Wild for Animals

SIGN OF THE TIMES: I decided today was the day I'd formally introduce the kids to multiplication. We've done lots of addition and subtraction, some work with fractions, symmetry, measuring and more. We are definitely ready to talk about multiplication.

I prefaced the introductory worksheets I had ready by telling them they already do multiplication, all the time. Multiplication is not new and it's no big deal. To illustrate that, I had them sing a couple of Schoolhouse Rock songs. Specifically, we sang "Three is a Magic Number" and "Ready or Not Here I Come," (the latter is about multiplying by 5s).



After that, they were both given a couple of worksheets that dealt with multiplication by 2s or 3s, and they had no trouble with them. In fact, when he finished, CJ said, "This the easiest math homework I've ever done," triumphantly. Clearly our first official foray into multiplication was a smashing success.

TO THE ZOO: We're in our second year of zoo membership, but Christian and I had yet to go to Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo. (Fortunately the kids have been their, thanks to their older brother.) So when Monday dawned sunny and relatively warm, I figured it would be the perfect day to go. Turns out I was right. :) Many of the animals were out sunning themselves and because it was February there were hardly any tourists and no huge school groups (field trips to the zoo are usually scheduled for more predictably warmer months).

Christian had the kids by himself for the first hour or so while I was at the dentist nearby. The three of them spent a fair amount of that time in the zoo's Night Exhibit, as it's permanently closing on March 1 due to budget cuts. Creatures housed there include several kinds of bats, a pair of two toed sloths, tamanduas (small anteaters native to South America), douroucoulis (owl monkeys) and a trio of pygmy lorises (small arboreal primates native to southeast Asia).

In the course of a 4.5 hour visit, we covered the entire zoo grounds, taking it all in. Many of the animals were out in full view, soaking up the sun.

We popped into the zoo's indoor playground for a few minutes. There are animal-related games and toys as well as a pretty massive climbing feature. The place is especially popular on rainy days.

As luck would have it, while we were walking through the "African Savanna" portion of the zoo, the zookeepers were trying to coax a trio of giraffes from the outside exhibit into their "barn" for the night, so we got to be within a couple of feet of the wild-looking creatures.

As always, my favorite animals were the primates.

In all, we were at the zoo for about four hours.

Just before leaving, we checked out the "African Village" exhibit just inside the south gate. There were little huts and a reproduction of a primary school. All in all it was a great day. The zoo is beautiful - they have done a remarkable job with exhibits to try to make them look like the animals' natural habitat instead of that awful prison like look that so many zoos have.

Once home, I asked the kids to write down which animal was their favorite and why. CJ wrote, "My fvoriet anamul is a bear. It was crawling." Annabelle wrote, "My fvowite animls are the flmingos and the elafints. I like the elafints because (it) is big and I liked the flmingos because theay were pink."