Rainforest lessons learned

Valley View Elementary kindergarten and first grade students learned about rainforest animals up close and personal recently during an assembly visit by Wildlife On Wheels.

“I want to introduce you to Roswell,” said Melanie Angeles, Wildlife of Wheels.

Oohs and ahhs blanketed the audience as Roswell, the armadillo, was brought out.

“It looks like a rock,” said one of the students.

Angeles explained that the job of an armadillo was to eat things on the ground.

“They’ll eat dead things too,” Angeles said, a statement that brought an eruption of laughter from the students.

Angeles and her assistant Mimi Greenburg brought out a toucan named Bill.

“His job is to be a farmer,” explained Angeles. “He eats fruit, a lot of fruit and then what do you think he does.”

“Poop!” yelled the students.

“We like to call it fertilizer,” Angeles said. She continued to explain the birds “fertilize” the forest ground with seeds, which in turn grow plants, that birds and other animals can eat—fertilize and continue the cycle.

The assembly brought the rain forest to life and taught students the importance of every creature.