Lions, Tigers, and Bears...Oh MY!

I wonder how many blog posts with the same title are going up today around our part of Texas...Yesterday was Homeschool Day at the Ft Worth Zoo. I took J and T, and while the live animal show, animal exhibits, and various lessons around the zoo were wonderful, I think the best part about the trip (learning-wise) was the map-reading practice.

This guy LOVES reading maps...and J even got in on the fun. They were constantly both wanting to see where we were on the map, where we had just been, and where we were going next. They got pretty good at telling me which way we should head for the next animal exhibit. It was a really fun part of our zoo visit (both for them, and for their mom ;) to watch them grow, learn, and develop these skills.)

We had a few things planned for the day, in order to declare it part of our homeschool week :)

I made each of the boys folders with pages for Day 5 (fish and birds) and Day 6 (land animals and man) of creation, as well as sections for each letter of the alphabet...to categorize the animals according to the starting sound of each. We didn't actually do it AT the zoo, because I wanted them to just run around and enjoy the day (plus, that would have made our 4 hour trip twice as long!) Today, we printed out the photographs I took of the animals and glued them to the correct pages accordingly. J also has a number journal* in the works, where he draws things he sees on the correct number page, so he worked on that for a post-zoo activity as well. (a group of 4 elephants drawn on "Page 4," etc.)
*This idea was taken from the book, Emily's First 100 Days of School

Flamingos for the F page
(Please excuse the really weird neon coloring?!)

Penguins for P

Kangaroos, K :)

Macaw, M

Birds, B and Day 5
This is my favorite part of the Ft Worth Zoo. There are more birds than one could even begin to count, and you can buy popsicle sticks covered in birdseed. J was SO excited that he even got to carry one on his stick. He was so careful...I think he was afraid he was going to drop the bird :)

T apparently had a very yummy stick. These 3 birds couldn't get enough seed from his stick, and they even started pecking at each other....T thought it was hilarious.

Turtle for the T page

Lazy bears, B

Another turtle. This one cracks me up.

The mighty eagle, E

I can't remember what kind of bird this is, so we put him on the B page for bird.
*Please note the turkey in the window, though :)

Gorilla, G

Elephants, E

White Bengal Tiger, one of my favorite animals

Duck for our D page

The tiger, one of T's favorite animals (helps that it starts with T :) )

The lazy lion, I think it moved once. T declared him dead on arrival.

the cute Meerkat, M

and one more for our M page, Monkeys!