We've been thoroughly enjoying the company of our resident Magpies and the explosion of native wildlife frequenting our backyard and neighbourhood; and it got me thinking about using our experiences as a springboard for learning.
So, we've been working hard behind the scenes to develop a new mini unit and we will be sharing it with you for this week's Friday Fun! Let's go learn, play and grow!
A Little Bit About Our Magpie Adventures...
So over the last few months we have noticed a huge surge in the number and variety of native wildlife frequenting our backyard and neighbourhood - now, it's important to note that we've not been doing anything special to attract them, but it did get us puzzling over why this might be happening...cue, our nature journals!
Having spent a little bit of time reflecting (and adding to our nature journals) we came to realise that it might have something to do with the unusual weather patterns we've been having of late. Locally, we have seen quite a bit more rain that is typical for this time of year AND it has stayed much warmer for much longer than usual.
We continued to watch our little native animal friends over the coming weeks and discovered that not only did we have a HUGE variety of wildlife in our area, but that they had something very important in common...they had lots and LOTS of babies!
From bugs (think, huge flights of dragonflies sparkling in the sun while they zip and zoom over our heads in formation - I didn't even know dragonflies flew in formation!?!😯) to magpie families with several babies (more often than not, we only see the parents with one juvenile!) - life was booming at our place!
The Magpies, however, were of particular interest...they spent a huge chunk of time strutting around on the grass near our back patio and the little ones would marvel at their antics and delight at their songs. To be perfectly honest, us 'big kids' loved it just as much and would watch these clever beauties foraging for ages, wondering at all the things that they were catching; we'd delight in how they communicated with each other and how they were curious about us and our regular trips out to the garden to work and play...
And that brings us to the birth of our Magpie Mini Unit...
What's Inside the Mini Unit?
Our Australian Animal Adventure Series use delightful picture books to springboard explorations into our iconic Australian animals.
This mini journal is the first in the series and explores the gloriously charming, cheeky story Swoop (by Nicole Godwin) - about a Magpie that has one very important job to do!
You all know how much we love and advocate for books and reading at The Hub, but there is an even more important reason we've decided to develop this series.
Reading stories aloud, especially picture books, is an engaging way to introduce new topics or concepts, explore them in greater detail, make important connections and so much more.
Picture books are not just for little kids either - there is an exhaustive amount of literature review and research that strongly suggests that the supplemental use of picture books not only increases engagement (for students of all ages!) but that they are also excellent vehicles for addressing complex issues, support learners who have particular learning preferences (also known as learning styles), and promote deeper connections between the educator (or reader) and the learner - fostering an environment of safety, wonder, curiosity, and conversation.
But that's not all this beautiful learning journal has to offer...
WHO IS THIS JOURNAL FOR?
This learning journal has content suitable for all ages. We have designed this series of journals to be used with a wide variety of ages, so that it can be explored by families together; and to create opportunities for collaborative learning, investigation, and to spark conversation. Younger children will often need some additional parental or educator support - but engage well with the content (additional materials could be added to the unit study like sensory bins, three-part cards, nature walks, or active play games to further support the youngest learners). Older children have opportunities to work independently and extend their knowledge by 'diving deeper' - they can use our Curious Kids feature to extend and begin further investigation.
WHAT'S INSIDE?
Inside the journal you will find a complete animal profile for the Australian Magpie including:
The Australian Magpie (summary)
Description
Parts of a Magpie Diagram
Diet
Habitat
Breeding
You'll also find a special section all about Nests that dives into:
What Are Nests For?
The Art of Building a Nest
Nests Are Not Just Egg Containers!
Different Types of Nests
Interesting Questions About Bird Nests
And finally, you will also find a selection of activities to give students hands-on experiences, cement knowledge and prompt further research, like:
Parts of a Magpie Anatomy Labelling
Creating a Magpie Garden
Build a Nest STEM Challenge (two versions with reflection sheets)
Media Study Template
Book Review Templates
Word Wall Template
WHAT DO YOU NEED?
We have included a comprehensive list of recommended resources that include:
Teaching Notes
Craft & STEM ideas and materials
More excellent books to read and explore
An assortment of high quality websites for information, the latest bird news, and opportunities to get involved in citizen science projects (just to name a few!)
And as an added bonus we've included our Curious Kids links and a glossary of words (highlighted in bold and linked straight to an easy to understand definition and pronunciation).
A NOTE ABOUT RESOURCES
It is important to us that you have the freedom to explore topics using resources that are appropriate, accessible, and fit within your budget. So, we always ensure that the resources we recommend are free, easily accessible (online or through your local library) or that they are optional. Access to resources should not be a barrier to high quality learning experiences so the resources included in our unit studies are recommendations only and can be modified to suit your needs or the resources you already have at hand. However, we strongly recommend starting your unit with a read aloud and Swoop by Nicole Godwin is our top choice - it is so quintessentially Australian, we couldn't pass it by!
A NOTE ABOUT OUR SPECIAL FEATURES
Special Feature #1 Our Curious Kids icon has been specially designed for this series of journals and provides opportunities for learners to dive deeper by accessing further information on a particular topic. These icons often link to more challenging material, current news and research, or interesting video or audio clips. Special Feature #2 Throughout this journal you will find a number of words bolded and italicised - these are words that might be new to a lot of learners so we have included them in our topic-specific glossary of words. Clicking on these words will take learners to an easy to understand definition of the word, with a pronunciation audio - new words and their meanings can be added to the Word Wall template in this journal for easy reference.
For a full preview of what's inside
Magpie: Australian Animal Adventure Journal
watch the video preview below...
Our Special Offer!
Now, you're probably thinking...
Well yeah, this mini unit looks great, but isn't Friday Fun supposed to be FREE?
Surprise!
That's the best part!
For all of our Friday Fun lovers you can download this brand new resource valued at $30 (AUD) TOTALLY FREE for the next week (offer valid from 21/03/23 to 28/03/23)!
We hope you have lots of fun learning about and enjoying this gorgeous Aussie Icon - the Australian Magpie!
We hope that this has given you lots of fun ways to celebrate our incredible native wildlife and learn about our wonderful country (we look forward to sharing more Australian Animal Adventure Journals with you soon)! Friday Fun at The Hub is all about connecting homeschoolers with fun learning experiences that enrich every homeschool; and providing families with fabulous freebies to support learning, playing and growing at home!
If you've got some suggestions for other great ideas or would like to share your adventures, please visit our private group on Facebook - Little Sprouts Homeschooling and join a community of homeschoolers just like you!
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