Show and Tell

[MeatHead]

With it being the last week of school I though I would take in MeatHead for my son's last show and tell day, he is in first grade. I have seen a few post's where people have taken their beardie's in for their child's show and tell day.

Trent's (my son) teacher is thrilled about it. lol

Here is what I have planned so far:

We have a cat carrier that I plan to use to take her in. I will take some wax worms for demonstration on how they eat. I will briefly go over what they eat, how they are desert animals ect. For I am showing a bunch of 1st graders they wont absorb a whole lot, lol it being the last week of school. They will be WAY too excited! But am wanting them to learn at least a little.

I would like some input as to what you have experienced taking your beardie to show and tell or what you would advise me to take with me, ect.
I would like for this to be a fun thing for not only the kids but MeatHead as well. I want to prevent at all cost stressing her out.

 

[protiemama]

I read a post where one dad scorched the inside and outside of a box and brought his dragon to class in the box. :laughhard: Seems like a great way to break the ice.
Seriously though you are right- the kids won't "learn much the last week of school. Make a color sheet with some basic infoto hand out. Ask a couple of "Did you know..." type questions. Hold your dragon on your chest so they can see her and she will feel safe. Let THEM ask questions. Then let your son hold her on his lap and one at a time let them come up and pet her. Pass out the coloring sheets first so those at their desk have something to do while waiting. If you have pictures or books to pass around that would help. First graders are real hands on. I used to teach that age. Good luck and have fun!

Sandy h

 

[Cholla]

It's a good idea with the worms, I'm still a lot squeamish with worms so I brought bits of oranges for Cholla to eat and I think seeing her eat them was the best part for my son's first grade class. I really like the idea about the coloring sheet too. Make sure that the kids use hand sanitizer before petting Meathead though, you never know what the kid's might have picked up on the playground . Cholla was fine if I or my son was holding her, but she got a little freaked out when I tried to put her on the floor, so I would say stick with holding on to her. Most of all have fun! and if you get some pics I for one (and I'm sure there's plenty others out there) would love to see them!
Tera

 

[spurlee01]

Addendum: Hand sanitizer before and after. If a first grader gets sick and a mom hears that he/she touched a lizard they will immediately blame you and it could turn into a huge issue... So use hand sanitizer so you can say that your lizard did NOT get their kid sick. If the kids are interested (and they will be with a live animal), they can learn quite a lot. But I would also emphasize how much work beardies are- maybe it'll stick now and avoid some of the awful situations we see.
Sara

 

[sara24354]

Alf and I are making the trip to school again next week. We go until the 10th of June here and with Sols the teacher asked if I would wait until next week to bring her. She loved the first trip and tried to get to some of the kids to be petted but seemed to know the squeemish ones.We had a couple of teachers who were afraid of her and wouldn't pet her,but the kids love her.I just talked a little the first time,it was near Valentines Day and the kids were pretty excited.I was even asked to go to a couple of different classes so be prepared.

 

[protiemama]

Be very carefull posting picts online! Only show the backs of kids. Some parents might freak about that. There is a big legal issue on using picts of other people's kids. :shock: I don't want to be a party pooper, I just don't want to see you, the teacher or the school get in trouble!

Sandy H (been there done that!)

 

[MeatHead]

Wow! Thank you all so far for your advice! YES, hand sanitizer is a MUST! I don't want to run into the risk on anyone getting icky sick.

While I was at work I found some coloring pages of Beardies (had to dig for them though) online. I figure I will let Trent tell his class a little bit of what he knows about her first, then I will let the class ask a few questions and stuff. I am going to take some wax worms, and put a couple dubia's in a container just for looks. Boys like bugs. hehehe

I am going to take my camera and let the teacher take some pics while I am demonstrating, then email them to her if she wants them later. If anyone else has anymore ideas I would love to hear them.

MeatHead is teaching class at 9:30 a.m. Monday morning.

 

[keschete]

I haven't taken a Beardie yet, but I do take my Hedgehogs and they eat mealworms.

They were a huge hit with my neighbor's first grade class. I took the Beatrix Potter book with Ms Tigglywinkle and gave a little 5 min presentation about them being in the Beatrix Potter book. Then I hand out color sheets and go over that Hedgehogs are from Africa and a bigger type is from England. What they eat, where they live, easy to remember stuff.

Then I go around the room holding the Hedgehog in a blanket and letting the kids touch the non biting end. I am very careful not to let fingers get close to Thorn's mouth because kids and animals always do the unexpected. Then I pass around the hand sanitizer and talk about washing you hands after touching pets.

The finale is me getting out Thistle, who doesn't like to be petted and giving the worm eating demo. She always eats mealies because she is a pig.

I love doing grade school shows, the kids are great and they won't ever forget it!

Good luck and just remember, have a good time and keep kids fingers away from Beardie mouth....let them just touch the tail.

 

[protiemama]

Where did you find your coloring sheets? I always freehand mine. I would love to use something different.

Sandy H