Elon elementary education majors Corrine Holder and Kaitlin Perry organized and coordinated a visit from an award-winning children’s book author at Gibsonville Elementary School. Holder and Perry are currently completing an internship in a second grade classroom under the supervision of Terry Tomasek, an assistant professor of education.
Pamela Kirby is the author of a 2009 National Science Teachers Association Outstanding Science Tradebook What Bluebirds Do. Kirby visited with second graders at Gibsonville to share her book and to share about the needs of bluebirds and how people can create more habitat friendly space for local bluebird populations.
Kirby and her husband brought two bluebird boxes to Gibsonville and set them out for children to make observations. She shared the natural history of bluebirds as well as gave suggestions for why bluebird populations have been declining in some areas.
She taught children about the introduction of the European Starlings and House Sparrows and how this has upset the balance of nature. All of the second graders rose to their feet, raised their right hand and pledged to be “Bluebird Rangers,” promising to watch for and protect the bluebirds in their community.