Art for Gorillas

Category: Art of Conservation (AoC) | Date: Oct 01 2009 | By: Julie

Peter, thank you very much for your September 28th donation of $110! One of the brilliant things about Wildlife Direct is that the blogs allow us to get our messages out there and raise funds while we continue to work at the grassroots level. Thanks so much for tuning in to the blog, Peter. We greatly appreciate your much needed support. Soon, Rwanda’s schoolchildren will be let out of school for the year. They take their national exams in October and then return in January 2010 for a new academic year. As we follow the government run public school calendar, Art of Conservation’s 2009 classes are quickly coming to a close as well. For this week’s class, AoC students take their final exam which covers the year’s conservation lessons, and then look and listen to the sights and sounds of birds, frogs, and butterflies.

Kids gasp when they see the abundance of bird species shown in bird field guides. We look for Rwandan birds like ibis, turaco, bee-eater, robin-chat, and sunbirds.

“Bird Songs From Around The World” by Les Beletsky, an audio book that delighted students, features songs of 200 birds from around the world.

Our classroom is filling with the beautiful songs of birds and frogs. Here, the boys are using a thing called an “Identiflyer Guide” with a “Frogs SongCard.”

We discuss bird and nature watching etiquette and try out binoculars.

More oohs and aahs while looking at “Butterflies Of The World.”

Again, thank you Peter.

Tags: animals, birds, conservation education, rwanda, Volcanoes National Park

2 responses so far

Category: Art of Conservation (AoC) | Date: Sep 07 2009 | By: Julie

According to our students, the giant-pouched rat (Cricetomys emini) is the King of Thieves. Kid’s drawings in our previous post illustrate the rat carrying anything and everything and taking these found objects, pebbles, food, money and metallic trash back to their burrows. I get a sense that these nocturnal rodents don’t pose a serious threat to the local communities but perhaps a source of humor.

In recent weeks, we’ve been covering life science followed by our lesson Animals Living in Volcanoes National Park. This week we are teaching our students what animals need to survive and learning about classification. The giant-pouched rat starred as our animal inhabiting the nearby forest.

Innocent asks the students what the animals living in Volcanoes National Park need to survive. What type of food do they eat? Where and what is their source of water? What kind of shelter?

Eric introduces a system of organization for all organisms.

A student rests on top of the bench while pretending to be the giant-pouched rat. AoC teacher Fahad talks about the rat’s size in comparison to the height of a human being.

A student imitates a pilfering giant-pouched rat.

More thievery.

Imitation of a runaway rat.

Visuals are passed around the classroom.

Drawing the giant-pouched rat.

Stay tuned here for more great animal pictures.

Tags: animals, conservation education, Rodentia, rwanda, Volcanoes National Park

One response so far