presentations

[ironmonkey78]

I was wondering how many people here do presentations for classrooms and such. also how did you get started doing them.

 

[kitty_b]

i take a tarantula into my teaching lab every semester. it's intro biology for non-science majors. gives them something to look at that's alive and bigger than an ameoba when we're covering the kingdoms.

i haven't done any formal presentations... mainly due to time and because i don't handle my spiders, so it's not a great "show."

 

[tmanjim]

I started doing this about 3 years ago at my sons pre school. The kids love it. Since then, I have been asked back 4 times even though I no longer have a child in the class. Word spread and since then I have done about 25 presentations at pre schools, child care centers, various Park Districts and public schools. I bring about 8 T's, most I can handle. One important point, I always need about 3 weeks between so the T's do not get stressed. I have had no problems at all and it is alot of fun.

 

[ironmonkey78]

out of curiosity what species do you usually take.

 

[lostriverdoc]

I was asked to do a presentation for a Cub Scout Troop that my two boy's belong to. Will be talking about and showing local t's, scorps and non-venomous snakes of Arizona.Should be a fun night.

 

[elyanalyous]

i've done presentations in both elementary schools and highschools. last spring i took my rosie and my avic in, and all the molts i could find. i took some of the webbing out of the avics cage as well. i did not handle the t's but i allowed the kids to come in and look close at them in the tanks (with lids on of course) and i let them touch the molts and the webbing.

I also had a rubber boa that i caught in the back yard about a week before, but she didn't want to be there, so the kids kinda ignored her... they wanted to see the bugs.

 

[Mina]

No, I don't do them but I recently saw a really good one. They had Ts, snakes, lizards, millis, frogs and tortioses. It was great. The Ts they used were a big B. albo, a mid sized emilia, and a rosie. The snakes were a BP, a corn, a kingsnake and a rosy boa, I know one of the lizards was a beardie, I don't know anything about millis or frogs. Hope that helps.

 

[ErikH]

I never have, but I may be doing one in the future for scouts.

 

[knightjar]

We do them quite often (most recent one was about a week ago). What we take depends on the age of the children and where they are in the curriculum. For young kids we generally take a fairly wide selection, starting with phasmids and land snails than moving on to mantids, millipedes, tarantulas, scorpions and snakes.

We also do similar visits to local wildlife centres etc.

As for T species, it depends on the current mood of our individual spiders. I prefer not to take the more defensive species as they only add to some people's preconceptions about scary tarantulas. Our most reliable is a large female B albopilosum (she had a full page photo in a national paper from the coverage of one of our visits to a wildlife centre!). Generally we'll take one or two G roseas and a B smithi as well. I also like to show the more colourful species like GBBs and Avics as so many people think of spiders as all being dull brown or black.

 

[Brian S]

I took a herd of scorps and a few tarantulas last year to a local rural grade school and did a presentation. It worked out really good. I had samples of about every size and showed how I kept them. Some of the scorpions even had babies on their backs which the kiddos was amazed. To top it all off I got to show an actually mating between 2 Aphonopelma hentzis. That was the main attraction. I was a little worried they wouldnt do anything but they did.

 

[maxident213]

I took a herd of scorps and a few tarantulas last year to a local rural grade school and did a presentation. It worked out really good. I had samples of about every size and showed how I kept them. Some of the scorpions even had babies on their backs which the kiddos was amazed. To top it all off I got to show an actually mating between 2 Aphonopelma hentzis. That was the main attraction. I was a little worried they wouldnt do anything but they did.

Man how come I never saw anything this cool when I was in grade school?

Tarantula presentations! Kids today are spoiled I tell ya....

 

[Brian S]

Man how come I never saw anything this cool when I was in grade school?

Tarantula presentations! Kids today are spoiled I tell ya....

LOL!! I never saw anything even remotely close to this either. Back then they taught the 3 Rs and sent us thru like cattle.

