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Dunbar students participate in annual bird count

Posted on February 28, 2011 by Sonoma Valley Sun

Jaymee Pearce checks out a sharp-shinned hawk through a spotting scope during Dunbar’s fifth annual Great Backyard Bird Count. Fellow third-graders Azure Oldani and Karina Robles-Sanchez wait their turn.

Students at Dunbar Elementary School in Glen Ellen participated in the “Great Backyard Bird Count” on Friday, Feb. 18, contributing to a nationwide citizen science event. The count has become an annual event at the school, with 2011 marking the fifth year.

Third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students from four classrooms took part in the bird count. Data collected during the count was submitted to the “Great Backyard Bird Count” national database, as well as used in the classroom, where students interpreted raw data and incorporated it into graphs. Students counted 298 individual birds and 29 separate species during the count.

In addition to Dunbar teachers Mike Witkowski, Wendi Wellander, Cheryl Coldiron, and Sandy Lane, the students were assisted by Dunbar garden coordinator Alissa Pearce, community volunteers Dr. Lee Hall, Deb Poole, and Tracy Salcedo-Chourré, Dunbar alumni Cruz Chourré, and Dunbar parents Dr. Shannon Lee, Joanna Greenslade, and Jodie Taylor.

Dunbar principal, Melanie Blake hailed the annual count, the research that students do beforehand, and the analysis that follows the count, as “an excellent example of integrated, thematic, project-based learning.”

Sonoma Sun | Sonoma, CA