By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–Third-grade students at Union City Elementary School played their own version of show-and-tell with a trip to Reelfoot Lake at the end of the 2021-22 school year.
During a class discussion on earthquakes and their probability in our area earlier in the year, it was discovered that only a handful of students had visited Reelfoot Lake or knew the history of its formation.
UC Director of Schools Wes Kennedy became aware of that during a random visit to Julie Morgan’s classroom and encouraged Morgan and fellow science/social studies teacher Randi Lynn Moore to plan a field trip to the famed lake that was formed by a series of earthquakes in the early 1800s.
The two UCMS teachers used the excursion and experience to cover several classroom standards.
Students were split into four separate groups and first viewed a video of the lake’s creation. They then saw several non-venomous snakes, a python and a King snake in controlled environments before being treated to a milkshake.
They were introduced to several birds of prey, including bald eagles, several different species of owls, and a falcon. Students then closed out their visit by enjoying a walk on the famed Reelfoot Lake boardwalk, where they saw turtles, gar, minnows and tadpoles.
“They all had an amazing time,” Morgan claimed. “They remembered so much of what we’d studied earlier, and they pointed out several things that we’d talked about in class.
“It was truly an educational experience. To see their faces as they saw things they’d read about and studied in person was especially rewarding for Mrs. Moore and me.”