Pet Smart and the London Children's Museum

Our school curriculum is project based learning, meaning a large portion of our daily routine is hands-on group participation.  This allows for open discussion, the development of team building strategies, and real world applications.  I would venture to say our kids spend more time out of the classroom than in it.  It's been a very hard contrast to our previous school experiences that did incorporate these initiatives in small doses, but the day-to-day learning was more individually focused in a classroom learning environment.  At first I was a bit concerned about how this method would impact Brenna and more specifically if it would cause her to lag behind in skills when this assignment is over and we return to the US.  But as time goes on, all those concerns have fallen away.  The kids are so much more engaged with the subject matter and because of that they seem to retain the information much easier.  It's been a very enlightening experience and I won't ever look at education the way same again.

That leads me to this post.  Earlier in the year while covering our Animals Unit of the curriculum, we took a field trip to Greenview Aviaries.  You can check it our here Class Field Trip to Greenview Aviaries.  Keeping with the same idea of hands-on learning, we took two more field trips a couple of weeks ago to supplement our curriculum unit.

The first trip was to Petsmart.  The kids had been pushing our teacher, Mrs. R, for a class pet.  But they couldn't come to an agreement on what to get.  So, Mrs. R decided to use this as an opportunity to incorporate some more fun into the curriculum.  First, she stretched their descriptive writing skills with an assignment to write what pet you'd like to have and why it's the best choice.  Next she tied it into their math and research skills by provided a trip to Petsmart.  The kids broke into groups based on which pet they wanted.  Then they had to research all the needs of the pet and calculate its total cost, including both one time purchases like habitats and monthly costs like food.  There were groups for guinea pigs, hamsters, fish, birds, turtles, rabbits, and lizards.

The plans are to have a fundraiser and then use the money that they make to determine which pet the class can afford based on their findings.  Brenna is certain that a hamster is best choice.  It was a quick and easy field trip that had a big impact on the kids and they had a great time!