space.template.Zebra

=Summer Exploration 2013: = __**Day 1:**__ Breakfast on the Go, and then off to the Gorilla Habitat! We read aloud from a fan favorite: "The One and Only Ivan" by Katherine Applegate. As we learned about Ivan the Gorilla's habitat in the book, the habitat of the Gorillas and Monkeys at the Zoo was being cleaned for another day of visitors. We were able to see the keepers remove a gorilla and 2 Monkeys from the habitat and how they clean their space each morning. Tomorrow we hope to see more of the actual animals, but it was an "eye opening" experience for many of the students as they had never thought about how the zoo cleans "house" for their tenants!

In the afternoon, we ate lunch by the Zebra exhibit and discussed what "courtesy" looks like at the zoo. We also discussed how to appropriately use technology such as cell phones and geared them up for their first small group outing. Each group had 9-10 students and each had a cell phone with the teachers numbers programmed in it. We gave them 20 minutes with the mission in mind to find "MATH at the ZOO". Students will be sharing their ideas on Day 2.

After collecting ideas of "MATH at the ZOO", we gathered students, discussed the highs and lows of their first small group mission and then discussed what "OBSERVATION" means. Rachel W. said, "It means to look closely at something." All students could agree to that, and away we went! To the Cat Complex at Henry Doorly Zoo. Here, students observed and wrote a list of all of the "CAT BEHAVIORS" they were able to see. Students will discuss those behavior lists today and share our what they observed. One group of students even timed the repetition of breaths a Siberian Tiger took in 1 minute. THAT IS Observation at it's best!