Oct. 10, 2007: Ducks Are Heading South

The Mini Page is a syndicated, four-page tabloid written for young children found each Wednesday in the Rocky Mountain News. This issue of The Mini Page is available through the eEdition Archive to registered eEdition subscribers. Click here to learn about subscribing to the eEdition at no cost to you (for Colorado teachers).

Activities:

1. Draw a cartoon of a duck getting ready to pack up and migrate. Treat your duck as if it were a person. What would he/she take along?

2. Play a newspaper "waterbird watching" game with a friend. Have each person use a different colored marker. Then go through the newspaper together, looking for names of waterbirds. Circle each word or picture for a waterbird, such as a duck, swan, egret or heron. Pay special attention to ads for sporting goods stores and restaurants and to the sports pages. The person with the most birds circled wins the game.

3. Draw pictures of the different kinds of equipment and outdoor gear you might use if you were going to watch for migrating birds. For example, you might want binoculars or a camp chair. Now see if you can find your items in newspaper ads. Cut out the pictures from the ads and paste them next to your drawing. Add up the prices for the items you found.

4. How do these behaviors help migrating ducks: (a) flying along waterways, (b) flying in a V formation, (c) flying to a warmer climate, and (d) staying in a large group while flying?

5. Use resource books and the Internet to learn more about migrating birds nearest you. Use these questions to guide your research: What "flyways" are closest to the area where you live? What types of birds follow those flyways? What times of the year could you observe birds migrating? What wetlands areas are close to you? How far would you have to travel to observe migrating birds? Use your findings to discuss your potential migration-watching opportunities.

This week's standards:

• Students understand the characteristics and life cycles of organisms. (Science: Life Science)
• Students understand the interactions of animals and their environments. (Science: Life Science)
  
  

(standards by Dr. Sherrye D. Garrett, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi)