Pen Pal Program
The students at Carman Trails Elementary School in the Parkway School District have been participating in a pen pal program with students at Lerata, Kiltamany and Gir Gir primary schools in Northern Kenya for almost a year. The program has been very successful and has allowed the students to learn about cultural differences and similarities. Now it has moved to having a greater focus on conservation.
Club Goals
Conservation Club goals are to raise awareness for the necessity of conservation, build positive attitudes toward conservation programs and activities, and involve school-aged children, teachers, and community members in key conservation activities that would improve the situation for wildlife and people who share the same habitats. The Conservation Club at Carman Trails was started in order to provide the students with a greater understanding of conservation challenges both locally and globally. The Grevy's zebra is the focal animal of the Conservation Club and provides the students with a greater understanding of the work the Zoo has done to help conserve an endangered species in the wild. The three schools in Kenya are located within the Grevy's zebra's natural habitat and provide the students with information on what the local communities are doing to help this endangered species. The Club also utilizes a hands-on approach to educate the students about conservation challenges that can be found in Missouri such as river ecology, pollution, the endangered hellbender, and American burying beetle.
Partnership
Beginning with the 2007-2008 school year, the Conservation Clubs in St. Louis and Kalama have been linked together and now share a similar curriculum that includes conservation topics that can be applied in both areas. This table (47K PDF) shows the lessons, activities and discussion points that will be used in both St. Louis and Kalama. Once the students have taken part in the lessons, they are encouraged to use the pen pal system to exchange their thoughts and ideas regarding these conservation issues.
*For more information on the conservation clubs both in St. Louis and in Kenya, please email Tim Thier, Zoological Manager of Antelopes, at tthier@stlzoo.org.*
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