Traditional Birdhouses

Northwoods Community Elementary School, 3^rd grade
Teacher: Kelli Jacobi

Finished Birdhouses

Goals:

To learn about birds, the types of houses they need to live in, minimum requirements of a finished birdhouse, building designs, traditional building techniques, and how to address environmental concerns.

Students learned about local birds and the types of housing they require. Rick Rudis, a community member and custodian at the school, worked with the class offering his locally derived experience and expertise about the outdoors, nature, and woodworking to provide background information.

Students had to design and create a birdhouse. This included lessons on measuring in cm and mm, making marks, and connecting points.  Students needed to follow directions and work cooperatively.

Rick Rudis worked with class on natural stains and why birdhouses can't be stained with regular stains. This process included research and experimentation. Rick used a piece of red maple and stripped the bark. He showed that by boiling the bark you end up with a natural brownish colored dye. He also explained the need to use a bonding agent. He shared family stories about making dye and how they had to experiment with various items to find the colors they wanted.

Following student experimentation, the class found several items to use to make their dye. The most readily available was red cabbage (purple) and beets. The students cut up the cabbage and beets and boiled them for a few days. The water had to be strained and then it was used to stain the birdhouses.

We have hung several of the birdhouses in the woods around the school and hope to attract more birds to our area.