Zoo Adventures-Animal of the Day

This past Friday the entire 3rd grade was able to take a field trip to the Columbus Zoo, and we had a blast! Students love animals, there is no doubt about that.  There were so many animals to see,  and I wanted to help them make the most of it. In addition to learning about adaptations, migration, life cycles, endangered animals, and rainforests, I created something new called Animal of the Day. It was definitely a moment students loved each day, and I plan to continue it in the upcoming years!

Using the Columbus Zoo website, I found the listing of all of the animals at the zoo. We had eight days prior to leaving for our trip, so I chose eight different animals for us to study. I also made sure to pick animals that students about which the students may not be familiar, or that went with the day's theme. For example, on the day where we discussed endangered animals, we learned about the orangutan.

The website was very easy to use, and most zoo websites include this feature if you plan on visiting one in the near future. On each Animal of the Day page we wrote the animal's name, drew a picture, classified the animal, wrote the eating category and diet, habitat, size, adaptations or behaviors, and their predators. This project also showed students how to use the Internet for locating information. I even found students on the website in their own free time looking at animals on their own. Talk about a happy teacher moment!

After our visit, I was so excited to hear their reactions after seeing the animals we had learned about. "The scrub python was huge, I think it was about 20 feet," "I saw the stingray's mouth when he swam by the tank," or "the kiwi was awesome!" (The kiwi was the personal favorite of many kids!) After some wonderful learning and a fantastic trip, I have many kids who might just have a future as zoologists!

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