Anoka Times

On May 24, kindergarten and second grade students at University Avenue Elementary School - Aerospace, Children’s Engineering and Science visited the Anoka County-Blaine Airport for a picnic with pilots and planes to connect classroom learning with a hands-on experience.

Kindergarten students at University Avenue are “Observation Experts,” and in the third trimester they explore living and nonliving things in the sky. After learning about birds in the first portion of the trimester, the students used their experience at the airport to see and touch the different parts of the airplanes. After learning more about planes and the airport, students had lunch while watching planes take off and land. View photos of the kindergartners at the airport.

“I liked to learn about the airplanes and I really liked the wings and the nose and the wings at the back,” said Danyelle, a kindergartner. “That was so cool.”

Second graders at University Avenue are “Flight Experts” and spend the whole year looking at different aspects of flight and the different parts of the airplane. During the trip to the airport students had the opportunity to see and touch parts of the airplanes, look in the cockpit and get a better understanding of the airport operations with some time in the tower observation deck.

Two of the pilots were former teachers, one of which taught at University Avenue. 

Jan Mol finished teaching first grade at University Avenue right before the school became the magnet school, but said the exposure and opportunity to visit the airport was a great learning tool for the students.

Cheryl Daml got her instructor certification in 2000 and after 34 years of teaching first graders transitioned to instructing future pilots.

“It’s really fun because it reminds me of what I did for so many years,” Daml said of having the students at the airport. “They are just like little sponges and they soak it up. They ask really interesting questions. For some, we hope that they may become interested in aviation.”

Original source can be found here.