As part of our Geography topic, Prep V visited Chester Zoo on Wednesday to learn about the rainforest and the many animals and plants which make it their home. We had a smooth journey, excitement levels rising as we spotted the brown signs with the iconic elephant as we neared the zoo.
On our walk to the education building we enjoyed spotting elephants, vultures and rhinos, before heading inside to the Spirit of the Jaguar enclosure, where were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the prowling jaguar, as well as the sloths, who apparently come down to the ground once a week for a toilet visit! We also watched the silver piranhas gliding round in shimmering shoals – we envied them swimming in the cool water but no one fancied joining them…
Our next port of call was the Realm of the Red Ape, where the chimpanzees and orangutans did some excellent gymnastic routines for us. While we were there, we also caught a glimpse of the world’s longest snake, the reticulated python, which was ten metres long – she was hard to spot at first as she was successfully camouflaged, but Sam did some great detective work! Leaving the rainforest creatures, we couldn’t resist a visit to the penguins, who swum past with great speed and grace – and the beautifully coloured flamingos – some of us tried to copy their courtship poses!
When we arrived at our workshop, we recapped on our rainforest knowledge, before playing a lively rainforest layers game. We were very glad that the classroom was air-conditioned! Next, we quickly formed teams and investigated the plants, animals, insects and trees which are found in the different layers of the rainforest, solving clues and quizzes and examining skulls, skins and mini-beasts as well as sampling some of the forest smells which ranged from vanilla and coffee – Mrs. Sweeney’s favourite – to the rather less lovely rotten meat smell of the corpse flower.
Afterwards, we learnt about the alarming speed at which deforestation is destroying our rainforests, and found out about the main causes. Most importantly, we learnt that we can all save the rainforests by buying products in supermarkets that use palm oil grown responsibly by farmers who safeguard animals and their habitats. We were relieved to learn that Terry’s chocolate oranges, Maltesers and Galaxy chocolate (Robyn’s favourite!) all use sustainably farmed palm oil – phew!
We certainly had plenty of food for thought after our morning workshop, and talking of food, everyone was more than ready for a spot of lunch. We picnicked on the grass in the shade, watched by a hungry brood of goslings and their parents – luckily our sandwiches and penguin bars remained safe!
After refilling our water bottles, we set off for the Tropical Realm, where the colourful and highly poisonous frogs were popular – we also saw chameleons, geckos and lizards. Athena and Miss Gregory liked seeing the caimans, who eyed us suspiciously from their pool, and Dexter was the first to spot the critically endangered radiated tortoises who can live to be over a century old, and are described as “friendly and peaceful”.
We tried to see as many animals as we could before we left, and were able to spot giraffes, zebras, the magnificent eagle owls and meerkats – Max, Joe and Gabriel enjoyed investigating their burrow, and Max was tempted to stay and join the clan.
All too soon it was time to make our way back to the minibus, but no school trip would be complete without a visit to the gift shop, where many cuddly creatures were liberated as mementos of our day out. Our thanks to Miss Gregory, Mr. Rooney and Mr. Feather for their excellent driving, Mr. Pearce for all his invaluable help, the kitchen for our lunches and our parents for their continued support.
I really liked the orangutans swinging from rope to rope, especially the baby ones. I also really liked the sloths, because they reminded me of my Dad! Joe
I enjoyed the zoo my farvouite animal was the elephant i was luck i brought a fan . from athena
I enjoyed the trip my favourite part was the orangutans.And i also liked seeing the elephants.
Carlo
i really enjoyed Chester zoo. I some how survived in
the very hot weather. My favourite part was seeing jaguars
leo
I really liked Chester zoo because there was lots of animals.My favourite animals was the orangutans because i liked seeing them go rope to rope and there was a very funny little baby one who was so cut
Ted
I loved Chester zoo. I enjoyed the elephants, orangutans and the penguins i had lots of fun and would definitely go they again the bit i most enjoyed was the reptile house also the air conditioning was good as well were, we learning about the rainforest layers. I loved it the most when we got to by stuff at the end.
