Endangered New Jersey: The Peregrine Project For The Classroom

The Peregrine Project is a hands-on, multi-disciplinary project using the peregrine falcon as its focus to teach reading, writing, science, geography, technology, and art.

Teachers can use the peregrine webcam as an exciting resource in the classroom. The Jersey City Peregrine webcam streams live video from a nestbox atop 101 Hudson Street between March or April and July each year.

You can start the year with activities and resources to prepare students for the nesting activity in the spring.

By engaging students in the wonders of our natural world, it encourages respect for all living things and helps promote stewardship for rare wildlife.

In the winter of 2004, the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ (CWF) partnered with the Cornelia F. Bradford School in Jersey City on The Peregrine Project, created to raise awareness about one of the New Jersey’s endangered and threatened species, the peregrine falcon. One product of the effort is The Peregrine Project Curriculum. The Verizon Foundation generously provided funding for this project.

The Peregrine Project is a hands-on, multi-disciplinary project using the peregrine falcon as its focus to teach reading, writing, science, geography, technology, and art. The Cornelia F. Bradford School is located around the corner from 101 Hudson Street, where in 2001, the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife installed a Web cam on a nesting pair of peregrine falcons.

Second graders at Cornelia F. Bradford School, learned about this endangered species through reading, writing, and art, using the Internet and library for their research. Using classroom computers, the children were able to observe the peregrines and their behavior as the birds cared for their newly hatched chicks. The second graders kept a journal about the peregrine falcon family as well as observations of all urban wildlife that they encountered on a daily basis. The hallways of the school were lined with pictures, articles, and artwork about birds of prey and peregrine falcons. Encouraged by their teachers, students “thought like birds” for a weekend and then constructed bird nests that were displayed throughout the school.

The Peregrine Project and Curriculum - The lesson plans and activities contained in the curriculum, entitled "Peregrine Falcons, Raptors, and Other Urban Wildlife," details the lessons and activities they used to teach about the peregrine falcon in the classroom. Using the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards, the 23 lessons are multi-disciplinary, incorporating reading, writing, science, art, and technology. The lessons build off one another, first discussing birds in general and then focusing on birds of prey and finally onto peregrine falcons.