Virtual Field Trip

Our curriculum is highly centered around reading and literacy. In many of our read aloud books, guided readers and independent reading material we read about animals and see animal characters. My students are most drawn to the books with animals and have a love for animals. After I got to know my students on a deeper level, I realized many of them had never been to a zoo before. I wanted to expand and encourage my students love for animals by presenting them with a fun virtual field trip to the Oregon Zoo. This is a way to give students access to zoos and conservation sites from around the United States and even around the world. Students will be able to visit a zoo that is not in their nearby community and virtually interact with animals they have been learning about in class during our animals and habitats unit. Not only does it teach students about animals and habitats, which is easily relatable for first graders, but we dive deeper beyond just surface level discussions. We talk about animal and habitat conservation and how we can do our part as humans to protect other species and their environments. It also helps to make routine academic topics come to life when students can see animals in real-time in their natural habitats (Scholastic, n.d.; Discovery Education, n.d.). Learning is all about exploring and discovering, and a virtual field trip to the zoo can help students uncover more about their passions and interests in life.

My overall learning goal for this unit and access activity is for students to learn about animals and habitats, as well as understand all living creatures need the same basic elements to survive: food, water and shelter. Additionally, I would like to expand upon this learning goal and also incorporate student learning around global warming and its effects on animals, their habitats and environments and ways in which we as humans can better preserve and protect other animals’ environments. I think it is important for students to learn about conservation and methods to protect animal species as well as ways in which we can do our part as humans to recycle, reuse, and avoid certain materials such as plastic and Styrofoam. When students have the knowledge about real-world topics and real-world problems, they can use their voice to advocate for change. My hope is that by inviting students into discovering how humans impact animal habitats and safety, they will be more inclined to protect and preserve these spaces for the animals they love.

The animals and habitats unit along with the lessons plans has been taken and adapted from the Core Knowledge and Language Arts curriculum (CKLA, n.d.). Students will engage in read aloud books where they will hear about a variety of animals, habitats and what they need to survive within their habitat. The unit will last 12 days. The animals and habitats unit will conclude with the virtual field trip followed by a research project where students will be asked to pick an animal they saw and learned about during the field trip that they found most interesting. Students will present their research project to the class at the end of the unit. The overall objective is to further students' love for animals by allowing them to learn more about a variety of different animals and habitats as well as understand how humans can both positively and negatively affect animal habitats.

"The Oregon Zoo inspires the community to respect animals and take action on behalf of the natural world. We do this by creating engaging experiences and advancing the highest level of animal welfare, environmental literacy and conservation science" (Oregon Zoo, n.d.). I think it is extremely important for young students to learn more than just facts about animals, but understand how our behavior as humans affects animal habitats, the environment and everyday life. When students have the knowledge about our actions impacting other animal species, students are more likely to take a stand and make a change against the unfair treatment of animals both in zoos and in their natural habitat. As students continue to discover their voice within our advocacy projects, this may be something they chose to advocate for in the future.

Additionally, the Oregon Zoo has been very forward thinking during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that students and families are still able to visit their zoo and learn about animals and their habitats in a natural environment. The Oregon Zoo has been interacting with students and families through Facebook live videos where the members of the zoo educate viewers and inform them about a variety of animals. Students can type in questions during the Facebook live videos and the questions are read in real time and answered by the docent who is featured in the video. It is a fun and interactive way for students to feel like they are still getting the most of their virtual experience without actually being in person at the zoo. The best part of it all is it is completely free to anyone who logs on to join the video.

Providing access for my students to virtually visit a zoo many miles away from where we live, excites them both for learning that takes place outside of the classroom as well as for travel. Students were able to virtually see and learn about a variety of animal species, see their natural habitat and learn how the Oregon Zoo is doing their part to rehabilitate hurt animals as well as protect and preserve endangered animals and their habitat.

Prior to planning the virtual field trip, I had to get approval from the school principal. I emailed him twice to set up a time where we could talk about different possible ways to provide students more access opportunities to expand on what they are learning in the classroom. I also wanted to prioritize creating fun and engaging activities for first graders in order to boost excitement around virtual learning. Students have limited social interaction with their peers since we are not learning in person and I thought a virtual field trip would be a fun way for students to get to know one another’s interests and passion, thus building strong classroom relationships. Not only did we talk about which access opportunities would be most beneficial for students, we also talked about long-term impact and how students could further their knowledge of the material. I decided I would conclude the virtual field trip with a research project around an animal of students choosing. Students will pick an animal they were most excited about seeing during the field trip and be asked to research the animal with parent assistance, and write four fun facts about the animal, along with corresponding pictures for the fun facts. In doing so, students would have another opportunity to show both their teacher and classmates what they learned on the field trip, while also continuing to expand their knowledge of animals and habitats.

Here are a few samples of how I encouraged parent and familial engagement with the virtual field trip. I sent home the flyer to parents two week prior to the field trip and frequently posted on Seesaw, our schools’ family communication platform, to inform and remind parents about the field trip. Additionally, my class had a countdown to the field trip to create excitement and enthusiasm for our virtual field trip to the Oregon Zoo. Parents were invited and encouraged to attend the virtual field trip as well as guide students during the completion of their research project. During virtual learning it has been difficult for me to provide effective 1:1 support for students, therefore I ask parents to support me as much as they can by assisting students with work, but still allowing students to complete assignments independently and productively struggle to get to the right answer.