When I went to Chester Zoo with my Year 5 class, it was absolutely the greatest day of the entire school year because the zoo is massive and there are so many unbelievable animals to see around every single corner. As soon as we walked through the giant gates, I could hear all sorts of strange squawks and roars, and we actually went straight to see the elephants first thing in the morning! There were only about two of them there, but they were still completely spectacular to look at because they were absolutely massive and it was amazing watching them use their giant trunks to move things around. After we watched the two elephants, we walked over to the orangutans, which ended up being my ultimate favourite part of the whole entire day because they are my favourite animal. We stood by their enclosure for ages just watching a load of them swing from these massive ropes with so much energy and climb all over the place. We also saw some very fast penguins swimming underwater, which was really cool, but nothing was as brilliant as seeing the elephants first and then the amazing orangutans. By the time we got back on the school bus, my feet were aching from all the walking, but I didn’t care at all because I was just glad I got to see my favourite animals. By Jovi
I loved Chester zoo. My favourite thing was definitely seeing the elephants and sloths. I also enjoyed our rainforest workshop even though we all found out the word straight away (deforestation.) Even though it was super hot we still had a lot of fun!
Edie
At Chester Zoo I really liked the red apes because I got to see one of them swing from one side of the enclosure all the way to the other side.I also liked it because I got to see some other cool animals like the leopard and the elephants.Austin
I really enjoyed going to Chester Zoo. My favourite animals were the little frogs. It was really hot. Alice
I really enjoyed the zoo it was amazing and I love how the lizards were all hidden and u had to fine them and it was also the snakes and the hardest snake was the big snake it was like a rainbow colour I forgot what it was called the only thing that made me sad was when some animals were getting fed or weren’t in where we couldn’t see them I also loved the sloths when one was outside the window probably trying to get air but then also trying to geht some cold air half warm half cold I was also sad that we didn’t get too see the leaprod I think we only got to see one that looked like a cheetah I also loved the blue frogs that Mrs sweetness loves one of my Favorit was the alligators they were really cool bc it was like the lizards when u had to fine them and I also really loved the mear cats when it was all dark and it was kinda red I was guessing it’s because they have to be in the dark but ye I don’t know and I also was a bit sad that we couldn’t go and see the bats that one of the things I was most excited to see and I also enjoyed the lessons when we had to guess the word even tho Carlo told it us . And I also enjoyed touching like the cheetahs skin and touching the skulls and stuff like that and I also enjoyed smelling the things I forgot what they were called and I liked the buttons when you had to press it to hear it because it gave us a feature that sound like the rainforest from Claudia !!
Sounds like you had a great day Claudia – did you see any punctuation when you were there? Mr. S
my favourite picture was when I was holding an ape skull and I bought a panpipe from the shop-Theodore Carswell
I really enjoyed going to Chester Zoo. My favourite animal there was the Jaugar because they look fierce and strong. I liked walking through the reptile area where the birds could fly freely. I had lots of fun with my friends and enjoyed the activities we did together. My favourite activity was unscrambling the word deforestation.
Even though it was really hot I had the best day.
Robyn
I liked Chester Zoo because we learnt about how to save the Rainforest. When we arrived at Chester Zoo we saw some animals on the way into the classroom, after the lesson on rainforests we went outside into the shade for lunch. After lunch we walked to see the animals, we saw the giraffes from far away. Then on our way out we went to the gift shop. We walked past the flamingos keeping cool in the water.
By: Darcy 🦒
The best part of the trip for me was seeing the orangutan’s and also learning about deforestation. It was a very hot day so alot of the animals were inside or asleep which was a shame. We had fun!
I really liked the zoo beacause I got to see the elephants ,frogs,birds ,jaguars ,monkeys ,mercats ,deer ,warthogs , orangotans,lizards,fish, penguins,buffolo, snakes ,and crocodiles behave I found this fun and fascenating Max M
I really enjoyed Chester zoo because the Elephant’s where really fun to watch. I really like when we saw the penguins because one of them were attached to Alice’s
Knee! And it was very funny . I am so happy I went to Chester zoo it was really hot and sunny for the animals and for us by Florence Gerrard.
I really enjoyed going to Chester Zoo, my favourite part was going into the very humid environment where the reptiles lived.
The air conditioning room was a welcome break from the heat of the day and I was interested to learn about rainforests.
Gabriel.