 

[AviculariaLover]

I did a "curiosity shop" program at my old elementary school. There are various after school activities like jewelry making and cooking and learning about computers or farm animals, etc. So I volunteered to do a "creepy crawly" program. Consisted of one two hour chunk every week for four weeks. First I did insects, then arachnids/other inverts, then amphibians, then reptiles. I thought up crafts and gave them info and of course had pets for each week. For the insects I brought my hissers and some dried/flavored crickets and mealworms which the kids thought were delicious. Then I brought my emperor scorp and my pink toe tarantula. They loved seeing the scorp glow under a blacklight, and I took pictures of all of them with the tarantula on their shirt (they sat on a chair, I carefully placed the tarantula on their stomach as they leaned back, *click*). It went quick and I dont think stressed my avic out too much, she was totally calm through the whole thing. Even the kids that were terrified of spiders and such at the beginning, were ok with them at the end (mosty from peer pressure!). Then I brought my jefferson's salamanders and my gray treefrog for the next week, and lastly my kenyan sand boa, eastern milk snake, solomon island tree boa, pink snow corn snake, and ball python for the reptile day. It was an extremely rewarding experience, seeing the kids so thoroughly enthusiastic about the animals. And the way they listen to directions, if you tell them they have to act a certain way because of the animal, they'll do it! I hope to have more opportunities to bring my pets around kids, they are often soooo full of questions and need someone to answer them. The parents were the WORST, acting all disgusted and timid when they'd pick up their kids and listen to what they had to say, or if the kids wanted them to hold something. Only like, two parents actually seemed interested. It's a shame more kids dont get opportunities to have positive experiences with "creepy crawlies" I feel it's our duty as "creepy crawly" pet owners to get out there and make a difference to kids while they're still impressionable

 

[wicked]

There are a lot of good threads on presentations. Way too many to link here Search presentations or school presentations and you should get about 3 pages worth of threads.

I do presentations at the grade school several times a year. The kids love it. Here are the links to my presentation threads. I know Windchaser and several others do presentations too.

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=55989

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=77617

 

[tmanjim]

out of curiosity what species do you usually take.



I usuall take my B. Albopilosum, B. Emilia, A. Seemani, A. Avic, A. Hentzi, G. Pulchra, A. Metallica and for a distinct impression, my 71/2 in L. Parahybana

 

[tarangela2]

i give 'mini presentations' where i work cause i have a T by my desk. i always cover the basics:
yes all Ts have the potential to bite however this breed (g rosea) is more docile
yes Ts have venom but not enough to kill a human
yes i will handle them but only if it is a calm crowd
and on and on
it never ceases to amaze me how unimformed and MISinformed folks are about Ts
i like to think i am doing my part to educate the masses
good luck

 

[Katronmaster]

I do!

It actually got started because the kids at the school my mom teaches at heard about my pets, and wanted to see them themselves.

I take most of my collection:
My sling G. Aureostriata (Because no kid believes me that Ts start out TINY)
My adult G. Rosea
My Juvi A. Avicularia Who is a major crowd pleaser because she's quick and a pretty blue.
And soon to for the first time show my Adult G. Pulchra.

 

[Urbanspider]

A friend of mine runs a non-profit animal rescue/shelter and also gives presentations on native desert animals to local schools. She has just about every critter you can think of except...yeah, you guessed it.

Guess who gets to give that part of the presentation.

Its actually pretty fun. Gets me out of the office for awhile and the kids certainly seem to be interested in the tarantulas. Always a good sign. I usually take my A. Hintzi or my A. Chalcodes as they are both quite docile.

 

[lpw]

and for a distinct impression, my 71/2 in L. Parahybana

71/2 in = 35.5 in... Holy crap, this I gotta see!

 

[Stylopidae]

I'm going to be doing a presentation for petco.

I'm planning on taking my P. regalis, a H. lividium a G. rosea, a P. murinis and basically anthing that's over 2 inches.

I'm going to center more on care for defensive spiders, which is why I'd like to bring them.

The particluar H. lividium I'm bringing actually bit 3 employees so I think it would be cool to pair them in front of the staff.

Unfortunately, I don't have a male so I'm currently scouring far and wide and annoying some of my friends that I have off the boards. So...yeah.

Bring a variety and make sure you explain the difference between OW and NW within your first few minutes and bring something that you can handle.