reptile education in schools.

[zard]

My kids principal was talking to me the other day and asked if i would be interested in bringing some snakes and lizards into the school and give the kids a talk about them in the hope of giving the children a better understanding of them and enable them to differentiate betwen venomous and non venomous species so that they wont kill every reptile they come accross..

my short answer was no..

firstly i dont feel have the knowledge (or patience) to stumble through an educational chat with a heap of kiddies.
and secondly i thought you need a special licence to do that sort of thing.

What alternative could i suggest to the principal? any ideas????

 

[earthmother]

Zard,
I'm so with you on this subject. The ignorance that leads to sweet Pythons dying just because they are 'a snake' has to stop.

No was a good answer. lol
But I like your Principals idea.


The Education Department in NSW is putting together a school kit. To be added to public school curriculum, at last.
I have the name of the guy in charge and he is asking for notes and info on varied species.
They are going to cover localised species, it will probably take a while.
If the Principal wants some basic notes, I can send you the ones that I've already done for the local Fire Department.

In the meantime are there any WIRES or Fawna Workers in your town that deal with Reptiles?

 

[angelrose]

Bigguy does this regularly i think ( i could just be too stoned...) maybe he'll be able to give you some ideas.
I think its a great idea.

Angel

 

[earthmother]

YES! Bigguy!
I'd want him to be educating my kids.

 

[hugsta]

There are a couple of reptile display groups around and Bigguy runs one of them. Maybe send him a pm and he might be able to help you out. Maybe Shanes aussie pythons might be able to help as well. Not sure if he does displays though.

 

[zard]

we bought our bredli off big guy and he told us how he takes the animals around and i admire him for it.. i like the guy and would love for him to come out here but unfortunatly we live so rural the school has problems getting the basic education programs out here as it is.. its a loooong trip and would place a fair bit of stress on any animal (specially when it gets there it is faced with 100 kiddies lol)

Much of the problem is placed squarly on the parents.. there is such a gung ho shoot em up and kill em attitude with most of the people out here its sad

One guy had a rather large python in his house.. python squeezed under the chest freezer so said person used a buck shot to dispatch python.. killed to freezer too lol (karma)

One of my kids came home from school the other day after saving a blind snake from the kids in the school yard(they were torturing it), he took it off them .. left the school to place it in a safer enviroment ... and then got into trouble for leaving the school grounds. He has no regrets and feels he did nothing wrong & that the other kids did ... i fully support him in his way of thinking.

most people on farm will call hubby up now to remove snakes so we feel we are making some headway but there is such a long way to go.

 

[moosenoose]

Apparently there is no problem doing a show & tell style talk about your "pets" at schools. If I remember this correctly it was stated by Jeff Hardy (I'm sure he will mention if I'm wrong about this) Apparently his department wouldn't even blink an eye about it. The main thing you would have to do is ensure that touching the animals was kept to an absolute minimum and definately fully supervised.

I've taken mine to my kids classrooms and had a brief but descriptive chat to them about snakes and let them feel the skin and showed them that these animals aren't the "evil" creatures they are made out to be. You'd be suprised how many kids at the school now what them as pets after my talk to them. I loved it! It's a worthwhile thing to do and I can see how people would enjoy getting an exhibitors license and doing he school circuits.

I can understand the concern about "stepping on peoples toes" in regards to doing these sorts of things at schools on a "regular" basis, but a one off like this really won't, and shouldn't, hurt anyone. We've been through the pros & cons before about this.

 

[hugsta]

I've taken mine to my kids classrooms and had a brief but descriptive chat to them about snakes and let them feel the skin and showed them that these animals aren't the "evil" creatures they are made out to be. You'd be suprised how many kids at the school now what them as pets after my talk to them.

Good stuff moosey. I am hoping to be doing the same with my nephews school. They have been bugging me for ages to bring my snakes and lizards up, but I kept saying no. I am now thinking of doing it for the kids.

 

[zard]

earthmother i would love a copy of anything you have please so i can pass it onto the school.. would you like me to pm u my addy?
there is no wires near us unfortunatly, i am the closest thing there is

moosenoose i dont feel i know enough to talk to the kids and to make it educational which is what the principal is after if it was just a show your pet day id be ok.

 

[moosenoose]

Re: RE: reptile education in schools.

moosenoose i dont feel i know enough to talk to the kids and to make it educational which is what the principal is after if it was just a show your pet day id be ok.

Stuff the principal, what would he know? :lol: They aren't Uni students are they? :lol: Whatever you feel comfortable with I guess Zard :lol: :lol: It can be done, take some books, show them some piccies, explain about what & how they eat, that they are cold blooded animals and need to thermoregulate (explain that :wink, they shed their skins (take a skin in), tell them most snakes lay eggs - but some snake have live young - GO ON!!! :lol: ....chat with them! :lol: You'll find the majority of your talk will be dispelling myths about snakes.

It's your choice anyway Zard, I'm not pushing you either way :lol: It was the most fun I've had in ages :wink:

 

[earthmother]

RE: Re: RE: reptile education in schools.

I'd be surprised if you couldn't talk about reptiles for a half hour Zard.
From what I can gather it's all up to the Principal whether you can take your snakes in or not. And Zard, I agree fully in your situation, being in a remote area, it makes more sense that the kids should be educated well.

Good on your son.

I have taken Dragons down to the school for my sons 'show and tell' and the questions flowed quite easily.
The Dragons actually took all the kids attention and they were very attentive.
I'll contact you by PM and send some stuff. It's basic info and okay, because the Fire Department have been using it.
I'll send you the email address of the gentleman in the Education Department because that may come in handy.

 

[Ricko]

RE: Re: RE: reptile education in schools.

Lock it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :twisted: instar knows what happens in these threads lol