As part of fourth grade social studies, students across Virginia learn about our state symbols. They learn that our state bird is the cardinal, our state tree is the dogwood, our state dance is the square dance, and our state beverage is milk!
One day we discovered that Virginia doesn’t have a state reptile! We’re in 3rd grade right now and we’re hoping to have a state reptile by the time we’re in 4th grade. This site is dedicated to making it happen.
We started by doing a lot of research. We learned that Virginia is home to 34 kinds of snakes, 10 kinds of lizards and 25 types of turtles. That means 69 different types of reptiles live in Virginia. After reading about them, we picked some that we thought would represent Virginia — we picked a lizard, three snakes, and two turtles (one land and one sea). Some of the reptiles we picked are threatened or endangered, but some live happily throughout the state.
Here’s where we need your help. In order to get a state reptile, we need to write to State Delegate Bob Hull with a proposal. But we need to know which reptile YOU think we should propose. Please read our pages and then respond to the poll. At the end of December, we’ll write our letter to Delegate Hull and hope that, before the year is out, we’ll have a state reptile in Virginia!