I think it is important to explicitly teach students what the expected behavior is when participating in an event for the first time, especially for first graders where they are still working on mastering self-control. I think teachers should not assume students have been taught how to behave during a field trip prior to participating in one, and first grade teachers should be expected to explicitly teach proper field trip etiquette prior to every field trip that students embark on, whether it is virtually or in-person. I took time at the end of the last lesson of our animals and habitats unit, the day before the field trip, to go over field trip behavior expectations with my students. Many of the behavior expectations are also everyday classroom expectations, but it helped to remind and review this information with students. On the day of the field trip I did a quick generic behavior reminder asking students to sit up straight and raise a college hand to ask or answer a question. I believe by explicitly teaching students what was expected of them during the field trip, helped to alleviate many behavior problems and showed the importance of our field trip.

Concluding our unit on animals and habitats students embarked on a virtual field trip to the Oregon Zoo where they were able to continue their learning around animals, habitats, conservation and preservation. Students were able to pick the specific animals they wanted to learn more about during the field trip. The new vocabulary and concepts that we learned during the animals and habitats unit was reinforced throughout the field trip. Below is the initial lesson plan for the field trip that has been modified to include the specific animals students chose and the specific facts that students learned throughout the trip.

Below is the lesson plan for the day of our virtual field trip. Students participated in a discovery portion where, as an entire class, we explored and learned in greater detail about many of the animals found at the Oregon Zoo. Many of the animals we saw and learned about on the day of the field trip, we had previously learned about during our animals and habitats science unit. Additionally, concluding the discovery portion of the field trip, students participated in a conversation around conservation issues that are impacting animals in their environments. Students learned explicitly about climate change and plastic pollution and ways in which they, as first-grade students, can help to change the conversation and prioritize cleanliness of animal environments. This was by far the most rewarding moment of our field trip. Students became very passionate and upset when they saw how humans negatively affect animal habitats. We ended the virtual field trip by discussing action steps we could take to prevent further harm to animal environments and how we can educate our friends, parents and neighbors on how they can take action as well.

During the field trip I shared my screen with the class so they could see the different animals we could learn more about. Students were instructed to raise their hand if they saw an animal they wanted to learn more about. I read the names of the animals out loud to the class and stopped at the end of each page to ask students if they saw an animal that interested them. I tried to call on each student that raised their hand, to give everyone an equal and equitable opportunity to participate and engage with an animal of their choosing. Click on the pictures of the animals below to be redirected to the Oregon Zoo website.

I thought it was important to further students learning about animals and habitats by introducing them and teaching students about humans' negative impact on their environments. We talked about two specific conservation issues during the unit lessons and continued to reinforce this learning by reading and viewing pictures about the effects that climate change and plastic pollution have on animal environments. We ended our virtual field trip by discussing different ways in which we could advocate for the safety, preservation and conservation of animal species. Click the pictures below to be directed to the Oregon Zoo website to learn more about climate change and plastic pollution.

During the field trip, students were asked to draw pictures of animals they learned about while virtually visiting the Oregon Zoo. Students uploaded their work to Seesaw (the platform we are using to submit work during virtual learning to be graded).

Concluding the field trip, students were asked to complete a research project about an animal they learned more about during the field trip. With guidance and support from the teacher and parents, students researched and picked four fun facts they wanted to illustrate and write about after they had researched the animal of their choosing. Students were required to write about the habitat the animal lives in and what the animal eats, whether it was a carnivore, herbivore or omnivore. The last two facts about the animal were up to them to choose, write and draw, but I suggested that students also include why they chose to research that animal and/or why they like that animal.

Student 1 completed the research assignment with assistance from her parent. This student had shown great interest throughout the entire animals and habitats unit on bald eagles and was fascinated by them. Student 1 learned more about bald eagles being endangered and how humans could do their part to protect the animal and its habitat. Student 1 shows mastery of the unit by including information about the bald eagles habitat and including newly learned vocabulary to discuss what the bald eagle eats and how it catches its prey.

Student 2 is an ELL student who has shown increased academic growth and participation this year. His sentences are a little harder to read, but he put in great effort to complete this assignment. Most of the work was done independently by student 2, with little assistance from the teacher. I guided this student through the research and writing portion of this assignment and helped him to spell certain words throughout his book. Student 2 shows mastery of the animals and habitats unit by including important information about the devastation of the polar bears habitat due to climate change. He writes the polar bears are dying because the ice is melting and draws a picture of a polar bear asking for help.

Student 3 chose to research giraffes. She had participated in the virtual field trip with her mom and picked the giraffe to learn more about because she had seen giraffes in person at the Memphis Zoo. She included both information about the giraffe that she learned about during the virtual field trip, as well as newly learned information that was researched with assistance from her mom. Student 3 shows mastery of the animals and habitats unit by including the giraffe's habitat, the East African Savannah, both in writing and in pictures.

Throughout the duration of the animals and habitats unit it was incredibly rewarding to see my students love for animals and knowledge around animals grow. Students loved having opportunities to talk about animal habitats and how those habitats were similar and different to where we live in Memphis, TN. Students also loved the virtual field trip and were excited to see many of the same animals we had learned about during our unit in their natural habitat at the Oregon Zoo. This unit aligned very well with the Oregon Zoo website and resources they have created for students to explore. Students got excited to hear the names of habitats which they had previously learned about mentioned throughout the videos presented by the Oregon Zoo. I hope by providing my students with greater knowledge around animal habitats, preservation and rehabilitation, students will continue to learn more about the animals they love and advocate for their safety and well-being.

Additionally, I provided students and families with continued resources so students can further their research and knowledge around animals and habitats. The Atlanta Zoo and San Diego Zoo both have opportunities and resources for students to explore and watch animals interact in their natural environments. I asked students and families to take some time over the weekend and upcoming weeks to explore the Atlanta Zoo and San Diego Zoo together.