By Vernon Robison
Moapa Valley Progress
Grant Bowler Elementary School third graders had a busy week last week. They received visits from many famous historical figures like Ronald Reagan, Rosa Parks, Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, Eleanor Roosevelt and many more. They also got to explore the Carlsbad caverns, experience the power of an erupting volcano and see an elk in the wild. They did all of this and much more without even leaving the classroom.
The students were participating in the second annual Great Brain Projects. This program, which was started last year, encourages each student to become an expert on a topic of their choice.
“We called it “Great Brain” because each student becomes the Great Brain in the class on some topic that interests them,” said Bowler third grade teacher Becky Bartle. “They do pretty in depth research on something that they are curious about; it can be about a person, place or any science/social studies based topic.”
The kids are then required to develop and give a presentation to share their expertise in the topic to the class. In the presentation they must use some sort of visual aid or experiment to draw in the listeners.
Dressed in a full New York Yankees uniform, Tayton Matheson brought in a wooden baseball bat and an old fashioned glove that was similar to the kind that the legendary Babe Ruth would have used growing up. He gave a summary of the Great Bambino’s life. It even included fun trivia like the fact that Ruth was deathly afraid of earthworms and yellow butterflies.
Gracie Leavitt demonstrated a few examples of American Sign Language. She told about how a whole new world began opening to her subject, Helen Keller, when she learned the names for a few every-day objects.
Whitney Waite told about the elemental force of volcanoes. She even demonstrated with her own model of a volcano creating a lava flow made with baking soda and vinegar.
Ocean Walter took his class on a tour, 9,600 feet underground, of the Carlsbad caverns in New Mexico.
And these were just a few of the exciting adventures offered to the third graders over the two day period last week.
