Section A · Page 10
The University Daily Kansan
Wednesday, June 16, 1999
Little bird watchers participate in summer workshops
By Lisa John
Kansan managing editor
Traipsing across the green grass on the slope beneath the Campanile last Thursday morning, a group of budding ornithologists checked out the birding scene.
Four young bird watchers steady their gaze in search of campus wildlife. These children participated in one of the "Exploring Nature" workshops offered to children ages four and five through the Museum of Natural History. Pictured left
Their teacher, Dena Podrebarac, told the students to aim their binoculars at two birds gathering food beneath a tree.
Up went 15 pair of binoculars — homemade binoculars fashioned from cardboard tubes and string, decorated with crayon designs.
"Wow, big!" exclaimed one student as he looked at the birds. "Yeah, big!" exclaimed another.
Indeed, as this class of four- and five-year-olds continued in their week-long course, "Exploring Nature," at the Natural History Museum, they did seem to be onto something big.
to right are Pace Leggins, Joseph Odrowski and Ben Sloan. In the background is Nicholas Pellett. All are from Lawrence.
Photo by Lisa John/KANSAN
Jama Kolosick, director of education, said that the museum's summertime class load is growing. This year's calendar lists 45 week-long summer classes for children age four to 12 years. So far, more than 700 children have enrolled.
The first workshops were held 32 years ago, said Brad Kemp, assistant director for public affairs at the museum.
The popularity of the summer classes is nothing new.
"They've been around for a long time, which makes them a
"They're just absolutely thrilled. They get so excited when they get out of class to show me what they've made and to tell me what they've learned."
Cathy Kern
mother
tradition," he said. "We have second- and third-generation kids participating in the workshops."
Kemp said enrollment by out-of-town children had grown in the last two years.
While some parents drive from the Kansas City area, Cathy Kern brought her daughters, Mary, 5, and Anna, 6, from Nortonville last week. She also plans to bring her son, Mark, 9, to a workshop in July. This will be Mark's sixth summe attending the museum classes, and Kern said the 35-mile drive was well worth it.
"The kids love it," she said
"They're just absolutely thrilled.
They get so excited when they get
out of class to show me what
they've made and to tell me what
they've learned."
Her children learn a lot about wildlife. Kern said.
"Anna was enrolled in the rain forest class last week. She told me that a rain forest is made by
temperature, steam and rain you could tell they went over that pretty good."
Peggy Porter brought her son, Brendan, 4, to the museum from Olathe each day last week. In bringing her son to the workshops, Porter said she felt as if
she was carrying on a family tradition.
"I grew up in New Jersey," she said. "When I was little, there were six of us kids, and my mom took us to classes at the Newark museum on Saturday."
Porter said that the 45-minute
kemp said, from his point of view, that the best thing about the workshops was that they filled the museum with kids
drive to KU was worth it and that she planned to enroll her son in summer workshops again next year.
every day.
"It's wonderful to have the youngsters in the building," Kemp said. "It reminds one why one works in a museum — what the importance of the public aspect of this museum is. That's pretty invigorating."
So invigorating in fact, that the museum has about 200,000 visitors each year, Kemp said, with the highest number of visitors in April and May, when school field trips brought as many as 600 children to the museum in one day.
As for the classes, vacancies still exist, Kolosick said. Tuition for the week-long courses for children age four through seven is $60 a week, and the classes meet for two hours a day. Children eight through 12 meet for three hours a day, and their tuition is $70 for the week. Kolosick said that about 10 percent of the students received tuition assistance.
Meanwhile, the group of young ornithologists continues along the trail. They make many stops along the way — some puff at fluffy dandelion seeds, some crouch to peer through a sewer grate and others gather walnuts and acorns. And when leader Dena Podrebarac says to look through their binoculars at a female house sparrow, that's just what they do. After all, this is a class about discovering nature and they are onto something big.
- Edited by Anjum Aziz
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