Focus on TUSD - April/May 2008

Maldonado Celebrates Earth Day
Children at Maldonado Elementary School decided to go with the flow on Earth Day.

Tuesday, April 22, as the world celebrated this occasion, these children got an up-close look at creatures from the sea. Not live creatures, of course, but they got the next best thing--a presentation of shells, preserved sea life and artifacts from the Sonoran Desert Waters Institute at the Desert Museum.

Education specialists Franklin Lane and Annette Felix brought the story of the life-giving circle formed by Arizona's rivers as they feed the upper Gulf of California. They spent four days at the Maldonado campus, located at 3535 W. Messala Way,

Felix, who is a retired Cholla Magnet High School librarian, told her audience that the Sea of Cortez is home to lower life form invertebrates such as sponges, corals and jellyfish, as well as more sophisticated life forms, such as sea stars, mollusk, clams, octopus and squid. The dead and preserved life forms she showed them drew impressed reactions from the students.

Vertebrates, such as fish, sharks, marine reptiles and mammals also live in the Sea of Cortez, Felix said.

Lane told a group of first-graders that he wanted to dispel a couple of myths children may have heard. "Sharks have senses and may be responding to something else in the water, not just to people. They aren't always dangerous," Lane said. "It's just like rattlesnakes are not hunting for you."

Because it was Earth Day, Lane and Felix talked about conservation and about protecting life forms. Lane held up a collapsed balloon that was trailing a curly colored ribbon. "That may look like food to some sea creatures that have reptilian brains and don't know the difference," he explained. He also urged them to take along reusable bags when they shop instead of accepting one-use disposable plastic bags that take many years to disintegrate and could harm wildlife.

After an informational session, Felix and Lane allowed the students to visit the exhibits they'd brought and to try the activities they provided. First-grader Isabelle Rivas held a shell up to her ear, listening intently. "It sounded like the ocean in there," she said. "I thought it would sound like it was roaring, but it was kind of a quiet ocean."

Classmate Erick Weltzer hoisted a piece of coral over his head, saying that it felt really bumpy and looked like a flat tree.

In another corner, Philip Burnham dug for tiny shark's teeth in a box of sand, explaining it was hard work and that if he found any teeth, he'd put them in a box at home. As she matched bivalve shell halves in another box of sand, Fernanda Lopez observed, "It's important to take care of things in the ocean and just look at them. Don't eat too many fish or they'll all be gone.

As the session ended, first-grade teacher Joy Buckley said, "So many times, we read books but they don't get to see and touch what's in the book. Here, they get to see artifacts and creatures from the water. It's good for them to see this first hand. It brings it to life."

-- By Sharon Dunham
Communications & Media Relations

Photos in the April issue by Jes Ruvalcaba of Communications & Media Relations, unless otherwise noted.

The deadline to submit material for the May Focus is Friday, May 16. The Focus will be published Tuesday, May 27. Email submissions to Chyrl Hill Lander or Sharon Dunham in the Communications & Media Relations Department or use the online Tip Sheet.