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Teacher rewarded with classroom full of snakes, spiders and lizards
View photos of the creepy crawly visitors
Monday, May 21, 2007
With trepidation, Tristan Reed asked the question hanging in the minds of all his third-grade classmates as they stared at the curly-haired tarantula cupped in his hands.
"Will he bite?" Reed asked Peter Rushton, who led the P.T. Reptiles educational program about reptiles, amphibians and arachnids at Snyder Park Elementary School on Monday.
Extras
Very unlikely, Rushton said, but it wouldn't be deadly even if Curly did take a nibble.
"A bite from this guy is only as bad as a bee sting," Rushton reassured him.
Reed gingerly handed Curly back to his owner.
Students in JoEllen Mellott's class handled several other large and small creepy-crawly creatures Monday.
They formed lines to hold the 9-foot long, 45-pound Burmese python, and a couple brave youngsters even cradled a 4-foot long alligator.
They also held a baby alligator, a Ball Python, a Spur-Thighed Tortoise, a Blue-Tongued Skink and a White's Tree Frog, which 8-year-old Madison Shaw described as "gooey."
The visitors were part of the award package Mellott received for winning the Invention Convention's Miami Valley Teacher of Excellence Award in February.
Teachers across a nine-county area were nominated for the award during the convention, which challenged students to develop and build new inventions to solve everyday problems.
Mellott's class also won a $1,500 computer for her classroom, a field trip to COSI in Columbus and a Donato's pizza party.
Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0367 or gcetnar@coxohio.com.
