Zoo Tuesday...

"OUR SCIENCE CLASS IS A ZOO"... that's the theme for the weekly science class we have been taking for the last several years at our local zoo...

This week our lesson was on "EARTHQUAKES" .  Jason, the science class teacher, did something different this week... He prepared worksheets and an outline so that the parents could follow along and review things at a later date, but the worksheet also allowed the kids to "take notes" in a way ~ meaning they had to pay closer attention... Wonderful idea!!!

Today we covered:

•  the 3 parts of the earth


• plates


• faults,  types of fault lines


• convection


• why the earth shakes


• hypocenters and epicenters 


• fore, main, and after shocks


•  seismographs


• and the big one in San Francisco in 1906...

We watched a couple of experiments using water and r/t plates and faults~ then Jason did a cool experiment using jello and sugar cubes... The sugar cubes simulating a building and the jello the plates under pressure and seismic activity... The kids loved it!!



He also brought in a "RAT" for the kids to touch and explained that people talked about how the rats had ran in circles before the big earthquake of San Francisco in 1906...then showed the kids this picture of the destruction that was left in the wake...



 then we went out to see the elephants where the kids learned that not only did they have an incredible sense of hearing, but (based on 9 different accounts)  that when the Tsunami hit Thailand that the elephants ran for high ground prior to the waves hitting shore. Even elephants that were actually chained for working purposes, broke their chains to head for higher ground... You can read more about the amazing animals sensing the waves crashing into the Indian coast here...