Five classes of 3rd graders!!

SWMBO has gotten me in the deep end now. She has volunteered the Abomination as a show and tell feature about race cars for five classes worth of 3rd graders. That's 120 kids.

Five 45 minute presentations. I'm sure glad I'm not doing the talking.

The SCCA was good enough to come through with some stickers we can give to the kids. It should be a interesting time.

Anyone that wants to offer ideas and pointers, please do. We have never done anything like this and could probably use all the help we can get. We are taking the car and all the safety gear. Any other ideas?

In reply to Toyman01: - Print off some action shots of the cars you will be taking and have fun signing some autographs. - Can you grab digital camera and printer? Giving each kid a pic. of them in a race car would be a huge hit. - For the safety equipment demo, dress one of the teachers in all the gear.

fastoldfart wrote: In reply to Toyman01: - For the safety equipment demo, dress one of the teachers in all the gear.

Good one. I can get even with all the teachers that hated me in 3rd grade.

TOO COOL!!! I have no advice to offer, other than the fact that when I was a kid, it would've been rad to say "and this is my dad...he drives a RACE CAR!" ;)

fastoldfart wrote: In reply to Toyman01: - Print off some action shots of the cars you will be taking and have fun signing some autographs. - Can you grab digital camera and printer? Giving each kid a pic. of them in a race car would be a huge hit. - For the safety equipment demo, dress one of the teachers in all the gear.

These are great ideas quoted above.

I think for third graders I would not delve into details about the safety gear. I don't think 8-year-olds need to be thinking about fiery death.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAGN2uA9iT4

45 minutes is a looooong time.

Make sure you get to fire it up and rev it a few times.

Bring coffee for the kids.

Seriously though, that is a really cool thing to do! I still remember having "Officer Friendly" come to my school in 3rd grade. He was a police car with an automated presentation and a recorded voice that would talk to you, kinda like Kit from Night Rider. Flashing lights and sirens are way cool for kids. I still remember the cop leaning into the car to push the "play" button for the presentation though.... Anyway, stickers or pictures signed by you are pretty cool to any kid. Let them sit in it too; my 3 year old got to sit in a race car tonight and he was way stoked!

-Hamid

These kids won't sit still. If you think 45 minutes is a long time for you to do a presentation, it is even longer for them. Find a way to break it up into 10-15 minute chunks.

10 minutes explaining something
5 minutes for questions (be sure you stick to your time limit, because the questions will NOT end)
10-15 minutes get them up actively doing something
10 minutes to make another point
5 more minutes for questions

Find a point or message you want to drive home with your presentation. Something like: "It's a lot of fun, but it takes a lot of study, hard work, and math to do" or "Safety is important. There are risks and look at all the things I wear for safety."

If you want to get them to pay attention, do not try to talk over them. Talk quietly like you're telling them a secret.

Make a splash by showing up in the safety gear.

Not only dress the teacher up in the safety gear, make him/her strap in and do an emergency exit from the car. Use this to teach "Stop, Drop, and Roll" or some other safety lesson that will be applicable to the kids.

Find out if there are any lessons in science or math or something that you could connect to racing. Best lesson I ever did was bringing in a parent who was a firefighter to start a grease fire and try to extinguish it with common kitchen items (water, sugar, flour, and baking soda). Practical life lesson, and helped put the chemistry lessons into a practical perspective figuring out why each item had the effect it did. And... the kids liked fireballs.

Aerodynamics = Airplanes , wind tunnel testing.

I love the idea of tying the technology of racing into some of their school work.

You could always point out the usefulness of the video games in racing to learn the tracks!

You should have a large board with a turn, and maybe a slalom on it.. and you can explain how to turn like a racecar driver... and why

Get the kids to race. A run around te playground, a slalom on bigwheels, something to get them moving and having fun and break up the session.

Don't let them sit in the car. Not to be mean, but how long will it take to strap a kid into the car, belts and all, plus helmet? Multiply that by 120. You will be there all day!

Seems like kids are being taught that cars, particularity old ones, are negative things. Unsafe, bad for the environment, etc. This is a chance to show how they are fun, cool and so on.

Showing off the safety gear is a good idea. You can also point out that racing has helped regular cars become safer. (the development of better tires, brakes, seat belts, etc)

Bring cones and set up a course. Have the kids run in a line around the track and make race car sounds while showing them the correct racing lines (throw in dramatic actions of what happens if you miss your line). "And if you take the corner too fast you SPIN OUT OF CONTROL! AAAAAAAHhh (spin around and away)."

Gearheadotaku wrote: Seems like kids are being taught that cars, particularity old ones, are negative things. Unsafe, bad for the environment, etc. This is a chance to show how they are fun, cool etc.

THIS!!!!!!

Listen to me children - ALL CARS should have a manual transmission. That means, you all need to tell your parents that you want to learn to drive a stick. If your parents tell you they dont know how, ask your grandpa to teach them and you. Its very important to learn to drive a stick-shift, kids...VERY IMPORTANT. If you love your country, you will learn to use a clutch. You all love America dont you?

Get em started young!

But seriously, Setting up 6 or 8 cones in a random course, and getting them to follow you in a line as you run through the course, having instructed them to make their very best racecar sounds would be a great way to get them involved. Interaction = attention.

SCARR wrote: You should have a large board with a turn, and maybe a slalom on it.. and you can explain how to turn like a racecar driver... and why

That may be a little much for 3rd graders.. maybe as simple a way to demonstrate that the tires matter the most for how "fast" a car is, not just the engine.

In reply to bluej:

I dunno... I bet 85-90% of them have racing games, and could use the info.

How about physical fitness - most of the Nascar drivers are preaching about the benefits.

Woody wrote: 45 minutes is a *looooong* time.

A very long time.

3rd graders are fun. Middle school ,not so.

From a former school bus driver.

poopshovel wrote: TOO COOL!!! I have no advice to offer, other than the fact that when I was a kid, it would've been rad to say "and this is my dad...he drives a RACE CAR!" ;)

This is my goal in life with my child.

great ideas so far. I'll try to think of a few of my own, but in the mean time, I just wanted to say that I'm very jealous. This could be very fun.

poopshovel wrote: when I was a kid, it would've been rad to say "and this is my dad...he drives a RACE CAR!" ;)

If the car still has a passenger seat and is street legal, you could take your youn'un around the block....that would make him the envy of all the other kids.

Beer Baron has outlined a very good lesson plan. Keeping their attention is going to be the biggest problem. Break it up into short segments.

(from a retired middle school teacher).

In reply to pinchvalve:

Wut? Why on earth would you strap them in and put a helmet on them? Just let them each have a turn sitting in the seat. When I used to be a boat captain, five times a year I would fill one of our boats with 400 camp kids and take them to their camp on a distant island. I let each one of them have a turn driving the boat. You line them up, and each one has 10 seconds at the wheel. Each kid loved it, and they talked about it for years. Such a simple thing for us, but highly memorable for someone that normally gets zero exposure to such an environment.

-Hamid