Homeschool Creations

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Robin Lapbook and Unit Study

Little did I know that one simple robin's nest would take us on an adventure into learning some fun things about robins ~ and more about the creativity of God!



We watched a mommy robin build her nest right outside our window, found out {thanks to Zachary putting his hand in the nest} that she had laid three eggs...and then watched and waited patiently.

Until she abandoned the nest three days before the eggs were supposed to hatch.

Regardless, we continued on with our robin study and learned so much. We've all been sharing the little tidbits that we've learned with others we know, because it's too neat NOT to share!



At the end of the post I'll include a full list of all the great links and resources we used over the last bit. I'll also throw in some of the fun facts we learned as I post pictures of the lapbooks the girls put together. Tomorrow I'll be posting the lapbook we did for Zachary as part of the Preschool Corner.

Every day we spent time memorizing "Little Robin Redbreast" and also sitting outside to observe the robins {and other birds} in our yard ~ their songs, habits, etc... We also worked on the minit books that went along with what we were studying that day.

Monday: A Robin's Habitat ~ Our backyard
  • Identifying robins: difference between males and females ~ minit book
  • Scientific name of robins: turdus migratorius
  • Migration of robins & minit book
  • What do robins eat?
  • How do robins find their food? We had so much fun watching the robins in our yard and learning that they actually see the ground move ~ not hear like we originally thought!


Tuesday: Life Cycles/Nesting ~ Getting ready for babies
  • What are the predators of robins?
  • Who builds the nest?
  • Robins 'chore chart' ~ who has what responsibilities in raising babies. You guessed it, it's primarily the momma robin. We learned that the mom lays one egg a day and that it generally takes 2 weeks for the eggs to hatch. The mother robin spends on average about 50 minutes of each hour sitting on the eggs in the nest.


Wednesday: Keeping up with the babies
  • Feeding habits of babies ~ wow! We were amazed to learn that the parents have about 100 feedings a day. {And I thought that my kids ate a lot}
  • In the first two weeks of life, each baby eats the equivalent of 14 feet of worms ~ we even went into the backyard and measured that out.
  • Babies weigh less than a quarter when they are born and are almost the same size as their parent within 2 weeks.
  • Disposable diapers for birds ~ This was amazing!! Did you know that every time a baby robin eats it poops right away? That way the parents are there to pick up after them. Their poop is contained in a little sac that the parents can pick up {just like a disposable diaper} and carry away from the nest. This helps keep the nest clean.

Thursday: Listening to robin's songs
  • What are the different songs of robins ~ we sat outside and listened to them
  • Put our lapbook and minit books together
  • Wrote/journaled and illustrated our robin stories. The girls used Draw Write Now to do the first page and then drew their own pictures on the second page. We use a lined journal that has room for drawing on the top of the page and then I photocopy their work to put in the lapbook.


Books we used



Some Great Resources


Photobucket

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3 Comments:

  • Isn't it times like that that make you realize what a blessing homeschooling is? Just to be able to follow an interest and really immerse yourselves in it is such an incredible blessing. The lapbooks turned out great!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At May 28, 2009 at 2:24 PM  

  • We have had four eggs hatch next to our deck over the past 2 weeks. We have constantly watched them. After reading your blog, we decided to do a lapbook as well. We all learned so much, myself included. Thanks for the great resources-especially for a family new to homeschooling!

    By Anonymous Alana, At May 29, 2009 at 7:07 PM  

  • Hi, I was wondering where you got the great cardboard thing you used for the lapbook. Is this something you designed or bought? We've never tried lapbooking but have heard of it and it sounds like a lot of fun.

    By Blogger Summerwolf, At June 13, 2009 at 10:44 PM  

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