A Reptile Raucous at Rosedale Elementary!

As we enter the New Year, teachers may find themselves searching for fresh ways to embellish and invigorate their class curriculum. Conveniently, at this point in the school year, many of us have gotten a bit more familiar with our students' unique interests and the passions that they wish to explore.

One of our teachers, Lacie, went above and beyond recently by organizing a very informative and multi-faceted reptile-themed curriculum for her children at Rosedale elementary. She took the initiative to orchestrate a demonstration by her friend (and reptile expert!), Malea, who arrived at Lacie's class with a python, Chinese water dragon, gecko, and turtle (AKA "Crackers") in tow. "I knew the kids would really enjoy talking about different reptiles," said Lacie. "I asked my friend Malea if she would be willing to come, and she said yes!"

Malea takes the snake out for children to pet!

In addition to arranging to have her speaker, Lacie also planned an in-depth reptile curriculum complete with books she requested from Hillsboro Public Library. "I asked my friend Malea what she wanted to talk about with the kids, and from there I made my plan," she said. "I asked the librarians for assistance, and they were very helpful! I try to bring in new books every week."  

Not only do VHFLC teachers sometimes connect with local libraries, but they often decide to establish a relationship with their own school library. As we've talked about in previous blog entries, once beginning this process, it is extremely important to maintain good contact with school librarians, and to explain carefully to one's children about how to respect and properly care for their books.

During Lacie's "reptile week", children also enjoyed having a reptile joke session, learning and singing a reptile song, holding a discussion about what it's like to have a reptile as a pet, making their own reptile out of clay, and each day playing a reptile-themed group game, such as lizard tag, or alligator swamp. 

As a tip for encouraging participation, Lacie mentioned, "I've noticed that the more choices I give the students, the more likely they are to join in. If I tell them they have to join in, no one wants to, but if I word it differently and say "Hey, let's play one or two rounds and see how it goes," it often helps motivate them to join."

Discussion time!

Lacie's goal with organizing these activities was not just to educate her class about lizards and snakes, but also to demonstrate the many fun ways in which one can learn new information – through song, physical activity, and touch with interaction. To reiterate this mentality, she said, "I wanted my students to learn and have fun at the same time. Many of the older students knew a lot about reptiles to begin with, so this really helped the younger students to see that learning can be fun. It is very important to teach children about having a passion, so that they can learn about it, from it, and then turn around and teach others about it as well."

The thrill in the room was contagious. Lacie said the presentation prompted the children to do a bit of their own research: "It was very cool to see the students get so excited about touching the animals. Seeing their curiosity about them and watching them search through the library books to look up the species was great."

Weeks later, and the impression this slithery experience made on VHFLC's Rosedale program is clear. According to Lacie, her kids are still talking about it, especially their visitor Crackers the turtle...

In the future, Lacie has plans to bring more outside professionals into her curriculum. "My friend teaches yoga and has said that she would be willing to come in during our fitness week to instruct a yoga class for students who want to learn. I also would really love to do a career week where students can meet different people in a variety of careers, for example, a woman who is a biologist or a man who is a teacher or a nurse – just so that they can see they are not limited based on their gender identity or the way they look." We think this is a very valuable perspective to work into VHFLC programs.

VHFLC Teachers: are you interested in incorporating a speaker into your curriculum? Just choose a subject that your children (or you!) are passionate about, identify an individual or organization that is equipped to speak about it, make sure you talk to your RS about your plan, and then feel free to build curriculum games, books, and activities, around your theme!

In the past, teachers have brought in speakers from organizations such as Evergreen Aviation, PGE, Fresh 'N Local, fire departments, Park Lanes, the Oregon Humane Society, the Oregon Zoo, and more! We're very excited to see what you do and where you take it.