Veterinarians and zookeepers!

The last few weeks we've focused our attention on caring for animals. This investigation started with our own classroom animal figures being taped up with masking tape, and resulted in our own animal hospital being opened. Children lovingly brought in their own stuffies daily, caring for their broken bones, stomach aches and fevers. Many days if a stuffed animal wasn't available, we would check up on each other, fixing each other up in ace bandages and listening to each other's hearts!

A few weeks ago we started by looking at how we took care of our own pets. We welcomed Mabel and Sparrow into our class with their bunny to ask them about their pet and what they do to care for him.

We then moved into a veterinarian study! Through our own investigations we found that a veterinarian is a special doctor just for animals. Some vets take care of domesticated animals like our pets, and others care for farm animals! There are even vets who take care of wild animals! Interestingly we found out that vets are both doctors and dentists, caring for an animal's body and teeth!

As we investigated these different types of vets, another occupation that takes care of animals came about, zookeepers. We spent this week looking at what exactly zookeepers do. We watched videos about a day in the life of a zookeeper and even watched a tour of Australia's zoo (which also houses a wildlife hospital, rehabbing wild animals who are brought in.)

On Thursday we welcomed another (very anticipated) guest, Banjo! Banjo is a beloved doggy brother to Ruby! Banjo is just like any other dog, but he does have a special way of getting around. Banjo uses his “wheels” to walk! Shana (Ruby's mom) brought in the book Ivy, the very determined dog and read it to the class (https://www.ivysbook.com) Ivy, a lot like banjo, woke up one morning and could not walk. Her family brought her to a special vet and after looking over her body decided she would need surgery and then wheels to get around. Thankfully she was determined to still get around, and used her wheels to do so! Shana and Ruby answered questions we had about Banjo, and how they take care of him. We learned that Banjo went to another special doctor, called a physical therapist, where they helped him practice walking after he had his surgery. We also learned that the Banjo got his wheels from the same place Ivy got hers!

Last week we welcomed spring into the classroom, celebrating the first day of spring with our own spring scavenger hunt! We have since been on the lookout for some of the other signs of spring! I have to say, there has been an increased excitement about being able to get outside without our snow pants on, and running around the playground has been a fan favorite!