The weather cooperated beautifully, and we started the day cleaning out the six raised beds with the seventh graders helping out; we weeded, scooped, loosened, found grubs, garbage, and rocks. Second graders planted a variety of flowers, and some veggies for fun (although we will not be able to eat them, as the wood in the beds is treated), found many grubs, slugs, got a lot of exercise, AND MORE.
After that, we had a visit from the Reptile Man! Wow! Did you know the female python can raise her body temperature to incubate her eggs by flexing her muscles!? Your second grader can tell you what is the heaviest snake in the world, the difference between a turtle and a tortoise, AND MORE.
Next we were visited by two friends of mine who are organic, free-range, more-for-fun-than-profit-but-trying-to-make-a-go-at-it chicken farmers from Vancouver. Ask about the one-eyed chicken named Jackie, the frizzled chicken named Brillo, and the big rooster with a name that starts with at G... Second graders learned more about raising chickens, the life-cycle of chickens, different breeds of chickens, AND MORE!
We also successfully made fish prints, which is the traditional way Japanese fishermen would record their catches for the day. I tossed this one to parent volunteers and they ran with it, and it turned out beautifully. The prints will come home soon.
Finally, we started in on the Pet Presentations part of the day. The posters were fantastic and the presentations were good too. It was a very distracting environment at the end of the day, but the children did a good job holding themselves together. Please chime in on the survey ---> so I can better plan next year. We learned the gestation of a horse is 11 months, the first cat in space was French, sometimes father hamsters eat baby hamsters, AND MORE!
Thank you to the parents who helped throughout the day: Mrs. Silva, Mrs. Regele, Mr. Stores, Mrs. Bartley, Mrs. Mitchelldyer, AND MORE! Thank you for not letting the day be a fashion show. Thank you for supporting your second grader in preparing for this day, thank you for helping get pets to and from school, thank you for taking time off work for dogs and cats to visit, thank you for sharing your awesome children.
Have a good weekend; I hope the sunshine stays around for you.
If you have better/more pictures of the day, please email them to me!
