Fall Plant Sale Info

Snakes in Classrooms

Disclosure: No students or reptiles were harmed in this encounter.

Checkered Garter Snake (Thamnophis marcianus marcianus

Thanks to David's family for lending us their checkered garter snake last week.

It was an excellent education snake: docile and engaging. Though his dad dropped it off Monday morning, the students didn't get a chance to handle it all week.Friday was the big day.

And then a pleasant surprise: Mandy dropped off a brown snake before school.

This afforded students to get up close and friendly with two native reptiles.

Texas Brown Snake (Storeria dekayi texana)

I never force encounters with animals, and a few students opted out. Most touched at least touched them. For some, it was the first time they had a chance to hold a live snake. A few students told me afterward that the experience helped get them over their fear of snakes.

Bingo! That's a goal of mine.

We talked about food webs and how snakes play an important role in the environment. We also discussed venomous species.

After handling the snakes, t

he students all used hand sanitizer.

"The chickens are coming," clucked Tom.

Readers of Boy's Life, the monthly scout magazine, will recognize

the double entendre in the above quote. It's called a Tom Swifty.

These always cracked me up as a kid, a great cure for a fowl mood.

Several staff members and students have asked what we're building outside Ms. Weber's classroom. Here's the s-coop:

Former cougar Tanner Frisby is installing a chicken coop and grazing area complete with two chicken tractors. Tanner is a member of the triple nickel, Troop 555, and this

installation is his Eagle Scout project.

Tanner used Google's Sketch-up software to plan this project.

A project this large is complicated. Tanner has also researched, sought advice, rounded up donations, and organized a series of work days. Below are pictures from the first on-site work day, September 11:

The next work day is scheduled for October 2. Look for updates in future posts.

Hats off to Tanner and all his army of volunteers.

Baby Squirrels and Learning the Tools

Finally. Time to sit down and reflect.

The fall semester got off to a running start.

Shortly after the last post, I was surprised by Jazz and her mother before the first school bell.

The day before Jazz's dad rescued three baby gray squirrels from a construction site.

Normally you should leave the babies where or near to where you find them. The mom will return eventually. If this case the bulldozer preempted this possibility. The family contacted Animal Rescue and made an appointment to drop off the babies the next afternoon.

This gave the squirrels the opportunity to visit my classes.

All morning we tried to get them to take some Pedi Lite, but the tiny bottle the family provided wasn't tiny enough. At lunch I acquired an eyedropper from the Science supply closet. They each drank about 10 droppers full.

When Jazz and her mother dropped the off squirrelettes, they learned the litter was about a month old. Their eyes had not yet opened. Jazz also found out that it would take another few months before they would be ready for release. They have to be able to crack open an acorn first.

Jared had a gentle touch. The squirrel he is holding nestled immediately

against him.

One of the first orders of business each semester is to learn the names, proper use, and safety issues of the gardening tools. Students complete a chart as I explain each tool. Over the following days, we go out and practice the tools in sets. This also provided us a chance to do some much needed maintenance.

One day we worked with tree trimming tools.

Gala (above) and Jonathan (below) lopping off low hanging goldenball leadtree branches.

Another day we used weeding tools.

The 6th grade Environmental Science class has been getting the greenhouse back in shape in anticipation of cooler weather.

Tara and her crew attack weeds daring to invade our greenhouse.

Jazz, the rescuer of squirrels, removing a weed pile with a pitchfork.

No weed is safe from gardening veteran Nick. He grew up in New York helping his grandmother in her garden.

Despite daytime temperatures over 120 degrees inside and no supplemental water,

we had a lot of unwanted plants invade Margaret's House over the summer.

Students have filled out job applications indicating what jobs interest them and whether they they would like to serve as crew leaders. This led to discussions of the qualities of good leadership. Each class is now organized into 6 work crews with 3-5 members each.

They have also scouted out and claimed the beds/areas that they will maintain this semester.