© Ralph W. Scott

The ruby-throated hummingbird’s diminutive size doesn’t stop them from flying nearly 600 miles from the eastern US across the Gulf of Mexico to the Yucatan Peninsula each winter, and back to their breeding grounds in the US each spring.  These tiny birds weigh only 0.1 ounce, and can fly more than 30 miles per hour!  Many of us have seem them in our own backyards each spring, feeding on flower pollen or hovering near familiar red hummingbird feeders filled with sugar-water. 

Learn more about these fascinating feathered friends with a brand new species profile on the Learning Site.

Every year thousands of migratory birds make the long journey from North American forests, parks and backyards to the warm, lush rainforests of Central and South America. Many of these birds will land in trees that shade coffee farms. Through the Rainforest Alliance curriculum, sixth-graders learn about the important work that SalvaNATURA, the Rainforest Alliance's partner group in El Salvador, is carrying out to protect the coffee forests that surround El Imposible, the first national park of El Salvador. 

Students can test their theories about bird migratory behavior by observing and researching physical and behavioral traits of birds. Try setting up a feeder outside your classroom!   Using the activities and resources in the Rainforest Alliance curriculum, your class can create diagrams of a year in the life of a migratory bird of their choice, and even use math calculations to fully understand the distances traveled during migration. View these activities in Sixth Grade, Lesson 1: Why do some birds have two homes when we have one?  Or view the entire sixth grade curriculum here.

© SalvaNATURA

1. Most birds that live in the northeastern US do not migrate.

2. In temperate forests, birds have less food to eat in winter than they do in summer.

3. Most non-migrating species depend on humans to survive the winters in the northeastern US temperate forest.

4. Birds leave the rainforest in spring and begin their northward migration when the weather in the south gets too hot for them.

5. Migration is a movement from temperate forests to tropical forests.

6. Penguins migrate.

7. Some birds migrate as far as 22,000 miles in one year!

*For the answers and for more true/false questions check out Lesson 1 of our Sixth Grade curriculum.

On April 22, classes throughout the

US celebrated Earth Day with field trips, fundraisers, plays, art & crafts and more. Second graders at Our Lady Star of the Sea School in Maryland raised $100 during the month in support of Belize’s Maya Mountain Marine Reserve through the Rainforest Alliance’s Adopt-A-Rainforest Program.  

In school, the students studied the wildlife, environment and ecosystems of Belize.  At home, they worked hard to complete extra chores and earn money to donate to the reserve.  Students then created a poster about their favorite rainforest animal, which they presented to the class.            

What did your class do for Earth Day?  We want to hear your stories and successes – email us at education@ra.org.

Second Graders at Our Lady Star of the Sea School in Maryland proudly display posters of their favorite rainforest animals.