Pistes d'exploration

Before reading, use the clues on the endpapers and front inside flap to predict which birds you might encounter in this book.

For each close-up illustration and accompanying question, guess which bird will be presented on the following page.

After reading, discuss which birds you already knew about, and which ones were new to you. Remember to include the section at the end, “Other Awesome Birds.”

Tell a partner which bird you found most interesting and explain why. Record your ideas in your reader-writer’s notebook. Illustrate your work.

Using a large teacher-selected image on the interactive whiteboard, help each other label the parts of a bird. Re-use those words on a second displayed image and add adjectives this time.

After listening to the text of one of the birds, with a partner, write a sentence in your own words to tell something you learned about that bird.

Select a different bird (from those suggested in “Other Awesome Birds” or from elsewhere.) Use the book as your model text and prepare a guessing page for your bird. Take turns guessing each other’s birds.

Create a new class book inspired by the titles of other Stacey Roderick books such as "Dinosaurs from Head to Tail" or "Ocean Animals from Head to Tail."

Birds A to Z, Canada's Birds

Mots-clés

Non-fiction , animal anatomy , animal behaviour , birds , illustrations (collage) , predictions , questions , recurring patterns

Commentaire descriptif

This attractive book profiles a variety of unique bird species around the world. Structured as a guessing game, the book introduces each bird with a close-up illustration and a question: “What bird has a body like this?,” “What bird has legs like this?” Subsequent spreads reveal the answers (A kiwi!”, “A flamingo!”) with brief language that outlines distinctive traits: “Most birds have light, hollow bones and a tail to make flying easier, but the kiwi has heavy bones and no tail.” Vibrant collages of precisely defined, cut-out shapes in thick, textural papers create dimensional images of the birds in their habitats. One spread shows the sleek form of an arctic tern, gliding through low-lying clouds against a flame-coloured sky (“each year an arctic tern flies from the Arctic to the Antarctic … and then all the way back again!”) Another spread contrasts vividly blue webbed feet against the grays and browns of a rocky landscape by the sea, as blue-footed boobies dance for potential mates. (“Both males and females look for a partner with the bluest feet. That’s because the birds with the brightest coloured feet are the healthiest.” Birds of many sizes, shapes and proclivities can be found in these appealing and informative pages, including the great horned owl, the hummingbird, the bald eagle and the peacock. The final spread offers an array of additional species and their unique traits.