Journey North Whooping Cranes

Keep a Migration Journal

Click and Print for Ready-made Journals
	Journal Cover	Journal Page
Tips for Teachers Customize the pages as appropriate for your class. Just download our page, open through your Word application, enter your own questions, categories, or spacing—and print! Or, use the pages the way we designed them: Print a cover for each student and a stack of journal pages. Journals can be stapled, bound, or kept in each students' pocket folder to pull out on "Journey North days." Mark the map. This visual reminder of the migration route is fun to label each time the birds cross into another state, or to pencil a pathway showing the migration's general location and progress. Headline is a chance for students to identify the main idea of the week's Web updates in their own creative way. Summary is a place to sum up the week's highlights in a paragraph with supporting details. Spotlight is a category for journal writers to focus on a bit of migration news of special interest to them. Did they read news of a crane chick they "adopted" for the migration? Was the weather the star (or perhaps the jinx) of the week? Did any unusual event occur? Was a particular bird a standout for some reason? Capture colorful tidbits like these in the spotlight section. Answer our Journaling Questions. We've allowed space for students to answer any or all of the excellent Journaling Questions that appear in each daily migration update on the Web. (Just flip the page over for more space.) Compare and Predict. Pair the Journal with the migration comparison chart for a good culminating project and assessment tool. In their journals, students can continually compare the migrations, revisit their predictions, and give rationale behind their thinking. "Migration and Survival" Theme: Students "adopt a chick" from this year's flock. Through this personalized experience, they discover and describe the many challenges migratory and endangered animals must overcome. Other Thematic Journals. The whooping crane migration study is rich with concrete examples of key science concepts (such as habitat, adaptations, ecosystems, seasons and cycles). See more tips on teaching themes and Journey North journals: Building Understanding Through Long-term Studies.

Journey North is pleased to feature this educational adventure made possible by the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership