Going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo!

This year our Grade 1 class is going to the Edmonton Valley Zoo for Zoo School!

For one full week in March we will be learning at the zoo! We will have demonstrations, hands-on animal encounters, behind the scenes tours, speakers, and so much more! It is a phenomenal way to learn.

To get ourselves excited and prepared for this adventure, we will be learning about many of the animals we will see at our zoo. Each week we will learn about an animal through fiction, non-fiction, math challenges, live cams, and more. By the time we head to Zoo School, we will have spanned the alphabet with animals!

This week we began with the letter Tt! We read "A Tiger Tale" by Mike Boldt, about a little girl who wakes up for her first day of school and discovers she has grown a tiger tail! Yikes!

Using the story A Tiger Tale, we worked on a comprehension strategy, connecting the story to our own experiences. 

"I was worried at my first swim lesson."

We tackled tiger-inspired patterning challenges in Math!

We also enjoyed some non-fiction books, too! We visited the San Diego Zoo Kids website and enjoyed YouTube clips to learn more. We LOVED the live tiger cam! Did you know that no two tiger's stripes are alike? Most tigers have over 100 stripes! We also discovered tigers have webbed feet! 

An important part of our week at the zoo is journaling. We practiced sketching in our journals, as we will be doing lots of this once we are on-site at the zoo. We were patient with ourselves and tried to add as many details as possible. 

It has been exciting to see the students so engaged in their learning! Our ABC Animal journey has only just begun, but it is sure to be a blast! Check your child's Kanga for this week's "Tt Tiger" activity page. 

What animal could we be learning about next week?