Zoo Resources

Information for Teachers

An ideal program of study is based on an "all encompassing" idea that will connect your week on site to a larger plan. The program of study will include many other experiences that take place prior to and following the week on site (i.e. in-class projects and other activities).

Making the Most of the Zoo School
Bibliography
Links

Teacher's Checklist

• Consider possible ideas for your long term plans
  
• What will be your major focus and how will this fit with the Program of Studies?
• How do you think a week at the Open Minds site can fit in with this?
• What kind of research do you need to do about the Open Minds Site?
• Attend the welcoming and orientation session
• Send the ChevronTexaco Open Minds information, the health form and the release form home
• Gather the necessary health information
• Through the year, interweave the teaching of needed skills with the teaching of your long term plans
• How will you teach observation skills?
• How will you develop journal writing skills?
• How will you incorporate drama?
• How will you develop creative writing skills?
• Consider making use of measuring tapes/trundle wheels
• How will you develop sketch-style drawing skills?
• What other research will the students need to do to help them with their week at the Open Minds site?
• Continue to develop long-term plans
• Select parents and other volunteers
• Buy observation/journal notebooks
• Prepare notebooks for leaders and parent volunteers
• Confirm your bus one week prior to your visit
• Check out the information and ideas on the Internet
• Have your school prepare the $600 or $350 cheque
• Discuss with volunteers what their roles and responsibilities will be
• Please review your site's rules and expectations with your students
• If you have any questions, give us a call.

Please note: Teachers should ensure all students come prepared for school and should bring all necessary supplies for the week

What your students will need:

Student List (all things of value should be labeled)

• Pencils, pencil sharpener and eraser
• Crayons or felts
• Hard cover journal/observation books - A must have!
• Plastic water bottle
• Appropriate clothing
• Camera (optional)
• Garbage-free nutritious lunch
• Snack (each student can bring a snack or parents can send a snack for the whole class)
  

Special considerations for Zoo School:

• Winter- long johns/snow pants, extra sweater, toques, gloves, scarf, boots, extra socks
• Summer- hat, sunscreen, water bottle, rain gear, bug spray
  
  

Making the most of the Zoo School

Welcome to our home!

Welcome to the Zoo - the home of many species of exciting and interesting animals, plants and dinosaurs! All of us, including Zoo staff and visitors are guests within the animals' "home" and our behaviour while at the Zoo is a reflection of our respect for them. We hope this information helps you to make the most of your visit to the Zoo, while making it fun and safe for you, your students, and the animals!

Student Expectations

Considering the nature of our facility, Teachers and leaders must set up expectations and standards of behaviour for students while at the Zoo. In order to maintain this, a 6 to 1 elementary student to adult chaperone ratio is expected. For older students, a 10 to 1 student to chaperone ratio is expected.

The following behaviours are considered unacceptable. Please discuss these with your students before entering the Zoo.

• Running through the Zoo, tapping on glass, climbing fences, throwing things into the enclosure, making loud noises, or disrupting the animals in any way is unacceptable.
  
  
• The Prehistoric Park is a unique display that recreates the Mesozoic era. This area is extremely fragile and is easily damaged. Please ensure that students do not climb on the exhibits, and always stay on the pathways.

You and your students may also notice that animals such as the peacocks and the Guinea fowl walk freely through the Zoo grounds.

• Students should be aware that chasing or feeding these or any of the other animals can seriously affect the animals health.

Students observed participating in any of these activities may be asked to leave the Zoo.

Observation Etiquette

Observation etiquette shows respect for the animals and helps them to feel more comfortable in their home.

By following observation etiquette, not only will the animals feel more comfortable, but the students will also be rewarded. Your students will see behaviour which the animals display only when they feel comfortable. This can make for an unforgettable experience!

• Gorillas - please don't stare at them directly. They will feel more comfortable if you crouch down near the glass when viewing them.
• Please don't yell at, roar at, or imitate the animals (ie. Howling at the wolves, roaring at the lions)
• Please don't tease the animals.
• Please don't tap on the glass as this disturbs the animals inside.
• Keep your voices down inside the buildings.

With over 10 000 visitors a day in our peak season, school students also need to be aware that they share this terrific facility with others Zoo visitors, and certain areas can be extremely crowded. There are also a number of mothers, toddlers and babies in strollers on the Zoo grounds, and students should be considerate of them.

Cooperation with Zoo Staff, helping maintain a clean space and showing respect for the animals will create a positive atmosphere for all visitors. If you have any questions about your visit, please feel free to contact us.

