Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Our Classroom Today--January 11

Did you know today is all ones? 1-11-11? I didn't think about it until a friend was going to a wedding, because of the date. Huh.

Anyway....

Today found us bundling up (though the high was in the low 20's! Still, bundling weather) and heading to the Zoo, where we held class here:

classroom,zoo

Again. The kids love this spot. And we love watching them here.

Other highlights of the day:
-A new baby De Brazza's monkey. Born on Friday Dec. 10, this was the first time we had seen it. So cute. It looks not at all like the parents! It will be fun to watch it grow and change. There is another one in the family group that is just over a year old, and it looks just like the adults, if a bit smaller.

-Watching the Colobus and De Brazza's monkeys play chase. The Young De Brazza's and one of the Colobus monkeys ran through the exhibit, ending with the Colobus monkey crashing into the glass just above the log there and sitting down, looking out at whoever happened to be standing there. The first time it was T and I, and it was a bit startling, but so fun!

-Seeing a leopard shark egg in the aquarium, unfertilized of course. Kiddo discovered it. He was bold, too, and went to ask the volunteer to come and see it so he could find out what it was. It is fun to see him becoming a bit less dependent on me for things like that! And it was a very cool discovery!

-New information on the floor by the python exhibit that tells how long the python is in a very visual way. This is really fun, since it is usually all wound up, leaving one to guess just exactly how big it might be. 14.3 feet, which we discovered is 18.25 of Kiddo's feet, roughly 3.5 of him, and roughly 4 Kutey's. Yep, that is a great addition.

-Seeing how much the baby dolphin, Taijah, has grown! We needed to go much more often to see her in the baby state!

-Hearing the Japanese Macaque vocalize. I have been going to this zoo since I was a kid, the monkeys were there then, and I think this is the first time I have EVER heard them. It was just one lone monkey, who looked really cold, making a lot of noise.

-The grizzly bears all snuggled in their den. They looked so soft and warm!

-Playful sea otters! They really seemed to want to play with us. They bobbed up and down in the water, followed the kids walking along the glass, and seemed to look right at us when we came in. So much fun!

-Fresh air, though this is one of those good and bad things. I love being outside, but this is Minnesota. And it is winter. It took my fingers and toes hours to thaw out (I have poor circulation, which makes it worse). I am still wearing a hat (yes, I am inside) in order to feel warm. So fresh air=good! Cold=bad.

There were a few things that weren't great today, like the high school groups that seemed oblivious to the fact that there might be others around them (one of them cut directly through our conversation, with plenty of room to go around. sigh.), Kutey getting overly tired and having a few meltdowns, and forgetting the camera (so the above picture is the exact same one form the last time we went. Oh well!) but in all, it was a great day at the zoo! I'm looking forward to going back with the camera to get some pictures of the baby monkey!

Where was your classroom today?

No comments: