Ms. England's Toca da Raposa Field Trip

What an amazing field trip!! We got to see so many plants and animals. So much learning and fun was packed into one day that it is going to take a miracle to get everything in one post! 

Let's start at the top. After our early arrival to school we took a long, uneventful bus ride to Toca da Raposa. Even though we got to watch Happy Feet, we were so excited we could barely stay in our seats! The guides from Terra Nativa, who started with us at school, were super nice, and they were hilarious! We had our own guide from Terra Nativa who actually stayed with our class for the entire day and helped translate keep us on track and organized. Once we finally arrived, we made sure to have something to eat so we had energy for the long day ahead. 

After breakfast, our group headed out to see the animal sanctuary. Here we learned the stories of so many different animals that now call Toca da Raposa home. The majority of their stories made us want to cry. Who thinks that they can kill a mother and take the baby to sell as a pet?! It is so cruel, but seemed to be the theme of the animals we visited. Even though we would rather let these animals live in the wild, we are happy the amazing staff at Toca da Raposa is there to take care of them. Our Toca da Raposa guide through this section of the field trip was a biologist name Lucas, and he was full of really interesting information. We definitely learned a lot!

Following our visit to the animals in the sanctuary, we went on a hike through the forest. Our new Toca da Raposa guide, Dennis, was very clever. He allowed us the chance to be teachers. While trekking through the forest we had the opportunity to show everything we've learned about plants. The hike was tiring, but well worth the work!

After our long hike we had the chance to relax a little in the shade with a lesson about animal foot prints. We studied various footprints from native Brazilian animals, including some we even got to see in the sanctuary! Then, we learned what to do if we want to "take" a footprint with us to ask an expert about what animal might have made the footprint. No, we do not have to cut out the ground to do this! All you need is some special powder and water, and you pour the mixture in the footprint, wait for it to harden, and away you go! Really cool, huh?

The final activity was probably the most fun. We began by racing down the long flour slide! After the slide, we all got to complete a ropes course and finish with a giant game of tag before marching down to lunch. It was a blast!