Kindergarten goes to the Zoo!
As a capstone to our two modules about trees the kindergarten classes went to the zoo! I can already hear you asking - what does the zoo, somewhere notably about animals, have to do with trees? That’s a great question, and one that needs a little background of our modules to understand!
The first of the two modules is about the scientific side of trees - how do they grow, what are trees for, why do we need them, how do we rely on them? The second of the two modules is about appreciating trees - why should we protect trees? How do we convince others to appreciate trees?
Taking these two themes into consideration we came up with the zoo as the ideal capstone to these units! The zoo showcases how different animals from around the world use trees in their habitats as well as letting us appreciate that without trees these animals wouldn’t be here for us to see! To that end we, the kindergarten team, made a scavenger hunt to lead students and their chaperones around the zoo to observe different animals that rely on trees in interesting, and unique ways.
Our hunt included: the beaver, the butterfly house, the aviary, the amphibian house, the reptile house, the orangutans, the red panda, and more! Each of these animals use trees in unique ways with very interesting overlap to be observed, for example: red pandas AND tree frogs both sleep in trees, butterflies AND snakes use trees for camouflage, and lemurs AND snow monkeys use trees for play!
Our findings from the zoo!
In addition to all these interesting and scientific thoughts we also had tons of fun! The zoo is huge and our students got to see so many different animals from so many environments that they won’t see in the usual urban wildlife. It was educational, fun, and just an amazing capstone to both the units and the year!