MORE Birds!!

All week the weather man tried to scare me away from taking a field trip today.  Storms, rain, wind...They promised everything necessary to make an outside in the woods hike seem out of the realm of possibility.  What a glorious day we got!  In West Michigan along the shore the weather was PERFECT.  Warm...Check!  Sunny....Check!  Now imagine sitting on a quiet bench enjoying the tranquility of the dunes.  Suddenly, a mob of first graders goes tearing down the dunes and scares every bird and animal away within a five mile range!  But they're happy, so it doesn't bother you one bit!  The funniest part of the whole experience to me was my firsties fear that we might see a fox on our hike!  I soon feared that we wouldn't see even one bird!

Only one horrible moment occurred on the whole outing...Wait, two!  The first one was when I turned on my camera and saw . . . "no memory card"!  You have got to be kidding!  I have no pictures of the Bluebirds, Towhees, Goldfinches, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Black-throated Green Warblers, Chipping Sparrows, or first graders to share with you.  Do I have to tell you about the other?  Well.....The State Park is getting ready for their annual plant sale.  Earlier, I had pointed out some of the plants that they had for sale.  Somehow, a  Prickly Pear Cactus lost a leaf.  Some kids found it and picked it up.  In a wonderful teaching moment I said, "When your done, pass it to the next person!"  Have you ever handled a Prickly Pear?  They are prickly.  Two girls took on most of the damage and I spent half an hour pulling out prickers back at school.  I told the kids that they had to do three things today....Stay safe, have fun, and learn something.  We all learned that Prickly Pears are.....PRICKLY!  What are cactus doing in Michigan, anyway?


I have to share the books that we read today before our trip.  The first book I had never heard of until I read about it on Mrs. Quimby's Readers and Writers.  As soon as I read about it I ordered it from Amazon.  I love Keven Henkes.  I treasure this book written by him and illustrated by his wife, Laura Dronzek.  Birds is perfect for first grade. I had only one student who didn't like it because "it didn't really tell a story."  ( I'm proud of her for not being afraid to state her opinion!)  I thought the illustrations were one of the best things going for the book, but I also enjoyed the simple text and imaginative ideas expressed in the book.  Her is my favorite page(s)!

One of the things I HATE about Amazon is that they give you bad ideas....Okay this one was a good one!  I had to get this book, too.  I am so glad that I did.  The pictures....gorgeous.  The text ... Simple!  About Birds A Guide for Children is beautifully written by another husband wife team.  The pictures are so gorgeous, I had to share one with you.

Gorgeous pictures...Simple text....All of my firsties love this book!  We heard
the Oven Bird today...No chance of seeing it!

Now, are you ready for firsties projects?  On my last blog I posted a link to grab my bird unit. Here is my very own firsties research projects.  You can get this from my blog for free or if you really want to buy it you can visit my TPT store!  I am so proud of my students....

 Have you made it to the very end of this very long post?  I am impressed!  Leave a comment . . . You might win a prize or a new follower!!

I had a very odd experience today.  I typed my blog address into the address bar and was told my blog had "issues" because of my association with shabbyblogs.  Has this ever happened to you?  I did push the panic button and figured I'd never be able to use my blog again.  But I calmed down took a deep breath and said goodbye to my lovely owl background.  I now have to figure out how to get a suitable background in place. Boo HOOOooooo I miss my owls!