The main purpose of the

Flying WILD: An Educator's

Guide to Celebrating Birds is

to provide activities that teach middle-school students about

birds, their migration, and what people can do to help birds and their habitats. The Guide's many activities can be used to teach classroom lessons or to initiate service-learning projects that help birds and their habitats. The Guide helps middle-grade students, teachers, and community volunteers implement a bird festival at their school.

Within the Guide's pages you will find a wealth of activities, ideas, and tips for hosting your own school bird festival, from recruiting committees and pre-festival donations to after-festival lean-up and follow-up evaluation. In conjunction with the Flying WILD program, the Guide creates a unique opportunity for students, teachers, and the community to come together to learn about birds through innovative, hands-on, minds-on activities.

The Guide features three sets of activities, each designed to be led by

• A teacher;
• A volunteer; or
• A student.

Fun and fascinating activities involve volunteers at various levels of ability and participation. All 43 activities focus on learning about birds through contests, quizzes, and hands-on projects-and 19 of those activities are designed to be led by the students themselves. Join the fun while learning about what you can do to help protect migratory birds.

The Guide also provides simple suggestions and practical how-to steps...

• planning ahead to meet the public's needs,
• organizing your festival stations,
• fund-raising ideas (before and during the festival) ,
• building publicity,
• creating educational exhibits,
• hosting art displays,
• staging performances,
• program follow up,
• stewardship activities as a next step
• program evaluation
• acknowledging students and volunteers

  ...and much more.