Learning to Observe Animals

At Zoo School, the students spend one full hour each day observing an animal group. It seems like a long time but it is amazing and fascinating to see what students write about and draw. Taking time to observe animals at the Zoo has turned out to be the most powerful learning experience of the week for students at Zoo School.

Vocabulary:

• Vocabulary is vital - words like agile, timid, playful, aggressive add so much to their writing.
• Behaviour Vocabulary: eg. grooming, foraging, defending territory, dominance, submissive behaviour, nursing, playing, threat displays, play fighting, actual fighting, greetings, scent marking
• Movement Vocabulary: eg. Knuckle walking, climbing, swinging, leaping, browsing, rubbing, stalking, crouching, stretching, scratching
• Vocabulary to describe physical characteristics
  
• Try listing specific movement and behaviour vocabulary for individual species such as gorillas, elephants or tigers.
• Ecology and conservation vocabulary - endangered, threatened, extinct, extirpated, habitat

Observation Skills:

These skills are built up over time at school with activities such as

• describing animals in a video with the sound off,
• observing a classroom pet or an animal that is brought in,
• observing the teacher's appearance and behaviour for five minutes or so (e.g. mismatched earrings, pencil behind ear, taking off sweater, picking up something, talking),
• going to a natural area to observe and describe what they see, touch and hear
• observing and describing interesting articles or biofacts, and
• going to the ECS class to observe one child each for twenty minutes.

Observations and Writing

• Writing is more expressive when it is in a descriptive narrative form in complete sentences. If you start this form of writing during the observation lessons at school they will be well prepared by the time they come to the Zoo. Avoid point form notes.
  Compare - eating - chewing
  The adult male giraffe used his long blue tongue to grab the branch and then to strip the leaves off to eat. When he chews, his lower jaw moves from side to side against the upper jaw.
  
  
• Use the who, what, where, when, and how formula in describing what you observe. Who is doing the behaviour? What are they doing? How are they doing it? Where are they located?
  e.g. The juvenile spider monkey hung from the branch with his tail and used his two hands and his feet to play fight vigorously with the other young spider monkey.
  The mother gorilla is lying on her back near the wall at the back of the enclosure. Her baby is lying on her stomach and nursing.
  
  
• We can't know what an animal is thinking or feeling. If we infer a feeling then we have to say why we think so. What behaviour of the animal leads us to think that?
  e.g. I think the tiger is tired and hot because it is lying in the shade and panting.
  I think the young gorilla is excited because he is running around the enclosure and beating his hands on his chest.
  
  
• Observations use all of the senses. Write descriptive sentences that are based on the senses. Include what you hear, smell and touch.
  
  
• Use comparisons and metaphors to help describe what you observe.
  e.g. The green feathers on the parrot are like the green of new leaves that first come out in the spring.
  When the elephant peed, it sounded like a waterfall hitting the rocks.

Sketching and Drawing at the Zoo

Drawing is a tool for observing. It is a wonderful way to slow down, focus, and really look closely at details. At the Zoo, students can draw directly in their journals or with clipboards and special paper you provide.

Everyone can draw when given some skills and we suggest that you do several lessons in drawing at school. Sample drawing ideas at school might include:

• comparing quick sketches and finished drawings
• quick sketches of animals from pictures or books
• quick sketches from moving animals on a video
• gesture sketches
• sketches of animals in your classroom or a pet you bring in
• drawing an animals from a picture
• cutting a picture of an animal in half and reproducing the missing half
• scientific sketches of plants or animals that are labelled
• use of different media such as pastels or water colour pencils
• try drawing just certain parts of the animal such as its foot, an ear, or its face.
• combine writing and drawing. Write a sentence that describes the drawing. Label the sketch.

Some important points are:

• take time and draw only what you see - use your brain and your eyes
• use light strokes so that you can erase
• model by drawing and writing yourself. Even if you think you can't draw, you can!
  
