Texas Department of Wildlife visits Chandler Intermediate
By Nathan Straus News Reporter

Top, Jade Glover carefully inspects a replica eagle head. Bottom, Laney McLarty, a CIS 6th grader, shows off an animal skull during TDW discussion.

A multitude of science-enthusiasts in the Chandler Intermediate School Mad Science Club were treated to a visit from the Texas Department of Wildlife Thursday, November 8. The fourth through sixth grade students learned to identify East Texas animal skulls and were shown replicas of bird skulls and feet.

Angela Peyton, fifth grade science teacher at CIS, said the department of wildlife came along with the Game Warden.

"I contacted them last year," Peyton said. "They have a three-year program, which is good because we've got three grades. They will get a different presentation each time."

Well over 100 kids attended the presentations. There were three stations, two by the department of wildlife and one by the Game Warden.

Students were divided up into grades and left the school cafeteria in a line to go to each station. After hearing the lesson at the station, the students would all rotate and go to the next presentation area.

The first station was the Game Warden's station. Tony Norton, the warden, taught about what kind of animals couldn't be killed and what items couldn't be used to hunt game animals. Norton also filled the kids in on the fines for using such items or killing such creatures, as well as the rewards for catching someone doing such things.

"Some of the kids wanted to go out and catch people," Peyton said.

Station two featured the skulls of various East Texas mammals. Larry LeBeau with the Texas Department of Wildlife presented different skulls to children and the children would try to guess the animal from the skull.

Amber Sissom, school nurse at CIS, said it was good for kids to be able to identify different species of animals.

"The department has been doing really well keeping their attention, " Sissom said. "They're really participating."

The final station featured Heidi Bailey, also from the department, speaking about different birds. She educated the kids on the different bird body parts and the kids were allowed to pass around replica eagle skulls and feet to examine.

Patty Ramirez, who came to the science club with her sixth grade son Devin, said the whole experience has taught her and her son a lot.

"A lot of the time the kids didn't know certain animals are illegal to hunt," Ramirez said about the Game Warden's presentation.

Peyton said the wildlife presentation was one of the student favorites in 2006.