going to school

[maple flats]

Today I will be making 3 presentations at an elementary school about maple. This will be my 4th or 5 year doing it but this year they followed my suggestion and are giving me 45 minutes, up from 30 for each one. This is a round robin type affair with the kids signing up for what they wanted. In the past they limited the class size to 15, this year I told them 25 is good, I'll see what happens. In the past I started with a short video, about 12 minutes and then elaborated as their interest ran the direction. I end with free samples and a free coloring book.
I am told my presentations get the most sign ups and they need to assign many to other choices. If they take my 25 class size I could reach more. This always proves to be a fun day.

[Ausable]

Dave -- You must be a very good Instructor and You have my respect - to keep the attention of schoolchildren of any age is no easy task - especially when they are on an outing. My last ten working years was as an operator of Hydro-Electric Dams...... part of our job was to give tours of the plants and explain how water is used to make electricity -- when we would have a school bus pull up the fun began. With the younger kids - their primary interest was to see how many rocks they could throw in the river or the dam pond and with the older ones it was the old boy - girl thing. The Teachers and the Adults enjoyed the tour and I guess the kids did too in their own way -- So - Dave -- You do have my respect and keep up the good work -- Mike

[maple flats]

Update. The day went well (sort of). I took a VHS tape that was going to run 12 minutes but when I tried it the tape would not work (I think steam in the sugarhouse may have gotten into the zip lock bag and stuck it). However, I had plenty to present and went to plan B on the fly. The class size ended up being between 20 and 25, with grades K-6 mixed. It appeared that everyone was listening and enjoying the presentation. I had participation from all age groups and I had no problem filling the time without the tape.
I enjoy talking maple and can keep it age appropriate in the presentation.
This was not an outing, I went to the school and used a classroom. Each of 3 groups came to me on 45 minute intervals. I did have an overhead projector and several pictures to show what I was talking about. This was their last day before summer vacation and I thought keeping their attention might be a challenge but that was not the case.
Next year I will have a DVD that I can check at home before going, this was already planned to be the final year for the VHS. Little did I know that last year was to be the last for it.