Using Social Media to Promote School Tarantula Club Results in Spider Donations

Seventh grade Richland Middle School Science teacher, Mr. Moreau, is using Google Sites, Facebook, and Instagram to promote his Richland Middle School Tarantula Club. "I had an idea to start an after-school tarantula club. I asked my classes what they thought, and I had enough students interested to form the club," Mr. Moreau explained. "Last year I started using Google Sites with my students, so I made one for the club and promoted the site on Instagram. To my surprise, I was contacted by a business that sells tarantulas, and they wanted to donate spiders to our club. It was cool," said Mr. Moreau. Using social media to promote student projects and class animals is a concept that Mr. Moreau implemented five years ago when he decided to run a live webcam to allow students to see the activity of the classroom's bearded dragon. By promoting the live cam with his Instagram account, it quickly gained a following and led to more animals and more live cams. The increase in animals led to one student creating an Instagram specifically for the animals, called @mrmoreauspets. "The best part about a business donating spiders to our club is that each student will be able to keep their spider at the end of the year." -Mr. Moreau. If you would like to know more about Mr. Moreau’s club and see his other classroom animals, check out his Tarantula Google Site, Facebook Page, and MrMoreausPets Instagram.  #tarantula