Students work on a mural featuring Madagascar’s unique species at the Ellis School in New Hampshire.

Teacher Robin Lee at the Ellis School in Fremont, New Hampshire, USA just finished a whole year of “Learning thru Lemurs” with her 6th grade language arts students! The students were inspired by lemurs and Madagascar all school year, reading and writing about conservation, the rainforest, and all of the amazing animals that call Madagascar home. They visited the zoo, made lemur stuffed animals, and integrated conservation words into their vocabulary lessons.

• Learn more about Robin Lee’s Learning thru Lemurs class
• Visit their Instragram and Twitter

Lemurpalooza at the Ellis School

The class finished up the year with their very own Lemurpalooza celebration, timed to coordinate with the celebration of the same name at the Duke Lemur Center. For their Lemurpalooza festival, the students built displays for the Lemur Conservation Network, Lemur Love, and the Duke Lemur Center, so the rest of the school and everyone’s parents could learn about lemurs, Madagascar, and how to help. They also drew a lemur mural, made lemur-decorated treats, had lemur face painting, and created lemur games, like Pin the Tail on the Lemur!

Lemur Limericks

Throughout the year, the students had a lot of writing assignments involving lemurs and Madagascar, but perhaps the most fun was writing lemur limericks! (Or lemuricks if you’re feeling cheeky.) After studying logging and deforestation in Madagascar, the students wrote these limericks to share their message of conservation. Some are silly, some are serious, and some are quite poignant.

Here are a few of our favorites:

Leaping Lemurs by Brian Rivers

There was was a lemur jumping tree to tree.
We all want lemurs to be free.
Don’t be a turd,
Spread the word.
Stopping deforestation is key.

Losing Lemurs by Noah Knickles

One day I climbed my tree to find,
Everything was not fine.
We need donations,
To help another nation.
We are running out of time.

Save the Lemurs by Amelia Earnshaw

There once was a lemur in a tree,
Who was looking straight at me!
He said, “don’t you see,
I’m hiding here in a tree,
from that hot stuff that’s red,
that is burning me!”

Bob the Leaping Lemur by Matt Donohue

There once was a lemur named Bob,
Who liked to eat corn on the cob.
His family was gone,
He sat on his lawn,
Donate Today to save Bob.

Save Me by Ben Stonis

Help a lemur, you won’t break a femur.
Their population is getting leaner.
We need to act,
It is a fact.
Please save the lemur!!!!!

The Lemur by Meg

There once was a lemur that was furry.
The lemur saw smoke and got blurry.
She went all around,
She spotted ashes on the ground.
Now she wants to scurry.

The Lemur Can Speak by Bailey Verb

I’m a lemur, don’t be tart.
Think about it, if you have a heart.
Deforestation is not funny.
Please donate some money.
If you do, you have done your part.

Great job, class! Have a lemuriffic summer!