Utah State Science Core: 5th grade

Science: Standard V, Objective 2a, b, c, d

Language Arts: Standard 1, Objectives 1, 2

Standard 2: Standard 7, Objectives 1, 2, 3

Standard 8, Objectives 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Math: Standard 5, Objectives 1, 2 (Only if the monitoring portion is included)

TALONS Category: Observation of Organisms, Our Changing World, Science Skills

Objective: This unit provides plans to help 5^th graders explore American Kestrels in the context of science, language arts and math.

Season: Any season, however, boxes should be installed in late winter/early spring.

Materials Needed:

Worksheets (follow links)

Paper, writing implements

Access to internet, either at school or at home OR printouts of website content

Poster supplies: large paper, paints, pens, colored paper, glue, etc.

Time Needed:

Engage: 45 minutes to 1 hour

Explore: 5 or 6 20-minute blocks

Explain: 40 minutes

Elaborate: It depends on what you do. Posters are 40 minutes. Building, placing and monitoring nest boxes can be an extended project.

Background: American Kestrels are America's smallest and most abundant falcon, and an interesting subject for children for a variety of reasons. First of all, they are fast and fierce birds of prey. Secondly, their size and dedication to nurturing their offspring make them adorable. Lastly, they are abundant, easy to see in urban areas, including schoolyards and roadsides. This lesson will help open student eyes to a raptor from their neighborhood.

Engage: Perhaps the most engaging way to start a lesson is to bring in a live animal. You can start this lesson off with a bang by having HWI (or other bird conservation organization with live bird programs) come to your classroom or scout meeting perform a program on kestrels. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Explore:

1. Get the students together in a group and discuss what information they remember from the presentation.
2. Write down all of the things they say on the board. Themes will emerge (e.g. things that they eat, places where they live, physical characteristics, etc).
3. Break the group into 4 or 5 groups, one group for each distinct theme. As a group, discuss all of the different topics that could fit into that theme. For example, if the theme is things that kestrels eat, topics might be insects, birds and small rodents. Each individual chooses a topic from this brainstormed list, and writes a mini research paper using the topic study form.
4. When all of the topic study forms are complete, assemble new groups, each with one member from the original groups. The resulting groups will contain representatives from each of the themes. Their mission is to
   1. Decide what type of presentation they would like to create
   2. Organize the information into a complete presentation
   3. Assign roles to create the presentation.
5. Groups give their presentations and grade each other according to the rubric in the Evaluate section.

Explain: Have your students go to www.kestrelsacrossamerica.org and click on "Kestrel Natural History." This webpage can be printed as a handout if internet access is not available. Read and fill out the kestrel fact worksheet. Here is the answer key.

Elaborate: Activity #1: Go to www.kestrelsacrossamerica.org and click on "Kestrels in Agriculture." This web page may be printed if internet access is not available. Create a persuasive poster that would promote the benefits of kestrels to farmers.

Activity #2: Go to www.kestrelsacrossamerica.org and click on "Make a kestrel box." Work with parents to make some kestrel boxes, and then put them up in appropriate locations in the school yard or a rural field. Have the students read the information about finding the best location for a nest box and have them determine where the box should go. Read the sections on Monitoring and maintaining nest boxes. Create a monitoring plan with your students and implement it. Report your efforts on the map.

Activity #3: Go to www.kestrelsacrossamerica.org and click on Report your efforts. Click on various states, including Utah, and see if there are any nest boxes logged. In which states are people actively monitoring kestrels? Work with a school in another state to do this lesson plan and monitor kestrels. Have students initiate contact with a school of their choice through a well-crafted letter of introduction, stating their purpose and inviting participation. (HawkWatch International can provide you with names of teachers in the HWI monitoring network to help you get started).

Evaluate/Assessment: The following assessment can be given to students as a peer-assessment of performance in the group presentation assignment. It also can assess listener performance. Consistent "I don't know" responses might indicate that the reviewer was not attending to the presentation.