THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 25, 1995 TAG: 9510240170
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Coastal Journal
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines
You know Pat Berson's science classroom at the new Kemps Landing Magnet School is something special when Umlet, the peach-fronted conure, squawks his guttural greeting and the bubbling sound of aerators in several aquariums provides the background noise.
The room is filled with nature, from living plants on the floor to rocks and shells that line the window sills and butterfly decals that decorate the panes. Various animal skulls and bones stretch the length of a wall-sized shelf above the cabinets.
Bird, fish and insect mobiles hang from the ceiling. A large steer skull is on one wall, a hornets' nest on another. But the inanimate objects take a back seat to the live animals that live in Berson's classroom.
After a visit last week, I decided I'd like to be reincarnated as a sixth-grade life sciences student in her class.
The peach-fronted conure, a little bigger than a parakeet, takes a great interest in visitors, climbing on the front of the cage and squawking away. To really get attention, the bird pops a bell with its beak as though it's jabbing a boxing bag.
Next to the conure, Igor the iguana sits on a log under a special vitamin light and cocks a quizzical eye toward humans on the other side of the cage. Igor, tail and all, is 3 to 4 feet long. When Berson reaches in to scratch its back, the big lizard closes his eyes in contentment.
There's more. A shy black rabbit is not so shy that it won't ring its bell for food and water. Lash, a side-necked turtle from South America, is unusual. When it withdraws into its shell, it must wrap its neck and head around toward its left foot. The turtle's neck vertebrae are so long, his shell is not big enough to draw his head in directly. That long neck enables Lash to live up to its name and lash out and bite, too.
A red-eared slider, a common local turtle, is in another aquarium on one side of Lash and McCradie, the crayfish, hides in a log in an aquarium on the other side. Tiny terrariums of spiders, termites and other creatures are stacked nearby.
Berson doesn't go out and purchase or collect these animals herself (except for the side-necked turtle, which she couldn't resist buying when she saw it in a pet shop).
``The kids bring me all kinds of things,'' she said. ``the bones, the shells, the artifacts.''
McCradie is a case in point. The crayfish has been in with Berson for a little over a year now, brought in when she was teaching at Landstown Middle School by a student who thought the animal would be a great addition to the menagerie.
``The kid bugged the shop owner until she gave him the crayfish!'' Berson said.
Igor has been around since Berson taught at Lynnhaven Junior High several years ago. Umlet the bird came via a student Berson also had at Landstown Middle. The only trouble is Kemps Landing students may not be able to add much to the menageries this year. ``I've had to stop them,'' Berson said. ``I don't have any more room!''
Grown-ups think of Berson, too. The skin of a huge python hangs on the wall. The snake was killed by a 12-year-old in Nigeria to prove his manhood, and its skin was brought back to Berson by a friend who traveled in Nigeria. The rattlesnake skin was brought to Berson by another friend who vacationed in Florida.
``Everybody who knows me knows about my stuff in the classroom,'' she said.
Homeroom students who arrive early clean the cages and feed the animals. ``I turn all the care over to the kids and in summer, I send the animals home with them, too,'' Berson said.
``This age group is so interested in animals and nature,'' she went on. ``They're perfect candidates for this kind of class.''
My age group is too.
P.S. AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF LAW ENFORCEMENT is the topic of the Princess Anne County/Virginia Beach Historical Society meeting at 3 p.m. Sunday in the 1822 courtroom at the Municipal Center.
CELEBRATE AN ENVIRONMENTAL HALLOWEEN with the kids from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday at the Virginia Marine Science Museum. Meet the museum's mad scientist and hear the walrus from ``Alice in Wonderland.'' Call 437-4949. MEMO: What unusual nature have you seen this week? And what do you know about
Tidewater traditions and lore? Call me on INFOLINE, 640-5555. Enter
category 2290. Or, send a computer message to my Internet address:
mbarrow(AT)infi.net.
ILLUSTRATION: In Pat Berson's classroom, Umlet, a peach-fronted conure, checks
out visitors like Lauren Futrelle, left, Lindsay Crelly and Matthew
Keally. Lash, a side-necked turtle, is unusual because its neck
vertebrae are too long for it to withdraw its head straight into its
shell.
Photos by
MARY REID BARROW
by CNB