Archive for October 2011

A Day JUST for Educators!

Posted by in Education Office,Events,Teacher Resources

Working in the Education Department here at the Houston Zoo gives us the opportunity to work with a variety of ages, from infants to senior citizens. One of the groups we see is educators, which is why we dedicate an entire day every fall just for them.

This year’s Educator Day is Saturday, November 12th. The event runs from 9:00am to 3:00pm and gives educators the chance to learn new animal facts, discover creative activities to use in their classroom and explore what’s new at the Zoo! We offer 3 to 6 continuing education credit hours for participants, as well as a raffle and giveaways for all registrants. The price is $20 per person and includes admission into the Zoo.

Green sea turtle-native to the waters of the Gulf of Mexico

We tailor our workshops, activities and tours to educators, so we only allow adults over the age of 18 to participate. We welcome college students studying education, administrators and teachers of all disciplines to register!

This year we will be offering three special opportunities. The first is a meet and greet to start off the morning with some of our most special birds of prey from around the Zoo.

One of our conservation workshops will be conducted by Carole Allen, the Gulf Office Director of Sea Turtle Restoration and HEART. Carole will be presenting a workshop called “Sea Turtle Conservation in the Classroom” where she will be giving educators fun craft and project ideas as well as playing a documentary about the endangered Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle.

We will also offer discounted tickets for participating educators to the Call of the Wild Speaker Series that afternoon. Dr. Douglas Smith from the Yellowstone Wolf Restoration Project will be in the Brown Education Center speaking about his experience with wildlife from 4:00-5:00pm. The event kicks off at 3:30pm with informational booths about some of our North American conservation projects. Educators who attend this speaker series can not only buy discounted tickets at Educator Day, they will also receive an additional 1.5 hours of continuing education credit hours. How could you say no?!?

Join us at the Call of the Wild Speaker Series to learn more about the Wolves in Yellowstone!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Registration information as well as our schedule of events can be found on our website at www.houstonzoo.org/teachers. We hope to see you at the Zoo on Saturday, November 12th!

If you haven’t joined the education conversation yet, make sure to do so by becoming a fan of Houston Zoo Teacher Talk on Facebook. It’s the easiest, fastest way to keep up-to-date with all of the educational happenings at the Houston Zoo!

Story Safari at the Houston Zoo!

Posted by in Animal Fun Facts,Classes/Programs,Education Office,Fun on grounds,Public Programs,Uncategorized

Have you met Bennett and Viviana? They are the Houston Zoo’s Story Safari storytellers! Everyday in the Children’s Zoo Butterfly Stage at 10:30AM and 11:00AM, Bennett and Viviana bring to life wonderful and exciting stories for children of all ages. To learn more about them and the rest of the Houston Zoo’s Education staff click here!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“There’s a wolf in the woods and everyone says, “She’s big, she’s bad, she’s old, and she’s HAIRY! Best leave her alone, she is mean and scary. But we wanted to know, so we crept a little bit closer…” 

Want to know what happens next? Come find out with us! We’ll be reading “What’s the Time, Grandma Wolf?” by Ken Brown each day during Zoo Boo – October 14th – 31st. Hope to see you there!

 

Home School Events-Exhibit Expeditions!

Posted by in Classes/Programs,Fun on grounds

Watch out… home schoolers are taking over the Zoo! On September 22nd  we hosted the first Exhibit Expeditions! This fun-filled day was packed with exciting tours to some of the Zoo’s most popular spots and animal meet and greets at the end of every tour! Everyone who attended had a blast exploring the Zoo and learning about the animals around them.

 

About to head out on a Zoo tour!

Don’t worry…the fun isn’t over yet, the next invasion of home schoolers will be on November 10th for Station Exploration! This day will be filled with interactive activities right at the animal’s exhibits! Station Exploration will take place from 10:00am-1:15pm. Price information as well as registration can be found at www.houstonzoo.org/homeschool.

We can’t wait to see everyone learning right along with the animals!

 

Liberty, our bald eagle, was one of the animal visitors for the special event

 

-Written by Amy Barnhill, Education Specialist

SOS: Howlerween at the Houston Zoo!

Posted by in Animal Fun Facts,Animal Information,Events,Fun on grounds

The Houston Zoo’s Primate Department will be celebrating their 3rd annual Howlerween during the entire month of October! There will be special Howler Monkey Meet the Keeper Talks every day at 3:30p.m. “Howlerween” will coincide with Zoo Boo from 9a.m. to 3p.m. both days inside Wortham World of Primates near the Howler Monkey exhibit. 

 

Howler monkeys are the largest of the New World monkeys and they have the loudest call of any land mammal. (Click here to listen to a Black Howler Monkey) Their deep, howling calls can be heard almost 3 miles through the tropical forest of Central and South America! Howler Monkeys are critically endangered due to the illegal pet trade and bushmeat crisis.

On the weekend of October 22-23 we will be holding a Spotlight on Species event which will include educational activities, Howler Monkey keeper chats at 10a.m., 2p.m., and 3:30p.m., as well as a variety of merchandise that will be on sale to help raise money for WildtracksWildtracks is a non-profit organization that rehabilitates these illegally procured monkeys and reintroduces them into the wild forests of northern Belize.  Primate keepers Rachel Vass and Helen Boostrom visited Belize in June and spent time working at Wildtracks with some of these rehabilitated monkeys. You can read their blog posts on the Houston Zoo’s Wild Conservation Blog!

Visit our website to learn all the details about our special Howlerween Spotlight on Species weekend on October 22-23, located in our Wortham World of Primates. Please come out and visit us for a howling good time!

First Annual Get Out and Play at the Houston Zoo!

Posted by in Events,Fun on grounds

The warthog race!

On September 17th, 2011 the Houston Zoo hosted the first annual Get Out and Play event and it was a huge success! Get Out and Play was a day to raise awareness for Nature Deficit Disorder. The event was jam packed with exciting games and activities for children and adults to enjoy, and reached over 1,000 guests in its’ very first year.

 

Kids pretending to be chimps, fishing termites out of the termite mound!

The most popular game for children that day was the big termite mound outside of Tommy’s Tree House at our chimp exhibit. The children had to scavenge for termites as if they were real chimpanzees using fake bamboo sticks! Other games involved children pretending they where jaguars on the hunt, and warthogs escaping danger along with many other fun games to play!  

Get Out and Play wasn’t just about fun animal games; KickStart came out and demonstrated martial arts as well as did a mini-lesson for the kids at the Zoo to learn some cool moves!

Jumping like a jaguar!

But that’s still not all; the Houston Texans (the sponsor of the day) sent out Toro and brought an inflatable football toss for children to practice their throwing skills. As you can see the day was filled with games and activities to enjoy as a family. We are looking forward to next year’s Get Out and Play Event!!

-Written by Amy Barnhill, Education Specialist