Right Under Your Nose: YEAR 1 - HASS - Explain
When the power goes off, Big Cuz, Nanna, Little J and Old Dog go to the beach. They use bread to catch hermit crabs, which in turn are used to catch a ‘bluebone’ fish. Big Cuz learns how to fish, Nanna makes a fire to cook the fish, and Little J finds a large clam shell to take to school the next day.
Explain - Interpret data and information displayed in pictures and texts and on maps
Theme - BIRDS
Revisit Little J & Big Cuz, Episode 4 ‘Right Under Your Nose’, and concentrate students’ attention on the sea environments. Ask students which animal is the greatest scavenger of rubbish on the beach - the seagull (video clip).
Ask students if they have ever encountered and watched the seagulls at the beach. Invite them to share their experiences of having food stolen by a seagull. Invite students to read/view a selection of books/video clips on seagulls, such as:
- Bach, R., Munson, R., & Rouben Mamoulian Collection (Library of Congress). (1970). Jonathan Livingston Seagull. New York: Macmillan. (video, narrated by T Brown: audiobook, narrated by Richard Harris: eNotes)
- Snell, D. (2015). Seagull. Adelaide, SA: Working Title Press. (Teacher notes)
- Wild, M. & Goodman, V. (2012). Tanglewood. Parkside, S. Aust: Omnibus Books. (Teachers’ notes)
Or other books/video clips, such as:
- Armitage, R. & Armitage, D. (1977). The lighthouse keeper's lunch. London: Deutsch. (video, Teaching ideas)
- Howarth, K. (2016). Chip. Scoresby, Victoria: Five Mile Press.
- Martin, J. & Treskon, I. (2014). Squinty the Seagull. New Zealand, Jampot Productions. (video)
- Sepulveda, L. & Kitamura, S. (2016). The story of a seagull and the cat who taught her to fly, London : Bloomsbury.
- Watson, I. & Senior, M. (1967). Larry: the story of an Australian seagull. Sydney : John Sands
Discuss with students some characteristic they observed about seagull behaviours at the beach and list these on the IWB/board. Have students suggest other birds you find at the beach, such as pelican, penguin, heron, mutton-bird, bitten, Oystercatcher, etc.
Divide the class into groups of three, and ask students to access information on an Australian sea/beach bird (prevalent in the local area) and to prepare a short verbal report for the class.
Information to find might include:
- common name and scientific name of the bird
- drawn image listing and identifying the special characteristics of the bird
- sourced image/s of the different varieties of the bird
- a map of where the bird is found in Australia
- a list of foods the bird eats, and what eats the bird
- an illustration of the bird’s lifecycle
- the preferred environment or habitat of the bird
- whether the bird is nocturnal or diurnal
The information should be entered on a species identification card or template and all of the cards can contribute to a class catalogue on Australian beach birds.
To gather their information on the birds, direct students to relevant websites such as:
- Albatross
- Meet the Worlds Biggest Flying Bird | Albatross
- Albatross Island, Tasmania
- Seabird Identification Guide
- Sea Bird ID Guide
- Birds
- Australian Pelican Birds – Australian Bird | Short Documentary
- Australian Seabirds and Shorebirds
- Silver Gull
- Australian Birds Guide
- Bonus: The Endangered Albatross
- QuestaBird app
- The Life Cycle of a Bird
- Bird Life Cycle Video for Kids -Science for Kids by makemegenius.com
- Melbourne – Phillip Island Little Penguins Parade
Using the images of the different birds, invite students to develop their own ‘matching game’, or ‘questions and answers game’ (or a version of Angry Birds). Advancement in the game could be based on a student’s knowledge of Australian shore birds.
Students could emulate the following card/online games to design their own game: