Last night I participated in a Twitter chat with teachers and the question came up about plans to observe Valentine's Day. As a child I dreaded Valentine's Day because the mushy cards that we were required to send, the only type available, were met with "Ewww, yuck" from the boys upon seeing the card was from me.
Or at least, that's how I remember it.
Not wanting to inflict this same trauma on the next generation, I suggested that instead of a party, that Valentine's Day be the kick off for a unit on robins and spring. Why?
1. It was a medieval tradition that birds selected their mates on Valentine's Day and indeed, some birds species do start singing in February.
2. Robins have a red breast and red is the color of Valentines.
3. Robins will be on the move shortly at least here in South Dakota. Robins will start showing up and evidencing mating behavior within the next month.
4. They have the best Latin name: Turdus migratorius
5. Robins are abundant, easily habituated to people and are widespread making them easy to monitor even for younger children.
Things you can do:
- Prepare to monitor the American Robin on Journey North. Learn identifications, behavior, songs, food.
- Establish and identify monitoring points on school grounds that you will use to look for robins. Take a walk and familiarize students with them. Later on in the spring and even next year's students in the fall can revisit these sites and report out on robin activity. This is a great historical data set.
- Have a robin or bird party! Check Pinterest for ideas and turn your creative parents loose on the idea.
- For older students, start planning a Bird Festival for younger students (maybe during Environmental Education Week in April). Use the Flying Wild Curriculum to help.
- Introduce students to literature featuring robins and birds. Help them learn how to use a field guide.
- Your great idea here.
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Turdus migratorius American Robin
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