ASHLEY FRANSCELL/Special to the Standard-Examiner Savanah Overson hangs an ornament on a tree in the Governor's Mansion library in Salt Lake City on Tuesday. Twenty third-grade students from the Venture Academy charter school, in Marriott-Slaterville, decorated Gov. Gary Herbert's Christmas tree with arthropod ornaments. An Arthropod Christmas Third-graders choose bugs to place on governor's tree By BECKY WRIGHT Standard-Examiner staff SALT LAKE CITY — Sally Hurd didn't even know there was such a thing as a governor in Utah, but she wound up decorating a Christmas tree for him — and had a great time doing it. The Plain City girl was one of the third-graders selected to help decorate the library of the Governor's Mansion. She and other students from Venture Academy charter school in www.standard.net Marriott-Slaterville visited the mansion Tuesday. "Every year, we have an elementary come and decorate the tree," said Gov. Gary Herbert. "Christmas ^^^ would really not -4mmtk\ «rr ...nrn be Christmas 1-^1 SEE VIDEO without the chii- IUJ ami mr The governor pi|P^ Ul^Lilll said the third- grade classes were given the opportunity to choose their own theme for the tree. "The theme they chose was really books and insects," he said. Specifically, the tree was focused on arthropods — something the.students have been studying for the past semester. "They are so excited to share the story of their learn ing with the governor," said Tandi Churchill, one of the teachers of the two third-grade classes. "It wasn't really extra work, other than the ornaments, because they had already been keeping field journals of all the work we've done." Venture Academy teachers engage students in experiential learning outside of the classroom. "They learn firsthand from nature, and experts, and from each other," Churchill said. "It's the best type of teaching, I believe — it's the discovery- based method." Images from the students' field journals were copied into small, handmade books that were placed on the Christmas tree. The books also include pages from the journals, where students wrote about experiments and research. Herbert said he appreciates the students' work on the tree. "They've given us books to help us understand their research," he said. "It is remarkable for third- graders to be talking about research they're doing on insects, and what they're learning in school, so it's a tribute to our education emphasis that we have here in the state of Utah." The students used their own artwork to make the additional ornaments. "Everything on the tree has See TREE, Page 12A