Helpful Bird Links

National Geographic Birds- pictures, videos and facts about all types of birds
Texas Junior Naturalists Birds- some really great printable books about Texas birds as well as projects and links
Virtual Owl Pellet Dissection- check out this video of an owl pellet dissection, we'll be trying this at our meeting
Bird Sleuth- Cornell Lab's site for bird education, some more great printable lessons and homeschool specific bird watching links
Hornsby Bend- a good birding spot in Austin
Science Projects- a site with science fair type projects on birds
Enchanted Learning Birds- bird information, crafts and printables for younger children
What Bird- a national bird identification site
Travis Audubon- learn about ongoing projects, local sanctuaries and how to join the Travis Audubon group

Adventure Club: Birds 11/4/2009

Wednesday, November 4th 10:00

I AM I Learning Center at Weaver's Bottom: This is located on Robin's property in Kingsland. Directions can be found by clicking on the link that says "Directions To Adventure Club Meetings".

Activities: Join us as we learn about various bird species, their anatomy and behaviors with a special focus on the local birds found on Robin's property. We will also learn what it takes to become a bird watcher, dissect an owl pellet to learn about how and what they eat and make a bird feeder. Please be aware that our discussion will involve the evolution of birds from dinosaurs, as it relates to our previous lesson about reptiles.

Bring: We will be outside for much of this meeting so bring along hats or sunscreen if needed, and wear closed shoes. If you suffer from outdoor allergies please be aware that Robin's property is full of beautiful plants and trees- a good day to take any preventative allergy medicines that you use. Wear your LAHAC shirts if you have them. Bring $2 per participating child to cover the cost of meeting supplies. A small snack and water will be provided, but if you would like to pack a lunch for your family Robin welcomes you to picnic at her place after the meeting is over. If you have any great bird books, projects, pictures, etc. to share with us bring them along.

Share With Us: Our children will be working on bird projects over the next month to share with the group or display in the classroom. Please feel free to work on your own bird projects to share/display at the meeting- we would love to see a wide variety of projects! They can be simple collages, crafts, drawings, bird stories or poetry, reports, experiments, photos of birds or anything else you can think of. There are some helpful bird links on the blog, if you have others to recommend please add them to the comments section of that blog post.

RSVP: Please RSVP or send questions to Robin & Jennifer at lahac1@gmail.com by October 21st. Include your name, contact information and the names and ages of children who will be attending. **If this is your first time attending an Adventure Club meeting at I AM I Learning Center you will be asked to sign a release upon arrival for each person attending. If you would like a copy of the release sent to you ahead of time please let us know in your RSVP.

Reptile Meeting Summary

Another great Adventure club meeting- the weather was beautiful for an outside day so we didn't use the classroom this time, but we were able to display some projects in there for other kids/parents to check out. Thanks again to Stephanie and her family for bringing so many great reptiles to share with us at our meeting. We also learned several reptile yoga poses from the Weaver and Jones kids, ate some snake breadsticks and decorated some really cool wooden snakes to take home. Not to mention that the kids all had a great time running around the property and having stick fights! Here is a list of the animals we saw/learned about, you can check out the slideshow of pictures from the meeting to see them:

Snakes: Red tail boa , ball python, Kenyan sand boa

Lizards: leopard gecko, blue tongue skink, red iguana

Tortoise and Turtles: pancake tortoise, redfoot tortoise, elongated tortoise, russian tortoise, sulcata tortoise, bell's hingeback tortoise, 3 lined mud turtle

Reptile Meeting Comments/Suggestions

Thank you to everyone who came and participated in the Reptile Adventure Club meeting. We had a great time, and learned a lot from Stephanie about her amazing reptile pets. We are hoping some of you did too. If you have comments on how the meeting went or suggestions for things you would like us to add/change to the classes or the environment to make it a more enjoyable and educational experience for your family please let us know by commenting to this post. Kids comments/suggestions are welcome too!

Hey folks!

Just a reminder for you regarding the meeting today. For those of you suffering from allergies, you may want to take/bring any medication with you to deal with that issue. Mold is really high right now and I am suffering myself although managing without meds. There are some mosquito's about but fewer in the area that class will be - if that is a problem, you may want to wear long sleeves and pants or bring repellent. Closed in shoes are always a good idea at my place, especially for kids that enjoy exploring a bit. Class today will take place inside the school building and outside on the lawn if the weather cooperates. Due to the rain, the tanks are full of water. So...if you have kids that like to get wet and muddy, you may want to prepare with a set of dry clothes for the trip home. Most of the fields have been mown, so there is less chance of seeing snakes, especially because the temperature is falling below their comfort level but...there are plenty of turtles and frogs in the tank!

We are really excited to have Stephanie come as she always has neat critters and great information. I am looking forward to seeing you all. See you later.

Robin