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Role reversal
By PAULETTE LASH RITCHIE CRYSTAL RIVER -- Sometimes there are lessons hidden within lessons, and Crystal River Middle School sixth-grade students became aware of that when they recently tried their hands at teaching. Every year, Tammy MacDonald's sixth-grade science students not only reinforce their own academics, but also learn what it's like to be in their teacher's shoes when they invite children from Rock Crusher Elementary School to visit. A grant from the Southwest Florida Water Management District for supplies made last week's event possible. MacDonald has about 142 students who competed for a chance to face the younger children. They were required to create lessons, she said, that contained valuable learning concepts meeting third-grade benchmarks and were fun. Thirty students earned the opportunity to participate in the three morning events. Right off the bat, one group of sixth-graders learned the difference between them and third-graders. There were nine centers through which the children circulated. One didn't make it past the first day. Michele Tague, Skyler Ritter and Emerald Hagan had designed a lesson about landfills, which required the use of red food coloring to illustrate pollution. The three sixth-graders quickly realized that it is not a good idea to put food coloring anywhere near third-graders. MacDonald said her students came up to her and said, while holding up red-stained hands, that they had learned something valuable. With third-graders you have to design a lesson that is not messy. The other eight considerably less messy centers continued throughout the three days, teaching and entertaining about 130 Rock Crusher children. After the children arrived, they were greeted by students who had prepared presentations. Gerald Shumway opened one of the days with a general presentation. Another day, Kelly Chappius, Kaitlyn Fellin and Celeste Smith sang a water cycle song. Then the children were turned loose on the centers. The first one, manned by Kalyn Ray and Brittany Oxford, was a measuring lesson. They had four drawings of manatees, two larger than the others, which the children measured with rulers. Then they lined pennies and paper clips along the rulers and used multiplication to determine how many pennies and paper clips it takes to go from one end of a manatee to the other. Center 2, by Sean Livingston, Kaylah Hall and Matt Micklos, illustrated how water pollution can be prevented today. The children decorated painted sticks and pasted pictures on them to help them remember what they had learned. Vensiher Edwards and Devon Deem designed the third center. Their lesson was on water tension, Devon explained, "by finding out how many water droplets they can put on a penny, a nickel and a dime." The center also included live waterlife. "They looked at samples of turtle grass, algae and river muck," Venisher said. They had fish in an aquarium, too. Water usage, center four, was run by Danielle Mitaritonno, Anissa Howard and Haley Baker. "Basically," Danielle said, "it's about conserving water." Center five was the most colorful one. It had a huge paper mural of a swamp on a wall. Student instructors Veronica Edwards and Kimberly Kisner directed the children while they colored swamp critters that were attached to the mural. "We're teaching them why wetlands are so important," Veronica said. In center six, Carly Zevis, Kristen Hall and Christina Lin introduced Bubbles the Manatee, a soft, attention-getting puppet. The children learned how manatees wear down their teeth when chewing by rubbing chalk against sandpaper. "I think it's important for the kids to learn about manatees so they can help preserve them when they get older," Carly said. Center seven provided a popular take-home item, a gray-painted small milk carton onto which the children glued manatee tails, flippers, noses and eyes. Chelsea Morgan, Jennifer Arnold, Chelsea Bennett and Vicki Canaday were teaching manatee facts and structure. In center eight, the children learned the steps of the water cycle. Allison Harris, Sarah Wygle and Caitlin Camp made a PowerPoint presentation, and then the children drew and colored. Throughout all this, wandered Miss Pepper, Holly Eckstein, in a green pepper costume. "I'm the helper," she said. "I just float around. I want to be a teacher." The Rock Crusher students seemed to enjoy the outing away from their school and they seemed to be taking the lessons seriously. Shannon Farabaugh, 9, said she learned "to help save the water and not pollute water and save the manatees." And, she said, the day was exciting. "You got to learn stuff you usually don't get to hear often." Angelo Rizzolo, 9, said he particularly enjoyed center 2, "because you got to study algae. You get to see fish. I like field trips," he said, "They're really fun."
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