Learning to be Wild

For $35 dollars you can buy a year's worth of science lessons for a classroom with a monthly subscription to Wildlife Express. "I don't know how you guys do this for this price," said Kay Mantooth, Riverside Elementary teacher. "The price is unbelievable for the resource it gives you." Wildlife Express is a newspaper 1 each month of the school year by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game for upper elementary students. Each issue focuses on an Idaho wildlife species or concept and brings it alive for kids. For $35 the classroom receives a set of 30 copies each month of the school year plus a copy of the teacher's activity guide The Educator's Express. "There hasn't been a unit that I haven't used this year," Mantooth said. "The kids had something visual, it was appealing, it was easy to follow along. And the teacher's edition gave me background knowledge I didn't already have prior to that lesson. So it came with a resource that I have found just invaluable." PTOs, parents, grandparents and outdoor groups are encouraged to consider sponsoring a subscription to Wildlife Express for your local school or the classroom of your child, grandchild, niece, nephew, favorite neighborhood kid, or other child in your life. This year's topics include: Chinook salmon, Idaho bats, white-tailed deer, "Wild Careers" such as wildlife biologist, American marten, diving ducks, urban wildlife, turkey vulture and "things that sting." Give a class the chance to be a little wild this school year by sponsoring a subscription to Wildlife Express. Part of the cost of publication is covered by the Nongame Wildlife Trust Fund. For more information go to: http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/cms/news/newsletters/wild_express/.