The goal of this program is to provide the unique experience of meeting and interacting with endangered species. Hands-on with our specially trained parrots is the central focus of this program - as this element is not available in books, videos, or computers. Our biggest challenge is in providing as much time as possible for each student to safely handle the birds. It is important to us that all who attend enjoy and remember their experience with the birds. Following are some points we feel will help your planners.
1) Due to the nature of the “hands-on” section, our attention must be totally dedicated to the children immediately interacting with the birds. We will control the birds and we will expect the school staff to help control the children (through the entire program). With all group sizes there will be a certain amount of seemingly “unavoidable down time” for the children who are waiting to hold the birds or who have already held the birds (especially larger groups). We are searching for alternative solutions to this situation, but for now, we can really use your assistance. Having a PTA “volunteer” available during the day has worked very well in the past.
2) It is important to take into consideration the size of each group. The larger the group the more time needed for the hands on section. Often we have a set 50 minute series and the groups may vary from 45 to 90 students. 90 students take twice the hands on time as does 45 students, thus taking time from the lecture and questions. Length and number of presentations may be varied to adjust for size of groups. (Example: For two classes per group (50-60), a 50 min program with a 10 min break between the next group works very well) A 10 minute break between groups provides a “buffer time zone” for those presentations that run a little longer and provides time for extra questions. We will work with the schedule you create.
3) The children for each assembly should be of similar age groups (1, 2, & 3; NOT 1 & 5). Different age groups require a little different presentation. The older children are interested in more information and have more questions while the pre and kindergarten have fewer questions and are mostly interested in touching the birds.
4) The schedule may be adjusted for the different age groups if you like. We can do a very short lecture with no question and answer for the younger children thus allowing more time for the older children. 40 minute programs for the very young and 50-60 minute programs for the older children allow us to give much more information.
5) The teachers must understand the need for being on time to the assemblies. With such little time to do so much, every minute counts. When classes show up 5-10 minutes late we may have lost up to half of our lecture time.
6) Also it is important that the children be ready to enter the assembly room and be seated quickly and quietly. We recognize this will not always happen due to the children’s excitement, but every effort in this direction helps.
7) The teachers and students should understand what will happen during the assemblies (lecture, hands-on, & questions time permitting). This lets the teachers work with appropriate issues before we visit and also lets the children have questions already in mind.
8) We will ask for adult volunteers to hold some of the birds for the children to pet (we will offer birds for the children to hold). We prefer to have teachers so that the children and the teachers have a more common experience to discuss and work with. This experience is not limited to the children, the adults attending (if possible) are welcome to participate in the petting and holding also.