Last week I led the first BirdSleuth seminar for the
preschool teachers at UCC in Caiman. 13
teachers attended, with 2 of their children who were great for demonstrating
teaching techniques. We began with a 40
minute presentation about the importance of birds, showing photos on my ipad of
birds found in Haiti. After lunch of
rice and beans with onion sauce, we began the games. I gave each teacher a habitat and a bingo
card, and showed how activities can be scaled from preschool to older
kids. My translator Donacien and I
demonstrated the habitat and survivor games, then all joined in and had fun
playing them. I gave the preschool a
BirdSleuth manual and set of survivor, scavenger hunt, and bingo cards for
their resource room. The elementary
school principle is now asking that I give a workshop for her teachers!
Recently for the staff of Wynne Farm Ecological Reserve in
Kenscoff I had the opportunity to teach a 2 hour seminar on the importance of
birds and to Haiti share BirdSleuth Caribbean teaching activities. I met with the 15 participants while my
university ecology students took a tour of the reserve and farm. Participants included Jane Wynne and her
daughter Sarah who run the reserve, staff, student interns, and others who had
strong ties to the conservation ethic of the farm.
We began with a discussion about the importance of birds in
Haiti, including pest control, pollination, seed dispersal, education,
ecotourism, and art (including Haitian John James Audubon). I then introduced the Cornell Ornithology Lab
BirdSleuth educational materials sent to me by Birds Caribbean. We practiced the Habitat and Survivor gamesof Lessons 4 & 5 and feedback helped me improve my use of them. I gave Wynne Farm two manuals and two sets of
the survivor, scavenger hunt, and bingo games.
They gifted me with Rene Durocher’s beautiful Les Oiseaux d’Haiti book
of bird photography. Thank you Wynne
Farm and Birds Caribbean!
Last week I led the first BirdSleuth seminar for the
preschool teachers at UCC in Caiman. 13
teachers attended, with 2 of their children who were great for demonstrating
teaching techniques. We began with a 40
minute presentation about the importance of birds, showing photos on my ipad of
birds found in Haiti. After lunch of
rice and beans with onion sauce, we began the games. I gave each teacher a habitat and a bingo
card, and showed how activities can be scaled from preschool to older
kids. My translator Donacien and I
demonstrated the habitat and survivor games, then all joined in and had fun
playing them. I gave the preschool a
BirdSleuth manual and set of survivor, scavenger hunt, and bingo cards for
their resource room. The elementary
school principle is now asking that I give a workshop for her teachers!
