Done with the germ unit - now it's about birds

In the past, K2 and I have done a bird lesson with the wee folk where we each make a pine cone bird feeder.  This entailed one of us remembering to take a big box along whenever we traveled to Pine tree country.  I remember N and I driving home from Bend and then realizing (doh!) we were the designated "Pine cone" pickers.  Back to civilization we went, stopping at the first "Office Something" store we came to--buying a big cardboard box and some tape and heading back to that side road that reminded us. We felt lucky when we didn't end up with poked fingers or pitch on our hands after collecting 80+ cones.

Then we had a year when one of the students had a
peanut allergy.  We switched from peanut butter to soy butter.  And last year, I began to notice how many little hands were getting poked from the spiky cones.  The negatives (mainly access and injury) were piling up against our current method.

This past summer I spent some time surfing for alternatives on the web and found a better idea--bagel bird-feeders.  (We decided to substitute lard or shortening for peanut butter.)  I emailed K2 to get her opinion.  It was a go.  :>) 

Today was the day to try it out for the first time during our science lesson.  I read two of my favorite bird books (Wild Birds by Joanne Ryder & Have You Seen Birds by Joanne Oppenheim), and then we made our bagel bird-feeders for the first time.  It was a success.  Now I hope little seed covered bagels are being hung in all 50 of their backyards this evening.  I know the birds will appreciate it.