Winter in Warm Places A winter unit study Ages 4–7
The Birds That Came South
$5.99 · One-time purchase
Somebody up north watched these birds leave in the fall, and they came to us. We put up a feeder, learn six birds from the kitchen window, and find out which ones are only visiting.
Page four
The four books
Read them aloud in any order, and read a favorite twice. If your library doesn’t have one of these, another good book on the same subject works just as well.
- Birds — Kevin Henkes · Laura Dronzek
- About Birds — Cathryn Sill · John Sill
- Bird Talk — Lita Judge
- Feathers: Not Just for Flying — Melissa Stewart · Sarah S. Brannen
The books aren’t included. Most libraries have them.
Page six
The science lesson
Some birds live here all year. Others flew a long way to spend the winter in your yard, and they’ll leave again in the spring.
Birds don’t fly south to get away from the cold, because feathers keep them warm. They come for food.
It starts with what the grown-up needs to know, in plain words. Then there’s something to try together at the table, and one question to ask afterward.
“How does a bird know when it’s time to fly back north?”
And the rest of the week
- The poems
- One short poem to learn by heart (Samuel Taylor Coleridge) and one to enjoy hearing (Emily Dickinson).
- The activity
- Ten minutes at the window. Counting the most at one time keeps you from counting the same sparrow twice as it flies back and forth.
- The craft
- Orange-cup feeders. Refill the cups each day.
- Math
- Two pages: “Counting the visitors” and “Stayers and visitors.”
- The copywork page
- Three sizes to choose from, from the single word “bird” up to “The sparrow, the dove,” Practice makes progress.
- Outside
- A page for spending some time outside observing nature, one look a day, with room for a word, a number, or a tiny drawing.
- A devotion, five days
- A verse, a sentence, and a “Thank you God for ___,” line each day. Psalm 104:12 · Jeremiah 8:7 · Psalm 147:9 · Luke 12:6 · Matthew 6:26. The verse to learn this week is Matthew 6:26.
- Two breakfasts
- Suet cakes for the birds and cinnamon toast for us: one breakfast on each side of the window.
- Coloring pages
- Two simple, hand-drawn pages to color.
- What you will need
- Four books from the library, a printer, and things most homes already have: 2 oranges, or any feeder you have, birdseed or plain oats, a library bird book, or the free Merlin Bird ID app, a chair, a timer, a hardback book to write on, string and a skewer, suet cake ingredients, and a shallow dish for water.
Take the Birds That Came South unit.
One purchase for the whole unit as a print-ready PDF. No account and no login. Your download is ready as soon as you check out, and it’s yours to print as often as you like for the children in your own house.
Part of a set of six
Winter in Warm Places
$24 · $35.94 bought separately
The Birds That Came South is one of six units for mild, wet winters. The set adds The Rains, Frost and Dew, The Cold Snap, The Winter Harvest, and The Winter Sky, one unit for each week of winter. You get six separate PDFs.
Here it is.
All five days of Apples, yours to print. A copy is on its way to your inbox as well — check the spam folder if it isn’t there in a few minutes.
Start with Monday: cut an apple across the middle instead of down through the stem, and look for the star.