Going to the school with my plants and frogs

[back2eight]

My son's teacher has invited me to come up there and bring my plants and frogs. She wanted me to wait until after Christmas since they haven't started science yet, they will do that the second half of the year, but I told her the fly traps would be dormant. We decided for me to go ahead any time I was ready with the fly traps and sarracenia, and then I can do the other plants and my frogs after they have had a chance to learn some science.

So what I am wondering is exactly what do I need to plan on doing? How detailed do I need to plan on getting with 3rd graders?

 

[jimscott]

Will you be doing a terrarium approach? I know you know this, but the VFT's & Sarracenias are going to need better lighting than just a window sill. Sundews, like d. capensis, spatulata, binata, filiformis, and adelae all look different from one another and do well at window sills, possibly also well in a terarrium. P. primuliflora and Mexican pings should also do well. Maybe germinating seeds (capensis, spatulata) would be a fun project and could be enjoyed for the schoolyear.

As with anything involving pre-teen children, simple is best: A couple jugs of distilled water, a couple bags of the dried LFS, maybe making 2" pots out of yogurt cups, for some hands on activities?

 

[back2eight]

I'm not going to be leaving them there, just taking a few to show to them and talk about. I will only be there with my plants for a little while. They probably aren't going to care about hearing the "real" names of the plants, so I should just simply say "this is a pitcher plant" instead of going in to sarracenia and what type. Perhaps there will be a map in the room and I can show them where they live naturally. When I go after Christmas and take my frogs I will have even more questions of how detailed to get with them!

 

[rattler]

lol from my one experiance infront of grades K-3, have a basic assortment of interesting facts to tell them and let their question dictate how detailed you get. i showed off plants and critters for an hour this summer and held their attention for the entire length, trust me though, your going to get more interest in the Frogs so start off with the plants this winter

 

[jimscott]

Okay... I see... then as Sheridan was saying, put a sampling of the major genuses together (VFT, Drosera, Pinguicula, Utricularia, Sarracenia, and Nepenthes) and show them the trapping techniques they each have. Have them touch a sundew and a butterwort and desecribe how there are sticky traps and pitfall traps.

Having trained fruitflies on hand would be a bonus!

 

[back2eight]

Fruit flies and crickets I have, trained they are not.

My fly traps I think got too waterlogged, they are turning black. I don't think they are going to die, I am letting their soil dry out some, but they don't look the healthiest.

I have a pot of very healthy sundews, and of course my Titan is very awesome right now. My sarracenia are also looking good. I can show them how each plant eats their bugs and I can talk about where they are found naturally growing.

When I take the frogs later on the year I guess I will take one of each kind that I have in a cup. I think I might also take a cup with a couple of crickets and feed the tomato frog in front of the kids so they can see it eat. I can also bring a FF culture so they can see the darts eat. Maybe they have a map in the classroom and I can point out where these frogs are naturally in the wild. We can talk about different types of dart frogs, the fun fact of how indians used to use them to put the poison on the tip pf the darts hence the name, etc. I don't think for either the plants or the frogs we need to get into a lot of detail about their scientific names. I will just share their common names, and I'll stay away from any breeding behavior topics for the frogs. LOL. Remember, these are 3rd graders.

 

[jimscott]

Quote[/b] (back2eight @ Sep. 01 2006,2:43)]I have a pot of very healthy sundews, and of course my Titan is very awesome right now.  My sarracenia are also looking good.  I can show them how each plant eats their bugs and I can talk about where they are found naturally growing.

When I take the frogs later on the year I guess I will take one of each kind that I have in a cup.  I think I might also take a cup with a couple of crickets and feed the tomato frog in front of the kids so they can see it eat.  I can also bring a FF culture so they can see the darts eat.  Maybe they have a map in the classroom and I can point out where these frogs are naturally in the wild.  We can talk about different types of dart frogs, the fun fact of how indians used to use them to put the poison on the tip pf the darts hence the name, etc.  I don't think for either the plants or the frogs we need to get into a lot of detail about their scientific names.  I will just share their common names, and I'll stay away from any breeding behavior topics for the frogs.  LOL.  Remember, these are 3rd graders.

Yeah.. the flowering Titan.... way cool!

Do you have one of those talking frogs? Now that would pique their interests!

Seriously, I would check out whether the crickets and fruitflies would be okay with the teacher. Who knows.... maybe the teacher would freak!