Seven second grade students at Manawa Elementary School took the challenge of designing and “creating” their own animal.
The students were challenged by the dad of teacher Rosanne Sanderfoot.
This is the second challenge by Sanderfoot’s dad, as he challenged the students in December to design and build a working catapult. Five students succeeded in that challenge.
This new challenge involved designing and creating a new animal using the characteristics of two or three living animals.
To fulfill the challenge, the students had to use different materials, such as clay, cloth, paper-mache, wood, and other items, to make a three-dimensional representation of the newly created animal.
Each student also had to formulate a list of the pros and cons of such an animal.
One final part of the challenge required each student to name the animal they created.
Meg Westphal was one of the students who took the challenge. She created an animal called a cheetagator which she said was a mix between a cheetah and an alligator.
“Some of the good things about it is it can run really fast to catch its prey,” Westphal said. “The bad thing about it is that it can run that fast for only a short amount of time. It wouldn’t be a good pet because it will attack other pets.”
The seven students who participated in the challenge said they did most of the work at home.
They indicated they received some help from their parents, but that they did most of the work themselves.
When the students were asked if they enjoyed the challenge, they all responded with an enthusiastic, “Yes.”
Several of the students were involved in a presentation to the Manawa Board of Education at its meeting, Monday, Feb. 18.
At this presentation, the students showed their newly created animals to the school board, and explained the pros and cons of each animal.
The students who participated will be part of a pizza party.