Sixth graders on the Bolles Middle School Bartram Campus continued their partnership with the Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens on January 28, dedicating the entire day to learning about nature and discovering which animals their Advisory selected to focus on for the remainder of the program.

The Grade 6 team arranged for Jacksonville Zoo representatives to join the Bulldogs for the all-day event, which included five stations with various hands-on activities.

• Advisory Group Animal Reveal: Jacksonville Zoo educator Emily Blum revealed which animal(s) each Advisory will research and work to conserve this semester. The students in each Advisory voted online between two choices, and they were eager to discover the results! The Africa group chose hoofed animals (e.g. giraffes, zebras), while the Asia group selected Sumatran tigers. The Wild Florida Advisory selected striped newts, and the South American group picked penguins.
   
• Enrichment Activity Building in Pratt Library: After the big reveal with Blum, Advisory groups stopped by the Pratt Library to create enrichment activities for the animal(s) they selected. These “toys” will be given to the animals at the Jacksonville Zoo to stimulate their mental and physical health. Zoo associates provided all the materials necessary for each group to make boxes and structures for their specific animals.
   
• Local Animal Conservation Lesson in Miller Room: The sixth graders spent time with a Zoo representative in the Miller Room learning about manatee and wood stork conservation. The students asked inquisitive questions and engaged in conversations that helped deepen their understanding of the delicate balance of Florida’s ecosystems.
   
• Survival Games: The Bulldogs got on their feet for engaging survival games centered around the fight for resources and relationships between animals and their physical surroundings. In one game, the students separated on two sides of the field, with one group acting as animals and the other making various shapes representing different resources, including water, shelter and food. The zoo representative then called out a specific resource the animals needed, and the “animal” students ran to their “resources” classmates to pair up – leaving many eliminated after each round. The activity emphasized how the depletion of resources can impact animal populations and their overall ecosystems.
   
• Taxonomy and Animal Ambassador Visit: Students excitedly learned about taxonomy, which is the science of classifying and naming biological organisms into groups based on shared characteristics (e.g., mammals, reptiles, amphibians). In addition to showcasing bones and furs of various animals, the Zoo representative brought a few animal ambassadors for a special appearance – including millipedes, a Southern toad and a hog island boa constrictor.

The Grade 6 Advisories will head to the Zoo later this spring to learn more about their specific animals as they continue this dynamic program. To view pictures from Zoo Day, visit our online photo gallery. #BollesBartram