In the fall of 2010, I returned back to the classroom after being in administration for two years. I was working full time in a grade one classroom and completing my master thesis. In the spring of 2011, I began to think about how I wanted to end my first year of being back in the classroom. This was the moment the ABC Countdown was created. It was a fun and exciting way to celebrate the last 26 days of school and keep us motivated towards the end.
In June 2011, I was the only classroom in my school participating in the ABC Countdown. Five years later it has grown to our entire Division One (9 classrooms) getting together to create an amazing experience for our students.
This past week my students spent an entire week at The Edmonton Valley Zoo. This alternate learning environment was jammed packed with so many learning objectives. Grade one is a prime age for children to learn about zoos. Young children just have a general attachment and curiosity towards animals.
Zoo School is part of a larger program called Inquiry Minds that provides many different week-long programs around Edmonton and area. If you live in the Edmonton area, I would strongly suggest applying to one of these site schools. I promise, you will not be disappointed.
Here are just a few of the highlights from our amazing week.
Feeding the Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs. They enjoyed the kale.
Students getting to pet Emelda the Ball Python
Students getting a chance to observe the Burrowing Owls
Students getting a chance to observe the Amur Tigers
Students learning about Lucy and her Five Senses
Checking out the Emerald Tree Boa
Hand Feeding the Lemurs
A large component of Zoo School and the other site schools is each student is responsible for journaling throughout the week. Here are just a few of the journal pages from Zoo School.
The other component of Zoo School is creating a year long project at your own school. The project my students have been working on is the Amazing Animal Alphabet Adventure Journal. This year my students have been learning about animals that are specific to the Edmonton Valley Zoo through non-fiction books, websites, etc. They then create fun fact sheets and sketches of these animals. As well as they read a fiction book where the animal is a character in the story. At the end of this project, my students will have a complete alphabet book.
This past week my students spent an entire week at The Edmonton Valley Zoo. This alternate learning environment was jammed packed with so many learning objectives. Grade one is a prime age for children to learn about zoos. Young children just have a general attachment and curiosity towards animals. 
