Design a decorative 3-D mask honoring a local bird.

• 1.

  In temperate climates, spring arrives each year with a large assortment of birds. Find out which colorful species are native to your area. Watch them as they search for food and prepare their nests. Make a list of the birds you see with a Crayola® Fine Tip Marker, and note the date. Sketch the birds you see. Some bird watchers keep journals year to year, and can predict the changing seasons by the arrival of key species.

• 2.

  To create a decorative bird mask of a local bird, begin by making a round mound of recycled newspaper that is as large as your face. Use masking tape to hold the mound's shape.

• 3.

  Flatten Crayola Model Magic in your hands until it is about 1/2 inch (2 cm) thick and large enough to cover your newspaper base. Mold it to the base. Create a beak, eyes, and other features by adding Model Magic to your bird mask. Dry.

• 4.

  Cover a table top with recycled newspaper. Paint your mask with Crayola Washable Paints and Brushes. Dry.

• 5.

  Attach beads, sequins, or other decorative items with Crayola School Glue. Rubber bands make great worms!

Standards

• LA: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
• LA: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
• LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade level topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
• LA: Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of aspects of a topic.
• LA: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
• LA: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.
• SCI: Ask questions about the natural and human-built worlds.
• SCI: Construct original explanations of phenomena using knowledge of accepted scientific theory and linking it to models and evidence.
• VA: Use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.
• VA: Use visual structures of art to communicate ideas.

Adaptations

• Invite an amateur bird watcher to share his experiences with students. Prior to the visit, student compose questions for the visitor. After the meeting, students post their learning to a class blog.
• Encourage students to design original bird masks by adding eye holes and attaching yarn or elastic to the back of the creations. Students base their creations on learning about birds.
• Students investigate animals that they observe in the spring. Use Crayola Model Magic to create 3-D models of the animals to accompany their organized research. Place the 3-D models in a student-made habitat created as a diorama.
• Students use their original bird masks as inspiration for a play. In small groups, students compose a one-act play using each of their masks as a character. Encourage children to develop their stories using their research. Students perform the plays live or videotape the presentations and upload them to a class computer for future viewing.