Eggs and Birds

I usually pick a science topic for general study for a few months. We have studied Mammals all 2006. All last fall and into winter we studied all about sea creatures and Sea Mammals. Sophie loved learning about whales and even requested a book about whales for Christmas. She can tell you more about whales now and just by looking at them tell you what it is and where it would be found in the world. Then in 2007 we looked at bugs and insects. Not my favorite topic but my kids loved it when we caught some bugs out in the yard to look at more closely.

I recently decided that for the fall we are going to study birds. I have been checking out, from the library, books about birds the last few weeks. I got a great suggestion for a book from Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect.
We picked up this book today when we went to the library and pored over it when we got home. It has beautiful illustrations and is filled with information. Both Soph and Ian loved looking at all the different colors birds eggs came in. I think we were all fascinated to learn all the different parts of the egg and what they are for.
One of the best features of this book are the front and back inside covers. The front inside cover has all the eggs and then the back cover has all the birds and a few insects and other animals that come from eggs. So we spent a long time matching each egg to the animal.
This book reminds me of Ruth Heller's book called Chicken's Aren't the Only Ones. We love Ruth Heller books here. We have read this one many times. This book is also one that Henry seems to bring me a lot. He loves to look at all the different animals. Sophie learned the word Oviparous from this book and has used in public to amazed eyes of those around her. This is a great way to learn science.
One of the things we have started doing with Sophie is a nature journal. I gave her a box of colored pencils to use in a sketch book and she is looking at pictures from the books and trying to draw them. She is actually getting better and better at the drawings. I have been trying to get her to really look closely at the picture to see the shapes in the image rather than just "draw a bird". We actually taken this notebook/journal out side yet but I think it will be fun to go and sit outside and have her draw some trees, plants etc. For now we do what we can.
So we have been spending a lot of time talking about birds. Yesterday when we were at the beach Sophie noticed all the bird prints running around on the sand. She also loved looking at all the seagulls. Today at the library we picked up a field guide for birds in our area. Hopefully we will be able to spot some. I think we will get a bird feeder so we can attract a few.