A pack of Bannockburn Elementary School second graders made its way through the park, wielding rubber mallets and carrying signs. Each sign featured a riddle hinting at the local wildlife on the other side, and the students helped set them up along the path to the Village Hall.
“I have thick tan fur,” one riddle read. “I howl at night. I eat bugs and rodents. I live in a den in the woods. Who am I?”
Second-grader Brooks Soh, who worked on the sign with his partner, excitedly said the answer is a coyote.
The display is the culmination of extensive research and work by the class of teacher Deborah Kramer. It was a unique way for the children to practice their informational writing, she said, crediting library director Kathy Garneau with helping come up with the idea.
Kramer said they started the year with a science unit all about birds and how they find food, even putting up a bird feeder outside their class window. It generated a lot of excitement among the students, and she said they decided to dive more into the local wildlife.
“I really try to change things up and go where the kids’ interests lie, and that leads me into how we incorporate our standards into what they’re interested in,” she said.
Each sign also features a QR code that people can scan which will take them to a mini-podcast the students recorded about each animal. Brooks spoke glowingly about the project and his work partner, talking about the research, writing and recording process.
“If you’re looking to do something new, you should start small, because this was a big project, and you may not know what to do,” he said. “So just start small so you get the idea of it, then you can go a little bit bigger.”
The students did a “fabulous job,” Kramer said, and the project helped make them more observant of the world around them, especially regarding animals and their habitats.
The students also toured Bannockburn’s Village Hall, meeting the village president, trustees and other staff members. Village Manager Stephanie Hannon said they got to see what local government does, and even played through a scripted meeting, with students preparing their roles ahead of time.
“I think it gives children the perspective and lets them understand what we do and how we plant trees, work on roads and all that,” Hannon said. “Not a lot of people think, ‘Oh, I’m going to be a village manager; I’m going to be a finance director. So this gives an idea that there are jobs here, and how it impacts their parents and their families.”
Hannon said such interactions help connect kids with their local government, and humanizes the people behind the everyday work. She praised the park display and its use of the open space area for educational purposes.
The signs will remain up along the path between Village Hall and Bannockburn Elementary School until the end of the month.
