National Zoo

mousedeers / ostriches


Animal Show

Wow....a sea lion and basketball! / Fish Aquarium

Giraffes / Hi, Mr. Elephant!

Back to Kindergarten: Hmmm...are they dreaming? / Where's my McDonalds, teacher?

03/04/08 (Thursday)

(i) Gathering
The kids were excited about the trip to National Zoo. They kept running to me and greeted me. Everyone was in red except JS. Luckily, YZ lent him his extra red t-shirt. It was compulsory for them to wear red so that they could easily be spotted in the crowd! ZJ was excited with his packet of ground nuts which was for the monkeys. I smiled and said, we would see what the zoo keeper say to it. SY and JN kept saying that food is not allowed for the animals. Then, we gave the kids their name tags. Next, they were divided into 4 groups under 4 different teachers. I had ZY, JS, ZJ, YP and SJ with me. Teacher Hui Ting had 4, Teacher Hui Ping had 4 and Ms. Ng had 3. Altogether 19 kids. They boarded the same bus as the 4-year old kids who were going to the "Bird Park" instead. (M/I skills: Interpersonal, Logical-mathematical, Linguistic skills) (ii) In the bus They were chatting and excited. I asked them, "Which animal do you think we would see first upon arrival?" M and WY said crocodile, ZY said bear, Jin Nan said giraffe, EG said porcupine. I said, "birds"......heeeee. Then, they learnt that the bus was travelling on a highway. They saw the Twin Towers and K.L. Tower. They had some bread for their tea break. YP distributed her biscuits to friends while M gave out his Hi-Sour candies to all. They loved it! (M/I skills: Interpersonal, Logical-mathematical, Linguistic skills)

(iii) At the "National Zoo"
They walked in their groups to the counter. ZY was the first to observe the arched name, "National Zoo". Then, each worn a wristband ticket. They asked for the purpose. Then, we got on the train. It took us around the zoo.
(M/I skills: Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Linguistic skills)

(iv) The Animal Friends
In fact, we saw some birds flying. So, I was right but they said the animals must be in the cage.....haaaa. From the train, we saw the giraffes first! They were tall and JN, ZJ and SJ said they have young giraffes too. Next, we saw an elephant scratching its itchy legs. they laughed. We also saw big buffaloes. At the river, we could see flocks of flamingoes. They were surprised to see many flamingoes on the tall trees! Some were white and orange. Next, there were ostriches walking around. Mousedeers and antelopes too, and two tigers walking around. There was a small pool of water along the tigers' fence. EG said they were good swimmers. I explained that the fierce tigers would cause less harm to the visitors as they cannot spring across the water easily. There was an active leopard walking fast! Then, the train stopped at its main station. We could see baboons...they looked fierce. The females had pinkish backside. Beside the cage, was the gibbons and other monkeys. We didn't get the chance to see the Gorilla as it was very far and no train service is provided.
(M/I skills: Interpersonal, Logical-mathematical, Linguistic, Body-Kinesthetic, Naturalist skills)


(v) The Animal Show
We hurried for the 11 o'clock show. There was quite a number of schools and kindergartens' students. The colourful parrot started the show by rising Malaysia's flag. Then, it played basketball. Next, there was a seal diving into the water for its food, fish, fish, fish! Then, a white parrot appeared. It flew to get money(donation) from its audience. I tried but however was frightened by it. I lowered myself as if it was attacking me. So, it didn't take my money. However, I learnt a lesson.....that was not to be fearful of them. Next, there was the huge sea lion which jumped to touch a high pole. Its reward was the fish!
(M/I skills: Interpersonal, Logical-mathematical, Linguistic, Body-Kinesthetic, Naturalist skills)

(vi) The Aquarium
After the show, we could see some big aquariums with huge fish. They included the "Silver Dragon" fish. Next to the aquarium was the penguins' home. We could only see two inactive penguins. I thought the home was uncomfortable for them. The "Tunnel Aquarium" was closed. So, we couldn't see other types of sea animals! Next, we approached "The Children's World". There were chickens, turkeys and most of all the kids' favourite porcupines. They saw the four beautiful porcupines. The spines were black and white. The kids were excited and wondered why they didn't crawl. I told them that porcupines are active at night just like my hamsters!
(M/I skills: Interpersonal, Logical-mathematical, Linguistic, Body-Kinesthetic, Naturalist skills)

(vii) McDonalds and rain, rain go away!
We boarded the train to head to the main entrance. We sat at one of the resting areas to have our delivered McDonalds' delicious food! Then it started to drizzle and everyone ate quickly. The teachers and myself brought the kids to the shelter in pairs with umbrellas. By then, it was still pouring and we had to rest there for a while. The kids played with their McDonalds' toys. then, I took one the zoo's charts and did some reading with the kids. We learnt the A to Z for English and Bahasa Malaysia. At this moment, many photographer students captured our photos! Wooo.....my kids are stars! then, we continued some singing session; including "Burung kakak Tua, Gelang Si Paku Gelang, No more monkeys jumping on the bed, Five little ducks". Our songs must have cheered the sky when the sun shone again!
(M/I skills: Interpersonal, Logical-mathematical, Linguistic, Body-Kinesthetic, Musical, Naturalist skills)

(viii) Reptiles, Amphibians and Bears
We arrived the Reptiles World and the snakes greeted us. The kids were thrilled with the python, crocodiles, iguanas. We also went for the Amphibians World to visit Mr. Frog and his toads. Wow.....some frogs look like leaves. Finally, we walked to visit Mr. Bear! They were many types and the kids loved the "Sun" Bear most. There were two and they could walk like us. SYu said one of the bears went into a room and changed clothes.......haaaaa.....I agreed.
(M/I skills: Interpersonal, Logical-mathematical, Linguistic, Body-Kinesthetic, Naturalist skills)

(vi) Bon Voyage!
We left the National Zoo feeling tired but full of precious moments! All the kids slept throughout the journey back to ABC Kindergarten. Some woke up searching for food. I hoped that they will have this precious moment carved in their heart forever!
(M/I skills: Interpersonal, Linguistic, Body-Kinesthetic, Naturalist skills)