Birds and Their Nests in Informative and Beautifully Illustrated Picture Book

Teachers who teach in early elementary classrooms and parents who homeschool their children will want to add this gorgeous picture book with a wealth of fun facts about birds to their classroom. Learning about birds in depth is a fun addition to a curriculum that includes learning about the creatures of our earth. Birds and their habits are a fascinating study.

Bestselling author Rachel Ignotofsky's fascinating and stunningly illustrated picture book What's Inside a Bird's Nest has a wealth of information for students to learn about birds. Ignotofsky hopes that children will be inspired to explore the world of birds in depth. Birds will build their nests in many different settings. Some birds build a nest inside old trees. Some birds will build a nest underground. And some birds will build a nest on top of a building. Some birds lay many eggs and some birds will lay only one. Nests are also built in several sizes. Ignotofsky also includes illustrations of the anatomy of birds. She also includes a scientific description with the correct terms that describe baby birds. Did you know that baby birds are first hatchlings, then nestlings, and then fledglings? When they finally leave the nest, they are juvenile birds. Ignotofsky also includes an illustration of birds and their feathers.

She concludes this educational book with ways that we can protect the birds that we see in our world. She includes several reasons why birds are important to nature.

What's Inside a Bird's Nest is recommended for ages 5-11. It is a Junior Library Guild Selection. It was published by Crown Books for Young Readers, a division of Penguin/Random House. It has an ISBN of 978-0-593-17652-8.

Ignotofsky's gorgeous picture book about the world of birds is a wonderful addition to a science curriculum that includes learning about birds. There is a wealth of information that teachers can use to build lesson plans around the fun facts from the book.

*Divide the book into sections to build a curriculum. The beginning of the book centers around the areas that birds can be found. They can be found high above on cliffs and living around ponds. Fun facts are sprinkled through each page. Take time to explore each fun fact.

*Build a few lessons around birds and their families. Some birds pair for a few days for a family relationship and others pair for a lifetime.

*Build a few lessons around the facts about the sizes of nests and what birds use to build their nests. Have children collect grass, pebbles, and dirt to build a nest for a class project.

*Build a few lesson activities around the fun facts about feathers and the anatomy of a bird as illustrated in the book.

*Explore the illustrations and fun facts about what birds eat. Some birds are carnivores and some birds are omnivores.

*Build a few lessons around the migration habits of the birds in our world.

*Build a few lessons around the illustrations and information about how we can protect the birds in our neighborhood. Assign a homework project for children to keep a record of the kinds of birds that they see in their neighborhood.