Last Wednesday Worth A Dam made a guest appearance at Morello Park Elementary to give a beaver assembly to nearly 200 students. The goal was to teach the children about the “Incredibly Adapting Beaver” and give them some insight about their behavior. There were three groups, K-1, 2-3 and 4-5 grades respectively. They sat “crisscross applesauce” on the floor in the assembly room and while we talked about beavers and looked at pictures. Hopefully the slideshow will be available on the web page soon, since I worked hard to make it connect beaver behavior to children’s lives and experiences.
Lots of the children had been down to see the dam, and a few had seen the beavers. Most knew what they ate, and where they lived, all appreciated the chance to see more about them. I was surprised that not a single child volunteered the name for what a baby beaver is called. No person in Martinez should be at a loss for that answer!
There was a beaver activity that got a little zoo-like with the younger group (build your own colony) and I couldn’t help but think about Igor and Shirley Skaredoff who had come to speak about creek the week before. Were you as tired as I was after that experience? I felt like I could sleep for a week, and my voice still sounds crackly. It was a great opportunity, though, to see eyes light up with beaver delights.
Moments that will stay with me include the wide-eyed child that looked at the beaver pelt loaned to us by the Lindsay museum and asked grimly “How’d you get that off?” More cheerful was the little girl with the braid who, when everyone was putting together their beaver colonies, came to me and said proudly, “I’m a river otter!” Encouraging was the serious boy who examined the beaver skull closely and asked why their teeth were orange. He stayed long after the others left and when someone commented “you must like science a lot” he shook his head. “No, but I like beavers”. There was the enjoyable moment when administrator Priscilla Robinson, summer school principal and science teacher at MJHS, asked about an article way back in the fall of 2007 which was written about her class’s trip to the beaver dam. She glanced thru the scrapbook and mentioned it wasn’t there. I opened to page four and showed it proudly. I remember that article because I took it as an early indication that beaver support was wider than just me. My favorite image of the day was our wildlife photographer, Cheryl Reynolds, walking around snapping pictures with her camera in one hand, and a borrowed beaver skull in the other. Alas poor Yorick—and vogue combined.
