Yesterday, a first grade boy, came into my classroom before school started. He pulled out his field guide and said, "I need your help. I can't remember the trick to tell the grebes apart." He paged through and soon opened up to the Clark's and Western Grebes' page and I explained my trick to identifying them. A big smile appeared on his face as he remembered what I had taught him in kindergarten.
That made me so happy that he was working on birds at home! Think of all of the things that a young one would have with toys, TV and video games. It is quite something that a 7-year old would take the initiative to continue learning about birds on his own with his field guide.
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| He told me that this is one of his four bird field guides. He is very proud of that fact! |
This has reminded me how important it is for me to keep teaching the young children about birds and nature. Birds are everywhere and how fun it will be for the my students and past students to see the birds that they have learned about. It is so important for all of us to be more aware of birds and other animals in nature.
Being able to identify birds as well as having some background knowledge about them will help them to care more about birds. It is difficult to care about things that you know nothing about. This in turn will help them become more conservation-minded. We need all of the help we can to save habitat for birds and other animals, so we all need to spread the word or try to get others excited about the natural world. Really...what's not to love!
Way to go, Mr. First-Grader! You're already a birder and a naturalist. You may grow up to be a wildlife veterinarian, a hunting or birding guide, a wildlife biologist, a wildlife rehabilitator, who knows?? Keep learning all you can. Some day you'll thank Mrs. Preheim for sharing her knowledge with you and for making learning about our world so much fun!
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