Charlie explained about the amazing animals he had brought, what they ate, how they lived. He let the kids touch and hold most of them. And he answered their 8,000 questions, some of which were actually about the ocean.
Sea Creatures
I almost never blog about my job or my students, partly because of privacy issues and partly because I try hard to keep school things at school and home things at home. But today was too cool to not write about. I teach early childhood special education - preschool. I love what I do. This week, we were learning about the ocean and animals that live there. So I invited my friend Charlie to come and talk to my kids.
Charlie is a professor of biology and oceanography, but he agreed to come and talk to a bunch of 3, 4, and 5 year olds. And he brought really cool stuff. Like huge posters of crabs, lobsters, whales, dolphins, seals, walruses, clams, snails, squid, and pretty much any other marine creature you can think of.
Clam shells and a dolphin skull.
Coral.
Horseshoe crabs.
Seabiscuits and sand dollars.
Starfish.
Sea urchins (with and without their spines).
Whale baleen.
Abalone shells and snail shells and sea stars.
Charlie explained about the amazing animals he had brought, what they ate, how they lived. He let the kids touch and hold most of them. And he answered their 8,000 questions, some of which were actually about the ocean.
And my kids? They loved every moment of it. So did I! For many of my Kansas-raised students this is as close to the ocean as they will ever get. But I'm pretty sure they'll remember it.
Charlie explained about the amazing animals he had brought, what they ate, how they lived. He let the kids touch and hold most of them. And he answered their 8,000 questions, some of which were actually about the ocean.