At the zoo
Length of workshop 50 minutes
Have you ever wondered which species visit your school grounds? Do you want to improve your school grounds that will not only enrich your pupil’s education but also benefit local wildlife? Then this is the workshop for you!
This workshop will empower students to advocate for a native species personally important to them and take an active participation in conservation efforts by improving their school grounds for the benefit of these species.
This workshop complements the National Education Nature Park programme and by completing the activities students will be eligible to apply for a Chester Zoo Champions in Conservation award. Your students will also be provided with priority access to ‘Native‘ our unforgettable 360° immersive experience, eliminating the need to queue.
During this workshop we’ll:
- Identify and name a variety of common plants and animals found in native habitats.
- Explain how these native plants and animals are suited to a habitat that provides for their basic needs, allowing them to grow, stay healthy and survive.
- Coproduce a simple map of your school grounds, recognising key landmarks, human and physical features and describe the location of these features using locational and directional language.
- Recognise that humans changing native environments poses a danger to living things and conclude that it is important to help native species.
Students will have the opportunity to take part in a “make and take” activity to help their chosen species, which may include a bird-feeder or a bug hotel!
Please note that this LIMITED TIME workshop is only available for the duration of our immersive experience, Native.
Age group: KS1 / KS2
Duration: 50 minutes
Capacity: 25
Learning Space: Conservation Education Hub, with an extra special visit to Native our breath-taking 360° immersive experience, showcasing some of the most iconic species in the British Isles
Cost: £50
CURRICULUM LINKS
Plants:
- Identify and name a variety of common wild and garden plants, including deciduous and evergreen trees.
- Observe and describe how seeds and bulbs grow into mature plants.
- Find out and describe how plants need water, light and a suitable temperature to grow and stay healthy.
Animals including humans
- Identify and name a variety of common animals including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.
- Find out about and describe the basic needs of animals, including humans, for survival (water, food and air).
- Identify that animals, including humans, need the right types and amount of nutrition, and that they cannot make their own food; they get nutrition from what they eat.
Living things and their Habitats
- Identify that most living things live in habitats to which they are suited and describe how different habitats provide for the basic needs of different kinds of animals and plants, and how they depend on each other.
- Identify and name a variety of plants and animals in their habitats, including microhabitats.
- Recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things.
Geographical skills and fieldwork
- Use simple compass directions (North, South, East and West) and locational and directional language [for example, near and far; left and right], to describe the location of features and routes on a map.
- Use aerial photographs and plan perspectives to recognise landmarks and basic human and physical features; devise a simple map; and use and construct basic symbols in a key.
- Use simple fieldwork and observational skills to study the geography of their school and its grounds and the key human and physical features of its surrounding environment.
- Use fieldwork to observe, measure, record and present the human and physical features in the local area using a range of methods, including sketch maps, plans and graphs, and digital technologies.