Week 6 Lowry Park Zoo Camp

~~ For this past week I have been working at the Lowry Park Zoo School Camp instead of HoundHaven. I had already made a promise to the Zoo School before the summer started that I would be an intern for the week of July 26th to July 30th. For one week I have gone to the Zoo to help out in a classroom. The Lowry Park Zoo summer camp internship was amazingly wonderful. My classroom theme for the week was "Things That Make You Go Ewww!". On Monday we fed the stingrays and visited some of the animals in the park. We did some arts & crafts, and watched some movies. The kids learned about the Portuguese man-of-war, scorpions, and black widow spiders. The children were great the first day if not a little excited. They definitely liked to talk a lot but they were cute and fun to be around. Monday was definitely eventful especially in the morning. On Tuesday, we had some more zoo hikes but we went on the rides this time. There are only a few rides though. We went on the Safari ride and were surprised when the Giraffes got in front of the tram and ate the moss on top of the tram and then as we drove by they stayed by the tram so they were only feet away from us. Then we went to feed the Budgie's, which of course is a small bird. We made the Budgie sticks in the class room with popsicle stick, melted wax, and bird seeds. It was so much fun for not only the kids but for the interns as well. The birds would fly around us and if you were the only one with food you would have at least five birds on you arm and they would fight for the food. After feeding the Budgie's we rode a few of the rides they have in the park. The kids went on the carousel and a small roller coaster called the Tasmanian Tiger. Of course we got to see some of the animals. The animal encounter on Tuesday was a type of toad that is an evasive species. The Ewww factor about this toad was that it peed a lot. It was funny when the toad first jumped out of the handler's hand and then towards the end it peed all over her hand and ran down her arm and onto the floor. The toad itself was quite ugly. On Wednesday we had water play day. This gives the kids a chance to play in the water play areas in the morning. The interns and the teachers sat in the shade and mnonitored the children to make sure they were not breaking any rules. Thankfully we didn't have many problems. After lunch we worked on the daily packet and made snails in arts & crafts. Agter that we went back out into the Zoo and fed the Warty Pig's mealworms. I, of course, did not touch but all the kids took a hand full and tossed it over the fence for the pig's to eat. After that they came back to the school and played on the playground until 3:00. At the end of the day they watched Animal Planets Most Extreme. It started to rain really badly right before we all left, so that was tons of fun (sarcastic remark). On Thursday we had a substitute teacher because the regular teacher had a meating to go to. Mr. Danny was a good teacher. We got to see a zoo keeper feed the Hornbill's. Then we went around the zoo and saw some more animals. After lunch we made owl's in arts & crafts. The kids fed the goats and and went into the petting zoo to pet the goats. I did not get to go in because one of the kids did not want to go in because he doesn't really like to go near animals. He is also an autistic child. He was eleven years old in eight to nine year old class. He threw a few tantrums when he didn't get his way. He was definitely a special little boy and needed one on one attention. On Thursday I had a meeting in the afternoon with some of the other interns and the youth volunteer coordinator. For our intern training we did a scavenger hunt through out the zoo. We got split into two teams and went out into the zoo and answered a few questions about the animals. We had to do this in half an hour too. Thankfully my group knew a few of the answers anyways because we have been through the zoo many times this week and we listen to our teachers as they explain a few things to the students about the animals. The coordinator said that we all win because the group in the morning scammed her earlier and we actually did the right thing. Of course my team got the most answers right compared to the other team. Friday was an interesting day. The kids got to feed the skunks and then go and play in the water for about an hour. We ate lunch inside on Friday instead of outside like we did the other days. The kids got to watch "Night at the Museum" and have cupcakes because one of the kids had a birthday and their mom brought cupcakes and then the other intern in the class room made cupcakes for the kids and cake for the interns and teachers. After lunch the kids made spiders in arts & crafts and then we all went to the aquarium part in the Florida section of the zoo. We also got to see the Birds of Prey show. When we went back to the school and I played referee to the kids as they played kickball. During afternoon snack the kids got to finish watching the movie as they waited for their parents to pick them up. The whole week was very enjoyable and eventful. I can't wait to go to the zoo to actually visit with my family and do all the things that I missed out on. I was lucky to get three free tickets to the zoo so I can take my mom and brother one day.