Posts Tagged ‘Educator Day’

Nov
15

Another Successful Educator Day!

Posted by in Classes/Programs,Education Office,Events,Teacher Resources

It seems like just yesterday I was blogging about summer camp and now… POOF! It’s almost December and we’ve just hosted another successful Educator Day. I’m sure most of you reading this blog feel the same way. Time just passes by, and no matter how hard I try, I can’t stop it!

With busy schedules, families, jobs, etc. sometimes it’s hard to make the trek out to the Zoo. So, when we have over 100 educators join us for our annual Educator Day we are thrilled! This was the case this past Saturday.

Educators from all over the greater Houston area came out to learn more about wildlife, conservation, education programs, and activities they could bring back to their classroom. In the morning, we welcomed our participants with 2 birds of prey. A great horned owl visited from Natural Encounters, and a Harris hawk came to see the Educators all the way from the Children’s Zoo!

A sneak peek at our new Teacher Tools page!

After our introduction and welcome, participants had the opportunity to pick between several tour options. These new tours (called Creature Quests) are brand new FREE resources offered to teachers.  When they visit the Zoo they can take their students on a meaningful, fun, and educational trip to several different exhibits. The Creature Quests prompt teachers to ask students further thinking questions, and are all topic specific.

In the afternoon we offered several workshops that included hands-on activities. Our auditorium was the conservation hot spot, and host to Carole Allen (Gulf Office Director of Sea Turtle Restoration and HEART) along with Rachel Rommel and Paul Crump (important members of our Conservation Department). We talked about amphibians (including the Houston Toad), sea turtles, and native freshwater turtles-all animals that need our help, right in our own backyards!

Green Sea Turtle

Needless to say, the day went well. We gave away 3 amazing raffle items which included some very vibrant paintings done by our own Kenyan sand boa, as well as HZI swag for all of Educators who participated.

I bet you’re now wondering how you can be involved in our next Educator event? Right?

Well…don’t look any further because our next event will be the Educator Overnight on Friday, January 27th from 6pm to 9am the next day. Registration isn’t available yet…but we will be sure to post it on our Facebook page (Houston Zoo Teacher Talk), our NEW teacher webpage (www.houstonzoo.org/teachers) and right here on our blog!

We hope to see you then!

 

Tags: , , , ,
Oct
19

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!

Tags: , , ,
Jun
03

Introducing… Martha Petre!!

Posted by in Classes/Programs,Education Office,Teacher Resources

Martha gets inspected by our big male giraffe, Kiva

One of our fearless bloggers, you can always learn more about Martha from her blog bio and frequent posts.  Now you have a chance to find out even more about her!

Name: Martha Petre

Department and Title: Education – Education Programs Specialist

Job Description: I write curriculum as well as teach all of our programs. My area of responsibility includes all things teachers-educator days, overnights, career days and professional development!

Hometown: Chautauqua, NY

Favorite animal and why? Sea turtles! I was lucky enough to study leatherback turtles in west Africa during an interim session of college and ever since then I’ve been hooked on all things sea turtles!

Favorite class to teach at HZI: I love our ZooMobile and Adventure Class programs. They are structured the same however our ZooMobile program goes off grounds while our Adventure Classes are held in our classrooms here.

How long have you worked at the Houston Zoo? I started here in September of 2009.

Describe your education and experience prior to working at the Houston Zoo: Before coming to the Houston Zoo I worked at a preschool in Austin, TX. I graduated from Lafayette College in Easton, PA with a major in International Affairs and a minor in Spanish. Although my formal education may not line up with the job I have now I volunteered and interned with wildlife organizations throughout college and always knew I had to work with animals in some capacity!

What do you enjoy most about working in the EduTeer Department? Everything! I am fortunate enough to have an ever-changing job where I’m never doing the same thing on a daily basis. I also have a fabulous group of people to work with-not only are they passionate about what they do, they are funny, easy to be around and dedicated workers!

What animals do you have at home? Unfortunately I am not allowed to have pets where I live, but if I move I’ve already picked out what type of dog I would like and what I’d name him!

Tell us a fun fact about yourself: I am the youngest of 4 and the only girl. Since I am much younger than my brothers (and not as strong), I had only one thing I felt I could hold above their heads-I am the only child in the family that could become president of the United States. This certainly is not a career goal of mine but my brothers were all born in Taiwan, making them ineligible.

Martha and DeAndra (another Education Specialist) with Tupelo-our baby Asian Elephant

We’re getting near the end!  Only 2 more Specialists to go before you’ve met our entire staff!

Tags: , , , ,
Nov
23

Cheetahs, Educators, Workshops, Oh my!

Posted by in Events,Teacher Resources

Last Saturday November 20th the Brown Education Center here at the Houston Zoo opened its doors to 180 teachers for a full day of workshops, on grounds tours, special animal presentations, raffles and so much more.

Each year the Education Department hosts a full day solely for educators. Just by visiting the Zoo, attending our workshops, visiting with the animals and learning more about the world of wildlife educators earned up to 6 hours of continuing education credits.

Educators walked away with this brand new African Forest cup filled with goodies

This year we had a packed schedule. We started off by giving educators our brand new African Forest cups loaded withposters, pencils, post-its and drink coupons! After receiving their swag they moved into the auditorium where our wonderful carnivore staff did a presentation with our female Anatolian shepherd Taji, and one of our male cheetahs, Kiburi. The educators oohed and awwed over Kiburi as he politely purred into the microphone (slobbering on it a little) and showing off his good side for pictures (his behind).

