You’re Never Too Young to Be a Zoologist              

Did you know there was a Zoo in Childersburg?  On January 3^rd the Knoxville Zoo visited Childersburg Elementary via Skype. Mrs. Stephanie Brooks’ Kindergarten and Mrs. Brandy Elliott’s 2^nd grade students from Childersburg Elementary School participated in a Virtual Field Trip to the Knoxville Zoo.   This was an introductory part of their project based learning.  During the field trip the students had the opportunity to correspond with Jason Moeller, a Zookeeper in charge of bringing the zoo to classrooms.  This field trip focused on animal habitats and included up close looks at three animals; Chinchilla, Rosy Boa, and Leopard Gecko.  After attending the trip the students received an email from the “zookeeper” asking for their assistance in researching Savanna animals, since they will be receiving more soon and they were running out of room at the zoo. Students were asked to help research a suitable home for the animals at the zoo.  On February 1^st the “zookeeper”, along with parents and fellow CES students, will attend the first annual CES Tech Zoo to see what the students have discovered.  Second grade student Rilee Abrams says,  “Becoming a Zoologist is cool because we get to learn all about the animals and I love animals!”