Thursday, January 25, 2018

BirdSleuth Caribbean for UCC preschool

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!
  



Wednesday, January 17, 2018

BirdSleuth Caribbean at Wynne Farm

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!