Rose Avenue Rocks

Thanks to the grade 1 students at Rose Avenue Public School for their great artwork and postcard messages for Lucy the elephant. Here are some of the messages that the students wrote after learning about Lucy living alone in the Edmonton Zoo:

Lucy needs sun. Lucy needs water. Lucy needs grass. Lucy needs friends.

Lucy needs friends and a home. Lucy wants to go to a sanctuary.

Lucy needs friends and the sun and a mud pool and grass and trees.

Sanctuary. Yes.

The city of Toronto and the Toronto Zoo have recently decided that the elephants in our zoo should be moved to a sanctuary. Hopefully Edmonton decides the same for their lone elephant, who is about to face another winter in the cold and snow.

Learn more about Lucy the elephant at: http://www.savelucy.ca/. To book a workshop about elephants at your school, check out our Keep It Wild website at: http://www.keepitwildeducation.com/

More Polar Bear Postcards

As promised, here are a few more of the great postcards created by students in grades 2/3 at Downtown Alternative School.

As you can see from the pictures, the students learned about polar bears hunting seals. In the wild polar bears migrate over the pack ice, searching for seal breathing holes, and waiting for hours for a chance to kill a seal.

In captivity, polar bears lack the freedom to move and travel as they would if they were hunting. They also lack the stimulation and excitment of hunting for their prey.

Yupi faces the additional challenge of being in captivity in a tropical climate. Hopefully the postcards and messages make a difference for Yupi. Learn more about Yupi the polar bear at: http://www.saveyupi.com/

Teachers Know Best

Here is some of the great feedback we've been receiving about our Keep It Wild! workshops:

We, myself and my grade 3/4 students, fully enjoyed our "Keep It Wild" workshop. Our presenter was very knowledgeable and engaging. Students were very interested in the workshop throughout. Thank you. Great work!

The workshop was wonderfully engaging and hands on. The students were excited and involved.

Our presenter did an OUTSTANDING job of engaging my learners. An invaluable program. Keep up the great work!

An excellent workshop on whales! Presenter was very knowledgable, patient, and worked well with all children of various abilities. Activites were all interesting, hands-on and the students were very motivated. I would book this workhsop again, recommend it to other teachers and definitely book another workshop again!

Book your workshop through our website at: http://www.keepitwildeducation.com/

The Whale - a Movie

If you live in Toronto, make sure to check out  The Whale being screened downtown later in November. The movie is a family-friendly documentary that tells the story of Luna, a young, wild killer whale who lost contact with his family on the coast of British Columbia. Luna is socially isolated from other whales, so instead she tries to befriend humans.
      

You can learn more about the movie at: http://www.thewhalemovie.com/. There is a great Q and A section that allows you to learn more about Luna, about the movie, and about killer whales. Here's one of the questions asked and answered:

  

 Does this film say it’s good for humans interact with all wild whales?

No. Definitely not. Whales need space to travel, space to hunt for food, and space to care for their young. We don’t believe that humans should harass wildlife of any kind. The story of Luna is about friendship and respect between species, but that means contact can work only in very unusual cases. Almost always, respect for any wild animal means staying at a significant distance. With Luna we believe respect and friendship meant listening to what he seemed to be trying to say about needing contact. But in almost all other cases, friendship and respect for wild creatures means giving them the space they clearly want.


If you don't live in Toronto, check out the website for a screening near you!

Downtown Alternative School goes Wild!

 

Last week grade 2/3 students at Downtown Alternative School in Toronto participated in a Keep It Wild! workshop. Here are some of the postcards that they created to send to the Mexican zoo where Yupi the polar bear lives. The students had lots of great ideas that would improve Yupi's captivity. They asked for more space for Yupi, more things for her to play with, more shade, snow and ice, and colder water in her swimming pool.



Learn more about the campaign to help Yupi at http://www.saveyupi.com/ 



Thanks to the students for trying to help Yupi. We'll post more of your comments and pictures in the upcoming weeks.