Introducing my students to Kenya

When I found out about my Earthwatch Education Fellowship in February, I immediately told all of my students, but it was only last week that I really had a chance to really show them all the kinds of things that I might see and do in Kenya. I had been able to talk to a few students about it on the last Science Explorers trip (we saw lots of stuffed animals at the museum), but I think quite a few of my students actually forgot about my big announcement between February and April. In order to remind them, I decided to borrow a video from the science department last week, because everyone needed a break from the World Tour project anyway. All of my classes except one have now seen the video "Africa: The Serengeti," which is an amazing IMAX film about the Serengeti, especially focused on the annual wildebeest migrations. The Serengeti isn't exactly where I'm going, but it's very close. The movie was amazing, and it really kicked up my excitement level again. With three months still to go before my trip, I was feeling a little bit in limbo and my excitement level was sort of in the background of everything else going on in my life. Watching this video with the students really helped me get excited again, because they were so excited by it. I now have lists of questions to try to answer and lists of animals that I must photograph for my students. Lions, zebras, and giraffes seem to top the list. I'll have to set up a photo site linked to this blog so that everyone can see my pictures when I come back. I hope to have some more time to talk to them all about Kenya between now and the end of the year, but at the very least, this blog should be a way for me to share with them some of what I have learned, since they will have moved on to 8th grade by the time I come back.
I bought a journal this weekend to take to Kenya with me (Earthwatch provides one that teachers are supposed to use, but I know that I will fill it up far too quickly!), so I will try to start writing in that and then transfer any relevant thoughts to this blog. I think that should work well as a way to share the experience.