  
  

Bibliography

Aruego, Jose "Symbiosis"
Baker, Jeannie "Windows"
Baker, Jeannie "Where the Forest Meets the Sun"
Base, Grahaeme "The Water Hole"
Bateman, Robert "Safari"
Baylor, Byrd "Hawk, I'm Your Brother"
Baylor, Byrd "Guess Who My Favourite Person Is?"
Bouchard, David "Voices from the Wild" ISBN 1-55192-040-9
Brutschy, Jennifer; Allen Garns "Winter Fox"
Bunting, Eva "Butterfly House"
Burmingham, John "Hey, Get Off Our Train"
Cherry, Lynn "The Great Kapok Tree"
Cowcher, Helen "Whistling Thorn"
Cowcher, Helen "Jaguar"
Davies, Nicola "Bat Loves the Night"
Dunphy, Madelaine "Here is the African Savanna"
Freschet, Bernice "Bear Mouse"
Greaves, Nick "When Hippo Was Hairy" ISBN 0-8120-4548-3
Goble, Paul "Dream Wolf" ISBN 0-689-81506-9
Goble, Paul "Buffalo Woman" ISBN 0-689-71109-3
Godkin, Celia "Wolf Island" ISBN 1-55041-095-4
Hutchins, J: Ohi, Ruth "The Catfish Palace" ISBN 1-55037-317-X
Lesser, Carol "The Goodnight Circle"
London, Jonathon "Voices of the Wild" ISBN0-517-59217-7
Lynch, Wayne "Whose Feet are These?" ISBN 1-55110-860-7
Mason, Cherie "Wild Fox"
McFarlane, Sheryl "Eagle Dreams"
McNulty, Faith "The Lady and the Spider"
McNulty, Faith "A Snake in the House"
Merrill, Jean "The Girl Who Loved Caterpillars"
Mifflin Lowe, A. "Beasts By the Bunches"
Parnall, Peter "The Mountain"
Parnall, Peter "The Rock"
Pfeffer, Wendy "A Log's Life"
Sensel, Joni; Chris Bivins "Bears Barge In"
Schimmel, Schim "Mother Earth Remembers" "Letter to Mother Earth"
Dr. Suess "The Lorax"
Swanson, Diane "Up Close - Noses that Plow & Poke"ISBN1-55054-733-X
Wood, Douglas "Grandfather's Prayers for the Earth"ISBN0-76360660-Y
Yollen, Jane "Welcome to the Green House"
Yoshida, Toshi "Young Lions"
Key Porter Kids Books "What's a Zoo Do?" ISBN 1-55013-664-X

Juvenile Literature
Suitable for upper elementary and junior high
Bell, William "Speak to the Earth"
Bakker, Dr. Robert "Raptor Red"
Boston, L.M. "A Stranger at Green Knowe"
Dickinson, Peter "Eva"
George, Jean Craighead "My Side of the Mountain"
George, Jean Craighead "Julie of the Wolves"
Hughes, Monica "The Crystal Drop"
Hughes, Monica "Crisis on Conshelf Ten" "Miracle at Willow Creek"
Malterre, Elona "Last Wolf of Ireland"
Moser, Don "A Heart to the Hawks"
Oppel, Kenneth "Silverwing" "Brightwing"
Shachtman, Tom "Beachmaster"

Great kid books with a conservation theme.
Compiled by Audubon magazine, November/December 2001 issue
Miss Hickory by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey (Viking, 1946)
Incident at Hawk's Hill by Allan W. Eckert (Little, Brown. 1971)
Birches by Robert Frost (Henry Holt 1990)
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost (Dutton's Children's Books, 1985)
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George (Penguin, 1959)
Just a Dream by Chris Van Allsburg (Houghton, Mifflin. 1990)
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (Scribner, 1952)
White Fang by Jack London (Penguin, 1906)
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell (Houghton Mifflin, 1960)
The Lorax by Dr. Seuss (Random House, 1971)
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein (HarperCollins, 1964)
The Trumpet of the Swan by EB White (HarperCollins, 1970)
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen (Philomel Books, 1987)
The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest by Lynne Cherry (Voyager Books, 2000)
Giants in the Land by Diana Appelbaum (Houghton Miflfin, 1993)
The Big Book of Our Planet edited by Ann Durrell, Jean Craighead George, and Katherine
Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert (Harcourt, Inc. 2001)
Twilight Comes Twice by Ralph Fletcher (Clarion Books, 1997.)
Old Elm Speaks: Tree Poems by Kristine O'Connell George (Clarion Books, 1998).
Jubela by Cristina Kessler (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2001)
Gorilla Walk by Ted Levin and Betsy Levin (Lee & Shepard Books, 1999)
The Eagle's Gift by Rafe Martin (GP Putnam's Sons, 1997)
Grandad's Prayer of the Earth by Douglas Wood (Candlewick Press, 1999)
A Zooful of Animals selected by William Cole (Houghton Mifflin, 1992)

Links

www.calgaryzoo.ab.ca

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