TYPICAL LESSON PLANS 123 



Tell the children that you and they are going to talk 

 about a bird that lives around our homes. What is it? 

 The English sparrow. Do not let the children say just 

 "sparrow," for they should know that we have many 

 native sparrows, and that the English sparrow is only one 

 of a large group. Make a field trip with the children to 

 observe a flock of sparrows. Have them note especially 

 where the birds are and what they are doing. 



Tell the children to watch the sparrows around their 

 homes. Where are they seen? What are they doing? 

 Are they found singly or in flocks? How many can you 

 count in one flock? What do they eat? You will have 

 to be careful here or the children will say all sorts of things 

 without having really seen any of them. Tell them to 

 watch for two days and then call for reports of actual ob- 

 servations. How do they eat? Do they ever quarrel 

 over bits of food? Do they. like to drink water? How 

 do they move about on the ground? Do they walk or 

 hop ? How do they hold their tails when they fly ? 



How do they keep warm in the cold weather ? Discuss 

 the coat of feathers. Do they exercise? Do they seek 

 sheltered places ? Where do they sleep at night ? Watch 

 to see if you can find out. Do they ever creep into sheltered 

 places about your home? 



Look closely at the sparrows you see. Are they all the 

 same color? The ones with the black patches on the 

 breasts are males, the others females. What other differ- 

 ences in color between males and females ? 



Do the sparrows sing? How many different sounds 

 do they make? Do both males and females make 

 sounds ? 



