Schools E-newsletter March 09


	Welcome to the second Avon Wildlife Trust e-newsletter. With Spring in full swing, this issue focuses on birds, woodlands and the dawn chorus. We've got some new free resources that you can use in your school as well as links to some of the activities we offer for schools. And we have now launched our new website just for schools! Visit www.wildschools.org.uk for more resources and to find out more about how Avon Wildlife Trust can work with you. Bird box webcam Get inspired by the season. Go to see all the action in our very own live bird box webcam from Folly Farm. Click here to watch the blue tit nest and eggs develop.

	Here are some tried and tested resources that you can use in the classroom, or ideally outside. Just click the link to download a PDF for each activity. Feed the birdie Feeding a brood of chicks is tough for the parents and if they do not get enough food, a whole brood can die. Play the baby bird feeding game to show how difficult it can be and then make a bird cake to help others survive. Introduces concepts around communication, survival of the fittest and 'cookery skills'. Click here to download Watch the birdie Use these bird silhouettes to identify the different types of bird in your school or local area. Introduces visual identification skills. Click here to download Hunter owls A game for a darkened room where owls hunt for voles and mice. Introduces concepts about predation and food chains. Click here to download Woodland trail A full lesson plan to enable you to explore a woodland or school ground area, ideal for key stage 1 or 2. Click here to download

	Avon Wildlife Trust has over twenty years of experience of working with schoolchildren of all ages. Our educational programmes are designed to support specific areas of the national curriculum and are built around specific Key Stage targets. We offer three types of services for schools. School trips Visit either Willsbridge Mill or Folly Farm for an inspiring day of outdoor environmental education. Willsbridge is offering 'Woodland Awakes' at Foundation Stage - a chance to meet the minibeasts in Limes Wood. At Key Stage 1 'munching minibeasts' explores the woodland and its smallest creatures. At Key Stage 2 Willsbridge offers 'Woodland Explorers' - a chance to investigate woodland life from the trees to the soil. Folly Farm is offering 'Predator Prey' for Key Stage 2 and 3 - investigating the food chain by discovering minibeasts and dissecting an owl pellet. Make this into a one night residential to learn the ancient art of 'owl calling' and to see badgers. Both centres offer much more than bird and woodland activities. Visit our new schools website: www.wildschools.org.uk Environmental activity days Bird and woodland study is a great way for children to learn outside and contribute to their science, maths, language, art or geography classes. Our team of education experts can develop tailor made activities in either your school grounds or a nearby nature reserve. Click here for more details School grounds improvements Help turn your school grounds in to a mini nature reserve and fantastic educational resource for the whole school. We've created bird friendly gardens, planted hedges and made bird boxes and feeding stations, often involving children in the creation of a new area alive with wildlife. Click here for more details For more information email us at: schools@avonwildlifetrust.org.uk or call on 0117 917 7270

	Contact schools@avonwildlifetrust.org.uk Tel: 0117 917 7270 Avon Wildlife Trust - Charity No. 280422
	If you would like to join our email list, send your email address to: schools@avonwildlifetrust.org.uk with JOIN in the subject field. The e-newsletter will be sent out twice each term, so please circulate it to colleagues who may find it useful.