A "Hoot" for Everyone!
In late November, Ruby Team students at Highlands Middle School attended a field trip to the National Aviary in Pittsburgh as a culminating activity to their cross-curricular unit on environmental conservation. As a complement to Mr. Resek's unit on the study of owls and environmental advocacy, most students read Carl Hiaason's novel Hoot in their WIN groups. The novel is about middle school students that pull together to save a burrowing owl habitat from being destroyed by land development. Students observed the Aviary's burrowing owls that they read about in Hiaason's novel, and were also able to interact with some other feathered friends. While at the Aviary, the students also had a chance to review their social studies world map skills while learning where all the exotic birds lived. The field trip ended up being a "hoot" for everyone!
Special thanks to Mrs. Kala Lenart, 7th Grade World Cultures Teacher