The pupils, along with teacher Susan Keogh, converted a yellow portable classroom into a dark cave with papier-mache bats dangling from the ceiling, stalagmites and fossils.
A turkey carcass served as the bones of a pterodactyl. Rocks painted yellow to look like gold nuggets sat in a make-believe pond. Students fished them out and weighed them.
''I jumped when I saw the bats because their ears glowed,'' said Samantha Gerhehty, 9. ''I was scared.''
Keogh said she got the idea after the class read one of her favorite books, The Mellons Go Spelunking.
''I don't have a radio in my car, so all I do when I drive is think of ideas,'' she said.
The cave incorporated things the pupils were learning in science, math and social studies. Each class was assigned a section of the cave. Many used recycled materials. The stalagmites were made from plastic soda bottles and the walls of the cave were made out of used paper bags.
''I like the pottery best because it's so colorful,'' said Rachel Poor, 8.
But her classmate Craig Thomas, 7, couldn't keep his hands out of the sand. He spent most of his cave tour with a paintbrush brushing sand off homemade fossils.
Keogh said by helping make the cave, the students learned more.
''They've gotten to learn everything and experience it too,'' she said.
The school shared its cave with second graders from Lake Mary Elementary School who were bused over for a tour.
Source: Orlando Sentinel