SCHOOL: District 7 Elementary

GRADE: 2nd and 3rd

PROGRAM:
Lava Lakes and Landforms and Circle of Life

Scientist: Davis

This week I had the joy of returning to a school I’ve been visiting since way back when I started working at Science Fun: District 7!

District 7 is a school in Wade, NC which is about an hour and a half away from my house in Durham. When I tell friends about the long trips, I get some sour faces, and sympathy. “Man, I can’t believe you have to go so far! That must be terrible!” they say.

But honestly, an hour and half is well worth it to hang out with the kids at District 7. When I pull up, I may be tired, but the enthusiasm and energy that the kids have immediately wakes me up!

On this particular day I taught two different grade levels. My first two classes were learning about land forms and erosion. We have the students study erosion by actually poring water down a small model of North Carolina that we have made for them. As they pipette water over the map, they can actually see how the water collects in the low places. We add sand to the map to represent the sediment that is pushed around as the water moves down toward the ocean. The kids had so much fun playing with water in class, and were genuinely loving the experience of reinforcing knowledge that their teachers has already planted so expertly.

In the second half of the day, I worked with the second grade students, talking about life cycles. My favorite part of this program is when we actually bring out some real life bugs and see the different stages of their life cycles. We set this up by talking about the life cycle of a butterfly. After establishing the different stages of the butterfly’s life (and laughing at the word Pupa) we explain that many insects go through the same basic cycle.

Then we bring out the superworms.

Superworms are the larva of the darkling beetle. They are a common feeder food for lizards like bearded dragons, but are also really nifty little bugs. They are expert burrowers, and more that hardy enough to stand up to the special kind of love that second graders can have for such little critters. It is such a blast sitting with students who are a little scared to hold these six legged wigglers for the first time; and watch as they become more and more comfortable with them as the program continues. I wouldn’t be surprised if we’ve planted the seeds for some budding Entomologists!

Thank you District 7 for the awesome day! I can’t wait to come back!