Reptile show at my school

[BoidKeeper]

Hey Everyone,

Well more of a snake show really. As some of you know I’m a teacher at a K-3 school. Up until recently I was keeping four Bearded Dragons in my classroom. After the March break I will be keeping a corn snake.
Because of the Canada Games we started our March break a week early this year. Given that it was the last day before the break, and as a school we we're not starting any new work, the staff thought it would be a good idea if I held a reptile show for the school. So for an hour straight I showed them 5 different corn morphs, a hog island boa, a rainbow boa and a ball python. I also had a student bring in his full-grown slider turtle. I had a world map labelled to show where the snakes come from, and a large table covered with all of my reptile books. I stressed how important education is to our hobby in order to be successful at it. For each animal I discussed its natural history and captive care requirements. Through out the presentation I answered all kinds of question ranging from are snakes slimy, to do they see heat, which I thought was great because I was just about to pull out the ball python and discuss heat pits. I was able to dispel a few myths and put the bug into a few more potential future herpers. The principal and one of the teachers took lots of photos and I'll post them after the break.
Cheers,
Trevor

[ballpython5000]

cool, i wish that herpers came to my school some time.

[eyespy]

I wish more schools could benefit from your show. Children have such active, interested, open minds and you can really spark their interest.

Anything that encourages a love of reptiles is excellent and I'm sure you reached a bunch of kids.

[sSNAKESs.com]

hey sounds like it went smoothly!! Its great to educate the youngsters, so they dont grow up with a fear or phobia for snakes and other herps, which the general public seems to have! :p

[ballpython5000]

when i was in 3rd grade i brought my corn snake to school for a show and tell. one girl loved it so much she imediatly got a kingsnake and she has a couple more now today.

[BoidKeeper]

Get them young and set the bug that's the idea. I wanted to discuss peoples fears of herps and find out from the students why they think people fear herps and then go from there but I ran out of time. I tried to keep it as educational as possible. I'm very protective of my herps to begin with so as you can imagine this was not the most hands on show ever. I've seen shows where the presenter simply pulls out a snake, says what it is and hands it around. And I also forgot to mention that no snakes went around anybodies neck, including mine. I personally feel that it sends the wrong message. Every time I hear about a 5 yr old who had his/her pic taken at the mall with a Boa around their neck I cringe. Pics were taken but the snakes were in the student’s hands. At the end of the show the students stood in a line and I brought a BP down the line for them all to get a feel of.
Thanks for the kind words,
Trevor

[asphyxia]

Good Stuff Trevor, Im sure the kids loved it, and that you did a great job.

Best regards
Brian

P.S. I will be back in the swing of things soon

[Lisa]

Sounds like a great time. We never even really covered much on reptiles when i was in school. All we were told is they were cold blooded, abandoned their young and laid eggs.

[BoidKeeper]

Lisa: One of the classes I teach is grade 3 science. In New Brunswick grade is when students start to learn about animal’s classification. Needless to say I was some what biased. The students learned the basics for distinguishing between reptiles and amphibians. They also learned about the families of turtles and tortoises, lizards and snakes. They also learned that not all reptiles lay eggs. At the end of the unit the students wrote a research project on any animal they wanted. Well needless to say 90% were on reptiles.:D
Thanks,
Trevor

[Nanashi04]

dude, wanna come to my school? To bad I think it's to late for my classmates. :( ah well.

I think I really "got the bug" in fourth grade when the park ranger came in, he brought a snake.

[J_Riley]

Originally posted by BoidKeeper
At the end of the show the students stood in a line and

I was hoping that ended "... they all washed their hands." That is a big thing with me when I do my shows, I don't want any ill informed parents coming after me or the school for "giving thier kid salmonella". If I have a snake touching line, I'm in the middle, the kids are on one end and their teacher is at the other end with hand sanitizer (supplied by me) or soap and water.

But excellent work spreading the reptile knowledge and expanding young minds!

[BoidKeeper]

J_Riley: There was hand sanatizer at both ends of the line, one coming and one going. They had to wash first and then after.
Thanks,
Trevor

[BurmBaroness]

JRiley, you beat me to it.........lol. When I do the presentations at school, I make the kids wash up before and after also. Not out of fear they might get something from my snakes, but that my snakes might get soemthing from THEM............haha. You never know where a kid's hands have been..........