Pierce Middle School Teacher Brings Birding to Students

How do you get kids away from their screens and outdoors into nature? Jeff Stoodt, sixth-grade science teacher at in Milton thinks birding might be the answer.

He recently received a grant from the Milton Foundation for Education that provided him with the funds to hold a Birding Day for all the students on his team. Buses will take the students to nearby Fowl Meadow, in the Blue Hills, and the students will use brand new binoculars to identify birds. 

Jeff’s bringing in national birding expert Bill Thompson III to help teach the kids about the birds that are passing through at this peak migration time, as well as those that are settling in to raise a family.

Bill is the editor of the monthly magazine Bird Watcher’s Digest, and the author of numerous books, most recently The Young Birder's Guide to Birds in North America, which hit shelves last month. Copies of the book have also been donated to each student.

Also noteworthy: Milton resident, and Stoodt’s wife, Lisa White is the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt editor responsible for the Young Birder's Guide, as well as all our other guidebooks including the Peterson Field Guide and Kaufman Field Guide series. 

“I want my students to appreciate that their environment is teeming with a diversity of birds,” says Jeff Stoodt. “As they revel in the beauty of birds and learn about their importance, and want my students to become advocates for these marvelous creatures.”

The above release was submitted by Taryn Roeder, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.