Journey North Hummingbirds

American Robin

Teaching Suggestions
Instructional Activities for Q&A Fact Pages
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Ask the Expert
Copy and cut the Q&A pages into separate question and answer strips. Give each student 3-5 answer strips. Read aloud the question strips. The student with the strip that answers the question responds as the expert.

Related Questions
Invite students to sort the strips into groups of related questions. For example, How do robins build nests? Where do robins build their nests? How big is a robin's nest? These questions all relate to nesting. Encourage students to explain how they grouped questions.

Who? What? Where? When? Why? Sort
Sort questions into the following categories: Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? And Other. Students organize the strips of paper by the first word used in the question. Analyze the results: What type of question was asked the most? Least? Invite students to brainstorm additional questions.

A Question a Day
Place strips in a box. Pull 1-2 questions each day. Have students respond to the questions orally or in writing. If the question is review, use their responses for assessment. If the question is new, invite students to make predictions and ask questions. Encourage them to find the facts on Journey North or other resources. Ask students to share their findings.

Journey North Jeopardy
Play "Journey North Jeopardy." Use the FAQ pages to create game cards:
Clue Card: 12-14 days after they are laid
Response: How long does it take for robin eggs to hatch?

Concept Map
Tape a large sheet of chart paper to the wall. Write categories for sorting the FAQ strips: Physical Characteristics, Life Cycle, Nesting Behavior, Adaptations, Migration, Habitat, Ecology, and Conservation. As a class, read aloud questions and decide where to place the strip on the concept map.

Game Board
Invite students to create a gameboard and game cards using the questions and answers. When players take turns throughout the game they must answer questions correctly in order to move ahead spaces on the board.

AlphaBoxes
Invite students to work in groups. Give each group a set of questions. Have them create AlphaBoxes: The ABC s of Robins. The alphabox is a graphic that contains 26 squares for the letters of the alphabet. Students collect facts from the FAQ pages. They write words, phrases, and fact sentences in each alpha-box.

AlphaAntics
Have students work in small groups. Give each group a set of questions with answers. Have them create an AlphaAntics picture book for young readers. Students use the facts to write and illustrate alpha-antic sentences.
For example, B is for Robins…because the eggs they lay are BLUE.

Nonfiction Book
Create a class book to share discoveries made during your hummingbird study. Invite students to choose two or three related questions. The questions become their focus for writing a page for the class book. For example, one student may choose questions about how robins build a nest. Another student may choose to create a page that describes the physical characteristics of a robin.

Reference Book
Create a reference book to use throughout your robin study. Print out the Q&A facts and place them in a three-ring binder. Display the reference book at a learning center. Encourage students to create additional pages of questions and answers for the reference book.

Knowledge Check
Assess prior knowledge about robins by listing questions from the Q&A pages on chart paper. Do not include the answers. Have students write what they know (prior knowledge) and what they think (predictions) for each question. Encourage them to add their own questions to the chart. Revisit the questions as students learn facts throughout the unit.