Zoo Field Trip

"We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo,
How about you, you, you?
You can come too, too, too
We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo!"

This was absolutely one of the smoothest field trips ever! We had a better than 1:2 ratio of adults to children, everyone brought a "disposable lunch," and car seats were switched with ease. We had wonderful snacks to eat in the cars, school I.D. tags for every child and arrived a few minutes early. We were first into the zoo and had plenty of time and space to enjoy all the animals. We split up into small groups, with each consisting of two adults and the children they drove, and ambled along to where each respective group decided to go. It worked so well--- everyone saw what was most important to their group and could take the time to focus on an exhibit for as long as desired. We made a plan to meet and eat lunch outdoors at 11:30 by the beluga whales. Lo and behold, it just so happened that the zoo trainers were having a beluga presentation at that exact time. It began and ended with a great splash--- the whales breaching in near unison. We heard the many sounds these whales, nicknamed "canaries of the sea," make with their blowholes, watched them dive, eat, flap flippers and flukes, and squirt water out of their mouths into the air. What fun!

When later asked what their favorite animal at the zoo was, it was interesting that most of the children named an "umbrella species." This is an area that we have been discussing in class which bridges the health of a key species within a habitat to the health of their specific environment. What was also fascinating was that many of the children chose their favored animal for its behavior at the time of our visit:
"I liked the tiger best. It roared."
"My favorite animal was the elephant. It peed a lot from between its legs! Why does it pee so much?"
"I liked the beluga whales. It was funny to see them squirt water!"

The ultimate for adults and children alike was that today was the first sunny and reasonably warm day in two weeks... What a perfect day!

With howls of delight, Judith

P.S. Ursula is sending me pictures she took. I'll republish this with photos by midweek!

What animal in the whole world would you like to be?

M. I.: “I’d be a giraffe because I’d have a long neck to eat vegetables like carrots.”

S. T. : “I want to be a doggie named Rosebud.”

G. L: “I’d like to be a kitty cat because people pet them.”

K. E. : “A tiger. Tigers swim and hide.”

G. R. : “I want to be a jaguar because baby jaguars are cute. Diego has a baby jaguar!”

E. F. : “An ox. Ox like snakes and they can run so fast.”

E. E. : “I want to be a snake. They go s-s-s-s.”

M. E. : “I think I’d be a zebra because they have stripes on them and that’s so pretty.”

T. V. : “I’ll be a camel. They walk at the zoo. I’d like to live at the zoo!”

R. M. : “A cat because it’s cute and it licks things---- kitty food, people food, even my fingers!”

N. S. : “I’d be a puppy. They play with doggie toys and eat things like dog food. And they roll around!”

C. S. : “Well…well, I want to be a lion because they are dangerous with big teeth and can attack. I would be a nice lion, though.”


A. M. : “I’d like to be a mermaid. She swims and she likes her mom and dad.”

C. H. : “A horse because they gallop!”

D. S. : “A tiger. Tigers growl. They have orange and black stripes. I like stripes!”

A. I. : “I would like to be a giraffe because giraffes stomp. And they have long necks to eat trees.”

Et. J. : “I’d be a lizard. I’d like to change colors. And crawl fast, too!”

Em. J. : “A lion because they roar and eat so many foods and they have lots of feelings and lots to do.”

J. W. : “I would be a robin because my favorite color is red. And I can fly so high that I won’t get stung by a bee!”

Z. M. : “I would really like to be a butterfly or a whale. I’d like to fly like a beautiful butterfly and land on flowers. But I want to be a whale because they swim and they’re so big. They’re the biggest animals in the world! It seems like butterflys and whales are kind of opposite animals!”

We kicked off our "Young Authors" celebration with a classroom visit today by children's author Brenda Guiberson. She read us her book titled Cactus Hotel.

The children were very interested in seeing how Brenda illustrates. Based on her first drawing of an animal that the children decided was a poodle, we created a story. Everyone contributed ideas as an entire poodle family came to life on the page!

The plot involved the entire poodle family getting wet in a rain storm, scampering into their "Poodle Palace" to dry off with towels, then sipping on hot dog juice to warm themselves afterward. The story ended with the sun shining and a rainbow arching "the wrong way," according to our young authors! See if your child can tell you the story!