By Jacqueline Kruper
Woman Pilot, March/April 1999

Getting pilots to talk about planes and flying is certainly not difficult, and I’m no exception. My nephew, Jonathan, did not have to twist my arm when he asked if I would present a program on aviation to his first grade class at the Broad Street Elementary School in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. I am thrilled with any opportunity to open the door to aviation and especially so with children.

I readily agreed to visit his class, consulted with the classroom teacher as to her expectations and recommendations, and proceeded with my lesson plans in earnest. I contacted a wide variety of resources and found a wealth of information and free materials, The Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum provided a comprehensive K-3 Curriculum Guide which proved invaluable (I learned as much from it as did the children). AOPA was generous with brochures as was the Bureau of Aviation, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Local airports (Reading and Lancaster) were also willing to provide posters, brochures, pencils, and pins. The FAA Flight Standards District Office in Harrisburg furnished additional information.

While eating at a local restaurant, an aviation-related placement of ‘connect the dots’ and ‘find the differences’ caught my eye, and I was able to obtain a packet of these for the class. My challenge was to digest and edit my collected information to fit the attention span and the cognitive level of the typical six-year-old.

I arrived at the school on a CAVU day in March; the lesson evolved as follows. After my nephew’s short and sweet introduction ("My Aunt Jackie will talk to us because she is a pilot,") I distributed name tags to which I had affixed a colorful airplane sticker. Each child printed his or her name on the tag. After I queried the group as to whom had flown, visited an airport, etc., they had an opportunity to see my "model" airport. A Reebok shoebox became a hangar complete with a miniature windsock atop a thin dowel rod. A large poster board served as the airport grounds with taxiways and runways. My extensive model and vintage toy airplane collection added small-scale realism to the display.

We noted the similarities and the differences between birds and planes. We then talked about the basic shapes, types and parts of planes—single- and twin-engine, biplane and monoplane, high-wing and low-wing, nose, prop, tail, gear, cabin; they were more familiar with these terms than I expected.

We explored the many directional things a plane can do, and my rapt audience began to turn and bank in their seats. We landed on a runway, grass, water and an aircraft carrier. At some point in the presentation, one of the taller, more-reserved girls in the group held her finger to her lips with a "sssh" to quiet the group. She pointed skyward, "I hear a plane." From the window, we could see a small, high-wing plane.

Knowing that the alphabet is focus at this age, we recited the international phonetic alphabet; they proudly demonstrated their competency with the ABS’s. They colored the "prop," the "gear" and the wingtip lights on my simplified sketch of a Cessna Skyhawk. Then they were to assign their own special N number to their plane using any combination of five numbers or letters.

This lesson concluded in forty-five minutes. The follow-up lesson proved to be equally exciting when, a week later, volunteer parents transported the children to the local airport where I was based. The airport owner, Ada Reigle (a retired elementary school teacher), and I greeted the children. As we toured the hangars, Ada quizzed them as to the names of various objects on the airport (I began to feel as nervous as a student teacher). But, eureka!! They recalled hangar, windsock, monoplane and high-wing; I felt pride (they had paid attention).

We watched two planes take-off and land. Mrs. Reigle had arranged for the students to briefly sit in a Cessna 150 parked near the office; a parent and I worked either side of the cabin to place each child in the plane for a few minutes. One child noted that the yoke did not look like an egg (yolk?).

The group posed beside the 150 for a class photo and each was provided with a print of the photo. Each child subsequently sent a personalized thank-you note to me; these were delightfully creative renditions of "flying machines" with conspicuous N numbers.

There is not much I would modify in the lesson plan. The size of the name tag could have been larger (first graders print in very LARGE letters), and I would reign more control with the model/toy planes. First graders love "varroom-varroom" toys, and this caused a little chaos.

In summary, I was honored to introduce this group to aviation and the share something I enjoy. With interest piqued, perhaps a child in that group will one day participate in the joy and challenge of the world of aviation. I would hope for nothing less.

Jacqueline Kruper of Lebanon, PA is a private pilot with over 700 hours in seven years of flying.