Comment
Print
Lake Lure Classical Academy (LLCA) celebrated Earth Day recently as more than 20 community professionals presented information about the earth and the environment to the students.
Evelyn Warner, the Outdoor Education teacher at LLCA, put together a powerhouse of who's who in the field of natural sciences:
• Chimney Rock had three different stations: Reptiles and Amphibians, "Who Gives A Hoot", and Visit with a Park Ranger
• FIND Outdoors presented "Bees and Pollination"
• Lake Lure Flowering Bridge presented "Recycling"
• Mountains Branch Library help students make buttons to commemorate Earth Day
• Conserving Carolina helped students make bird feeders
• Hands-On-Museum presented "Diary of a Worm"
• Lake Lure Parks and Recreation gave students flora and fauna guides of the area and trail ID guides
• Muddy Sneakers presented "Observations Stations"
• Rutherford County Soil and Water presented "Soil Babies"
• Friends of the Western North Carolina Nature Center brought animal pelts, skulls, and spoke about local wildlife
• North Carolina Forest Service brought forestry gear and spoke about prescriptive burning
• North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality spoke about air and energy and the human impact on air quality
• LLCA's Envirothon Team presented "What does the Envirothon team do?"
• Coach Elizabeth Parke (from LLCA) used a parachute to demonstrate how air flows
• Mark and Ashley Kendall (from LLCA) presented "Turtle Infested Waters"
When asked what they liked best about the Earth Day Celebration, 8th-grade students in Warner's class were excited to talk about it. The entire class agreed with Sophia Greene who said, "We loved the Soil Babies, you plant the grass seeds, and they grow up to have this cute grass hair and you can even cut their hair." Other students added that they liked the animals, especially the snakes and reptiles.
From the fourth-grade class Kenneth Dotson said that he was fascinated by the NC Department of Environmental Air Qualities presentation on the atoms that make up the air human breathe; Ryder Neal loved the owl presentation from Chimney Rock. Alana Kelley and Wyatt Rich liked the Forestry presentation on prescriptive burning. Wyatt stated that "they do this to kill small trees and give the oaks a chance to flourish." Myles Kulak and Emma Griffin said the enjoyed packing their backpacks to go on a pretend hike with a Chimney Rock Park Ranger. McKenzie Harris and Natalie Jolley loved the Soil Babies too, McKensie said that she learned that "without soil, we could not sustain life".
Second graders liked the presentation on snakes and reptiles. Elora Nunez and Owen Price learned that when snakes shed their skins their eyes are milky blue. Lex Maksimenko said that black rat snakes have very soft scales. Dylan Lynch and Hayvin Lankford were really interested in the frogs that secrete poison when attacked by a predator. Charleston Davis, Zackery Bemis, and Elsie Rogers learned that Grandaddy Long Legs' mouths are too small to bite us, their legs are very fragile, and the species that live in the West are venomous. Emory Sumlin liked making birdseed with the group from Conserving Carolina.
First graders liked making the birdseed too. Miya Owens-Matz explained that "you use a pine cone and sunflower butter and seeds". Marleigh Bardol said that she liked touching worms and that they dig tunnels to give the plant roots the air they need. Silver Neal was most concerned by the litter problem expressed by the group from the Lake Lure Flowering Bridge. Silvana Van Eron enjoyed learning about bees and pollination with FIND Outdoors.
