Summer SAVY, Session 4 Day 3, “Creature Connections: Animals, Humans, and the Natural World” (1st-2nd)
Dear Families,
Day three of SAVY Summer 2025: Creature Connections was another day filled with learning and discovery, and I know your SAVY zoologist will be excited to tell you about it!
We started the day focused on our concept of interactions. We watched a video from Kid President about kindness and analyzed this video to see how kindness promotes positive interactions. Then, we split into two groups. Each group read a story by Jacqueline Woodson and analyzed how these stories connect to our generalizations of interactions. While these stories were not directly about animals, we used the lessons we learned and connected them back to what we have learned about animals. Finally, each group presented their stories, and we used our knowledge of both stories to create an interaction map.
Then, we moved on to our main focus of the day: zoos and animals in captivity. We started with a question: Should animals be kept in zoos? The question was intentionally left vague, so many students had trouble picking a side. We had a mini debate where students were tasked with providing evidence from their existing schema to say why “Yes, animals should be kept in zoos,” or “No, animals should not be kept in zoos.” I know many SAVY zoologists felt frustrated after this debate, as there is very real evidence for both sides of the question. After the debate, we watched videos about the modern zoo to build upon our evidence from the debate. SAVY zoologists used the videos to recognize the pros and cons of the modern zoo, and many were quickly persuaded to change the side they originally chose for the mini debate.
We then returned to our friend Ivan (the gorilla who lived in a shopping mall) and read a picture book about his story. We discussed questions such as “What interactions led to Ivan’s release?” and “How does your knowledge about ecosystems help you better understand the message or theme of the true story of Ivan?” To finish our debate about zoos, the SAVY zoologists teamed up to create a skit. In this skit, students became Katherine Applegate (the author of The One and Only Ivan), the owner of the mall, or a shopper at the mall. Each character presented their best evidence for why animals should be kept in captivity or not. Once again, there was some clear discomfort from the SAVY zoologists, especially those who had to present evidence to an argument they did not fully agree with.
To end our day, we began studying real-life zoos to see what they consider when creating an ecosystem to mimic an animal’s real-life habitat. First, the SAVY zoologists chose a common animal they were likely to find at all three zoos. Then, the zoologists chose three zoos to examine their animals’ habitat. Many SAVY zoologists chose the Nashville Zoo and two others to which they had personal connections. The zoologists noted similarities and differences between each of the three zoos. Finally, the SAVY zoologists chose their favorite zoo and created a poster highlighting what the zoo did well in mimicking their animal’s environment and providing suggestions for what the zoo could improve upon. I was impressed by their creativity!
Questions to ask your zoologist tonight:
- Should animals be kept in zoos? What evidence supports “Yes,” and what evidence supports “No?”
- What interactions led to Ivan’s release?
- How does your knowledge about ecosystems help you better understand the message or theme of the true story of Ivan?
- What zoo did you choose to present on? What did they do well in creating your animal’s habitat? How do you suggest they improve your animal’s habitat?
I am looking forward to the rest of our week together as we continue to learn about interactions and all sorts of creatures!
Sincerely,
Ms. Gruchot