Discover your local Beach – nesting Birds! FREE incursions, online education program and bird art competition!

1. Discover your local Beach – nesting Birds! FREE incursions, online education program and bird art competition! Since 2006, Birds Australia has provided free incursions at schools along the Victorian coast to educate students about the environmental values of beaches and the vulnerability of Australia’s beach-nesting birds. This free educational program will help teachers incorporate endangered animals, biodiversity, conservation and environment themes into the curriculum across multiple disciplines including the visual arts.

2. INCURSION - A 20 minute interactive presentation for students in Grades 2-6, identifying the birds, their habitat and what they need from us to survive. - Activities that engage students in conservation through action for the threatened Hooded Plover. These include; 1) making images and stories to inform their peers about direct action on the beach; 2) designing signs to raise awareness about the birds, and 3) building wooden shelters that will be put out on beaches by conservation staff and used by the birds as a hiding refuge (these shelters directly improve chick survival!). • Follow up visits or communications to students to inform them of the benefits of the activities they participated in and/or of the local success of the birds. • We invite your school to participate in these exciting and engaging programs. Please contact Meghan Cullen at Birds Australia: m.cullen@birdsaustralia.com.au or on 0437 787 985 to book your incursion and find out more. ONLINE EDUCATION PROGRAM - NEW! Developed by Birds Australia in partnership with the Gould League and Culture Victoria, this online education program engages students in conservation through a series of interactive student-centred visual arts activities. - The program draws on digital art collections from Museum Victoria, the National Gallery of Victoria and the State Library of Victoria. - Features an interactive animation exploring the issues facing the Hooded Plover. - Includes VELS-linked learning activities addressing multiple curriculum areas for students from grades prep-6. We are launching this art program at the start of Term 4 and all participants can enter into a competition to close 26th November 2010.  Find the online resource at www.birdsaustralia.com.au COMPETITION Throughout this program, students will create a range of visual arts projects exploring the Hooded Plover and related environmental and conservation issues. We invite all students to enter their work into a special art competition closing on November 26th, 2010. There are great prizes to win and the opportunity for student artwork to be showcased on the Culture of Victoria website and Birds Australia publications. For competition information contactg.read@birdsaustralia.com.au