Good to Know

My friend Carol is a Nature Educator who works for the State Park near Clinton. She took on the challenge of coming into my classroom twice a month to talk about the wonders of nature. Last year she had prescribed topics and was unsure if she was giving the kids what they needed. She decided this year she would let the students questions drive the curriculum. Carol is my age and her daughter and Joel grew up together. Carol has almost as many stories as I have and the students hang on her every word. well sort of. Every statement she makes elicits another questions. I sit across the room and take notes. Most of the time my notes look like a spider web. Let me give you an example: Carol brought in a snake skelaton, Kids:Wow lots of bones. Carol: those are ribs; Kyle: does it have fangs. Carol: yes Kyle: It is true they can squeeze you to death, Carol: not this one, it is a viper and only 8 inches long. Pete: can you milk it? Carol: if you wanted to harvest the vinom; (at this point I thought we were doing pretty well. then. David says Did you see that snake that ate an aligator then burst. Carol: yes It.... Mike: aligators don't get eaten by stakes. Carol: well not usually David: it ate it I saw it. Pete: was it a cartoon. Mike. An aligator didn't kill the crocodile hunter. Carol said no. David says A sting ray stupid guy shouldn't have been in the water. Pete: he ran out of aligators. Amy: the stingray stabbed him in the heart. Mary: did it happen in February maybe it was cupid. (from another class I would have thought Mary was being rude. She was serious. Mike: said that sting ray was poisen. Carol said the sting ray's poison didn't kill the Croc hunter. Now she got the students attention. She explained Croc guy died when he pulled the stinger out of his Heart. He bled to death. Ohhhhhhhh the class all picked up the pencils and started writing. Carol said you are writing this down? Mike said This is good to know Carol if I ever go swimming. David said I'm not swimming in Clinton Lake anymore. Mary said I wrote down "If you get stuck in the heart don't pull it out.
I had to leave the room I was laughing so hard.


Carol also brought in an opossom stuffed grasping a limb. David why isn't it hanging by it's tail. Carol said my number one rule is don't learn nature from cartoons. Mary what is wrong with his ears. Carol said they get frost bite in the cold winters. Mike Are they egg suckers. Carol said they can be. Mary his ears are ugly. David: I saw an elephant hang upside down. Carol: cartoon rule. At this point Jay is curled up on the floor. Pete says: how many lives does an opossom have. Carol said "one" Pete: I saw one die before and then when we went back he was gone. Mary said his body went to heaven. Mike said a cayote ate it. Carol said they faint when they are scared but they aren't dead. David yeah when they sneak through the hedge they scare people so other animals can take their food. Carol: cartoon rule. Carol said that the opossom can't control their fainting. When they get scared they faint. Mary is writing. How do you spell roller coaster. Carol why. Mary says I'm writing "Don't take opossoms on a roller coaster and buy them some earrings so their ears won't be so ugly.

I'm leaving the room with tears running down my face. Does Mary not notice that the opossom has to be one of the ugliest animals I've ever seen.

My test after Carol leaves is an essay. Write what you learned.

Here is what I get.

Dead snakes don't have legs.

They have thumbs

Carol doesn't like cartoons

When possoms die they come back to life.

when possoms have babies she keeps them in her coat. but she doesn't have a zipper.

snakes can eat animals that are 5 Xs bigger than they are but not aligators.

snakes teeth point in so their food can run down to their stomachs.

possoms have ugly ears