When the day finally came to teach the 4th graders, it was safe to say I was more than a little nervous. Though I have worked with kids before, I had never done anything quite so hands-on and I had never been in charge of so many kids at once. While I was running around the garden, putting together trays of compost, I was trying to calm my nerves, but once the 4th graders arrived I realized there was really nothing to worry about. Both days ran smoothly, starting off with a game of screaming toes was a great idea. It allowed Aja, Zoe, and myself to introduce ourselves to the kids and start the lesson of on a fun note. After that we let the kids get into partners a gave them one of the trays we set up prior to their arrival. They got to dig through a pile of compost to see what they could find. They found everything from millipedes to pills bugs and mold and got to draw what they found in their journals. This activity took up the majority of our lesson, but the best part of the day was without a doubt our trash timeline. We started off asking the kids what they thought could and could not be composed using cards with different objects on them. Needless to say I was very impressed when the kids sorted most of the cards correctly. When this was over my group had the place the cards in order of how quickly they thought the object would break down. The kids were very surprised when we corrected their work and told them just how long everything took to break down; their reactions were priceless. This game was truly the greatest way to end the day. Overall, I really enjoyed this project. I loved working with the kids, but one thing I learned is that it isn't easy. The kids had very short attention spans and grew tired of activities quickly which kept the three of us on our toes trying to keep them interested. In the end it was a great experience and I'm looking forward to the next BioSite project.
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