Year 2 Took A Trip

This block the Year 2s have been learning about habitats and what each habitat provides for that animal. They have explored the different ways that animals have adapted to their environment. Due to the theme of our learning, we organised a local trip to the William Holden Education Center and the Animal Orphanage.

We arrived at the Education Center and met Michael and Jonathan who were fabulous guides, chock-a-block full of interesting bits of information. They were extremely patient with all of the children's questions and loved that they were so engaged and willing to learn. We began our learning by looking at some butterflies, stuffed animals, snake skins and termite homes. The children so enjoyed being able to share their fountain of knowledge about animals with Michael and Jonathan.

After a quick break for snack, the children sat down in the library for an informational session on William Holden and the Education Center as well as the importance of planting trees and what they mean for the animals around us. Michael told the children that “if trees sent our wifi signals, everyone would be planting them, too bad they only give us oxygen”. The children were informed of some of the animals that they might see at the Animal Orphanage and learned about the monkey, Safari, and the zebroid as well as the mountain bongos.

The children were fortunate enough to get a tour of the grounds of the Education Center. They saw several habitats, including a ginormous tree, the Nanyuki river, a trout pond and a worm farm. Their little tummies were rumbling at this point so the learning stopped while they enjoyed their lunches.

Once our energy was restored, we boarded the bus and drove to the Animal Orphanage, seeing some antelope, zebras and buffalo along the way. We then began our tour of the orphanage. The children were extremely well behaved and managed to control their excitement when seeing the animals. They showed respect to our guides and listened to the interesting stories and facts about the animals. There was an ostrich that would not leave our group alone and scared Miss Harris with its boldness, but luckily the guides were always quick to step in and keep the cheeky ostrich in check. We were treated to seeing a Tom Tom gazelle and her new baby as well as a baby monkey. The children learned, when spending time observing the owls, that in Mr Karito’s culture, the sound of an owl signifies imminent death for someone in that community. It was interesting to learn about the different beliefs in other people's cultures and how certain animals are feared or not well regarded. Wilbur, the warthog, was extremely excited to see our group and came out from his resting spot to greet us. The cheetah treated us to a show and the children got to sit on top of Speedy, the giant tortoise. As we were venturing around the leopard enclosure (we spotted two leopards), the llamas decided that was the time to have a tiff and we got to see that they really do spit at each other.

Thank you to the Education Center, especially Michael and Jonathan, for showing us around their facility as well as the Animal Orphanage. The trip was extremely well organised and super informative being based around our learning topic of habitats. It was a long day, but what an adventure, one that we all thoroughly enjoyed.