Today was a totally different experience than I have had so far. It was a lot of fun, just different. I worked with Tom today and we were over at Farmstead teaching. There were two school groups who came and so one went to the Learning Center and the other went to Farmstead. I was in the Farmstead group and we had around 60 first graders from Wolf Lake. There was a 90% chance of thunderstorms all day and so Tom planned our day with indoor/outdoor activities. That way, when the rain came, we would be covered. Normally, we get to our area 30 minutes before the students arrive so that we can go over the plan for the day. I got to Farmstead at 9 and the students were scheduled to get there at 9:30. When I arrived, Tom calmly said, "So, change of plans...the students will be here in about five minutes." Yikes! We were doing a completely different kind of lesson and different activities. We only had 5 minutes to go over them.
There were different stations in various Farmstead buildings and we were each supposed to be with our group and when we got to each station, we would teach them about it. Since we didn't have much time to familiarize ourselves with every station and since I was the only one who was not scared of snakes and could do the snake show, we decided to each pick a station to teach at and then just have the students rotate around us. That way, we could become an expert in one area and teach each group about it. That means that I did the snake show five times!
At first, Don (the Northern Water Snake) did not like coming out of the bucket. As the students were gathered around watching me, I tried to get him out and not stress him out more. Don, on the other hand, had other plans. He decided to jump (yes jump) out of the bucket and the pillow case as soon as I opened it. He then proceeded to slither around the table. I had to grab him quickly before he got away. When I grabbed him, he started freaking out and wiggling all over the place. During all this, he ended up hitting me in the forehead with his face! No harm was done and I eventually got him to calm down. Now, I had to calm my students down. They saw it all happen and were scared that he bit me. I had a long talk with them about why I wasn't scared and why they shouldn't be either. Apparently, my talk worked because by the end, they all wanted to touch Don.
Since I was teaching on my own, I did not have time to take any pictures! It was a very fast-paced day! It made me think on my feet and decide what to tell them about snakes as I went along. I feel that it worked out well though and that the students learned a lot about snakes.
I also taught them about frogs and we played some games where we hopped around like frogs and even had some jumping competitions! All in all, the students seemed to have a ton of fun at all the stations. I am really glad I got to work with Tom and that I got to experience a different set up to a day with students. Even though the weather may not have held up too well, we were still able to learn a lot and have a ton of fun!
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