This past week, RYNJ welcomed representatives from the Van Saun Park Zoo. Hands-on activities and live demonstrations made the learning of vertebrates and invertebrates come alive for the fourth graders. Students were excited by this interactive science lesson and engaged in great discussions about the features of animals that help define their classifications. They spoke about lungs versus gills, exoskeletons and hair versus feathers. The fourth graders were especially curious about the Madagascar hissing cockroach, which some of the students even touched. While no one pet the boa constrictor, some classes certainly wanted him as the class pet.