Audubon Adventures, an award-winning environmental education program for grades 3-6 (www.audubon.org/​educate/​aa/​); or The Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Classroom FeederWatch (www.birds.cornell.edu), a research curriculum designed for grades 5-8.

There are links to these great websites to the right of this page.

A finished nesting box