After the morning presentation concluded educators could attend the workshop of their choice.  We had 3 workshops going on every 45 minutes, each geared toward a specific age range (K-3rd, 4th-8th and 9th-12th). All workshops included an activity and plenty of take home materials aligned with TEKS. Some of the topics included Keeping Texas Wild, Endangered Species and Gettin’ Your Groove (focusing on animal adaptations).

At 1pm our workshops concluded and we called out the lucky raffle winners! We had large baskets to raffle off; one included a set of 9 classroom weight scales, another had a microscope kit and a painting done by our Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches and they all had Houston Zoo flare (magnets, post-its, key chains). Needless to say the winners went home happy and we were able to donate all of the proceeds from the raffle to the Cheetah Conservation Project of Botswana.

One of our large raffle baskets!

After a short lunch break we came back together to offer 3 on-grounds tours that lasted about 45 minutes. Each teacher that attended one of these tours got some detailed animal information along with on-grounds activities to use with their students when they visit the Zoo.

As you can tell, it’s a jam-packed event and we are happy to offer opportunities for educators to enjoy the Zoo while earning education credits. Our next opportunity will be an Educator Overnight on Friday January 28th, 2011. You can sleep at the Zoo, check out the animals at night and earn even MORE credits!

If this date doesn’t fit your schedule you can also request a workshop at your school with live animals through our Educator Workshop on Wheels program. And as always, if you’re interested in keeping up with the education department you can become a fan of our Facebook page called “Houston Zoo Teacher Talk”.

So if you’re an educator, college student preparing to get an education degree, or a home educator, we invite you to participate in the wonderful opportunities here at the Houston Zoo!

Tags: , , , , ,
Nov
04

Tour of the BEC: Classroom C

Posted by in Classes/Programs,Education Office

Our preschool classroom is colorfully decorated!

If you’ve been in the Brown Education Center at all, you’ve probably seen the giant elephant and giraffe that are built into the walls of our preschool classroom.  We call this room Classroom C; we’ll see Classrooms A and B later in our tour.

The elephant and giraffe might be impressive on the outside, but inside the room is even more exciting.  The inside of the elephant is purple, not gray, and the walls are painted with a mural of animals.  Sound-buffering “clouds” hang from the ceiling along with a big red seabird, colorful cubbies live near the door, and a fish tank burbles in the corner.  This is our preschool classroom, after all, and we want it to be fun and welcoming.

Classroom C is the main home for Safari School, and Wild Wheels uses it as well.  We’ll even take advantage of the room for some of our other programs; Senior Safari ends here with a little coffee and tea, and all of our whole-building events (like Educator Day) include classes in this space. 

Next time we’re heading to a bigger space: the Auditorium!

Tags: , , , , , ,
Nov
14

Educator Day

Posted by in Classes/Programs,Fun on grounds

It isn’t just kids who can learn at the zoo!

Rainbow lorikeets at the Houston Zoo

Rainbow lorikeets at the Houston Zoo

Today was our annual Educator Day at the Houston Zoo.  Teachers from near and far attended to get some continuing education credits, see some animals, and learn about conservation, the zoo, and what we offer for schools.  The keynote presentation was given by Hannah Bailey, our Curator of Birds.  She discussed our bird collection and how the collection is managed, as well as breeding and conservation projects such as the Species Survival Plan.

There were three break-out sessions that followed, with everyone getting a chance to attend all three.  Two of our education staff discussed the Houston Zoo’s regional and national conservation programs, including how teachers can get their students involved in local conservation.  Amy and I led an activity/discussion session focused on how to bring conservation efforts to the classroom, as well as activities and projects that they could use with their students.  The third session was a guided tour of the zoo and a visit to our exhibitor area, where local organizations had tables.

In case you couldn’t quite tell, today’s theme was conservation.  The teachers that I saw seemed to be enjoying themselves, and the whole day flowed quite smoothly.  I mean, where else can you throw stuffed animals, sort recycling, and guess numbers of endangered species left in the world for credit?

If you are a teacher, and you missed our Educator Day, there are still some professional development opportunities available.  If you have a group of 10 or more teachers who are interested, we can arrange a workshop just for you.  And keep an eye out next year about this time for our next Educator Day!

Tags: ,
Nov
06

Science Toys

Posted by in Classes/Programs,Zoomobile

I am definitely a science geek, and yesterday fully confirmed it.  There are so many neat science toys for kids – I have to say, I’m a little jealous.

The plush Swine Flu from GIANTmicrobes

The plush Swine Flu from GIANTmicrobes

I should probably explain.  We currently have a booth in the exhibit hall at the Conference for the Advancement of Science Teaching, also known as CAST.  This is the annual conference for the Science Teachers Association of Texas, and the exhibit hall is always PACKED with booths related to science teaching.  Microscopes, lab kits, text books, replica skulls, you name it, you can find it at CAST.  I even saw a bin full of plush microbes – this year’s new addition is Swine Flu. 

 My job at CAST was not actually to walk around and drool over new science books and fun gadgets, of course, although that is definitely a perk.  The Houston Zoo booth is there for two reasons – to promote our school programs and to spread the word about our upcoming Educator Day.  I do enjoy talking to the teachers that stop by our booth.  It always surprises me how far some schools will travel for a field trip to our zoo, and how many people don’t realize that our ZooMobile program will bring the zoo to them!

If you are a science teacher in the area, hopefully we’ll see you at CAST.  Our booth is in the Informal Science Education area (or, as I overheard one teacher say, the “funner side”) of the Exhibit Hall.  I already took my turn at the table, but I may ask one of my coworkers to pick up a GIANTmicrobe for me tomorrow.  Perhaps bird flu, if they have it…

Tags: , , , ,