Science After School!!
Hello to all of the wild things out there! My name is Maria Alvaro, and I am going to talk about my week with the intermediate students at Science After School 2009. Kaylin and I started the week with a journey to the Polar region, exploring the wild things. We introduced the theme of the week by giving each child a crown with the name “Max” on it, symbolizing Max from the book Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. The students decorated their crowns while waiting for the voyage to begin.
Once every child had arrived, we kicked off the lesson with a little help from our friends Courtney and Josh, the dancing penguins. They were great!! Any person willing to do the running man in a penguin costume gets my vote. After we warmed up, we read a few passages from the book to the students. We then began our exploration of the Polar Region. The students were so smart! I introduced the six wild things that we’d be discussing for the next hour. The wild things were as follows: a caribou, polar bear, arctic fox, arctic hare, snowy owl, and a walrus. The students knew more than I had imagined about these fascinating wild things. I would introduce each animal, and each student would tell me everything they knew about it. I filled in the gaps with each animal, giving them fascinating facts about each wild thing. Did you know that a domesticated caribou is actually a reindeer? That was their favorite fact of the day. Also, did you know that a polar bear has black skin? The students were so intrigued by this information! I love when students learn something new. We played a game about the wild things, applying our fresh ideas to the lesson.
After the game, we transitioned into Kaylin’s portion of the lesson, learning about the food chain and food web. The students learned about autotrophs, primary and secondary consumers and producers, predators, and so much more! The students were broken into two groups, one led by me and the other led by Kaylin. The intermediate students raced to put together two different food chains correctly. Once finished, the students had to place the consumers, producers, autotrophs and predators on the board to win the race! Both groups did a fantastic job! Following the races, the students formed a big circle and played a game with the food web using a ball of yarn. The students learned to apply their prior knowledge to a new and unfamiliar situation. The students realized that animals may become extinct, and if that happens, many other animals, insects, plants, etc. could be affected. 
The students came to the conclusion that we need to keep our land safe and animals protected in order to survive the next 5 billion years! It was a successful day and I can’t wait until week two!!! Next stop: The Native American’s of
-----Maria-----
Maria and Kaylin with the students! They love to learn!
Courtney the Penguin!
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