Birds
of a Feather Flock Together
1st Grade Discovery Centers
Teacher Instructions:
Set up each discovery center
around your classroom (see set-up instructions for each center). Each
center will take 10-15 minutes to complete. You can have students work
cooperatively or individually on each center. You may need to help each
group read and interpret the instructions.
For lower level readers you will need to go through each station as a class. You can choose one center each day and work through it together.
- What's a Bird?-Students follow along with an audio story to learn that feathers are what make a bird unique from other animals. Students will then categorize pictures of animals into birds and non-birds ( two sets of this discovery center are set out because it takes twice as long as the other three.) .
- I Spy- Students use hand binoculars to play I spy with shaped items in the classroom.
- Fit as a Feather:-Student will test the insulative and waterproof qualities of various items- cotton, feathers, plastic and fur.
- Bird Bones- Students compare mammal and bird bones to determine which are better for flight.
Materials Check List
1. What Makes a Bird a Bird? Book
2. Audio player/Story CD
3. Egg replica
4. Wing
5. Feather
6. Pencils
7. Sketch paper
8. Ten laminated birds
9. Toilet paper roll binoculars.
10. Audubon's Field Guides
11. Jar of Feathers
12. Jar of cotton balls
13. Jar of rabbit fur
14. Spray bottle
18. Clay
19. Toothpicks cut in half
20. Scrap cardboard or cardstock cut into 5"X5" squares.
15. Photo of bird, rabbit and human wearing cotton sweatshirt.
16. Bird bone
17. Mammal bone