Keep a Bald Eagle Journal

Click and Print for Ready-made Journals
Journal Cover
(8.5x11)
Journal Page
(8.5x11)

Printable Map
(8.5x11)

Tips for Teachers
Customize the pages as appropriate for your class. Just download our page, open through your Word application, enter your own questions, categories, or spacing-and print! Or, use the pages the way we designed them:

  • Print a cover for each student and a stack of journal and map pages. Journals can be stapled, bound, or kept in each students' pocket folder to pull out on "Journey North days."
  • Divide into groups and track 1 or 2 eagles each group.
  • Mark the map. Find and mark your eagles' locations on the printable map above. Create a key. Have the birds moved? How far? Compare to earlier maps. Where do you predict they will move next. Why? Notice each time the birds cross into another state or into Canada. Pencil a pathway predicting the migration's direction.
  • Headline is a chance for students to identify the main idea of the week's Web updates in their own creative way.
  • Summary is a place to sum up the week's highlights in a paragraph with supporting details.
  • Spotlight is a category for journal writers to focus on a bit of Bald eagle news of special interest to them. Did they read news of an eagle they have "adopted" for the season? Did they learn about a special adaptation or behavior? What did they learn about the habitat where the eagles are roosting or nesting?
  • Answer our Journal Questions. We've allowed space for students to answer any or all of the excellent Journal Questions that appear in each migration update and in many lessons. (They can flip the page over for more space.)
  • Other Thematic Journals. The Bald eagle migration study is rich with concrete examples of key science concepts (such as habitat, adaptations, ecosystems, seasons and cycles). See more tips on teaching themes and Journey North journals: Building Understanding Through Long-term Studies.