We're Going To The Zoo

In Milwaukee, we are very lucky to have access to a high quality zoo.  The Milwaukee County Zoo has lots of really neat programming that will come out to your school for a learning opportunity.  It also provides a great field trip for students of all ages.  This week, we learned about zoo animals in preparation for our trip on Thursday. 

The zoo trip is an all day trip and we don't have school on Friday, so it was a quick three days of packing in as much zoo animal and zoo behavior expectations as we could. On Monday, we introduced zoo animals by reading "1, 2, 3 at the Zoo" by Eric Carle.  We also did Farm Animal or Zoo Animal sort that can be found in the We're Going to the Zoo Early Learning Pack in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  This sort is tricky for my students because being in Wisconsin, the Milwaukee County Zoo actually has a working Dairy Farm on the grounds.  Many of my students have never been to an actual farm so they think that cows, horses, goats, and donkeys are zoo animals too.  We talked a lot about how real farms are very large and have a variety of other animals as well.

On Tuesday, we reread our story and then completed a counting book that is also in the Early Learning Pack.  My students really got into this counting book.  I loved seeing them also say these are zoo animals and apply the knowledge from the day before.

On Wednesday, we read our pocket chart story "I see animals." My little learners love to do pocket chart readings.  I go through each line with them first and then each student comes up and gets to read a line.  I love hearing "Ms. Kelsey, I'm a reader."  After we completed a book with the same words where they needed to match the animal pictures to what they read.  My 4 and 5 year olds had a great time taking these books back to their regular education teachers and showing them how they could read!

Finally, the day of our big trip had arrived.  My K3 students could barely eat their breakfast because they were so excited and talking about the animals they were going to see.  The zoo trip is an all day trip which is very long for my 3 year old who are used to just a half day of school.  We spent the day walking around with our friends in the Autism classrooms.  It's so much fun to watch how excited my kiddos get when they see the animals.  It's a great day of communication opportunities and fun.

We had a professional development day on Friday, but I was beat for sure.  I look forward to the zoo trip every year, but am always glad when it's done.  Stop by my Teachers Pay Teachers store to check out my Zoo Early Learning Pack and Interactive Emergent Readers.  I'm sure your little learners will love them just as much as mine did!