© 2003 Merry L. Morris

When your child is ready ...
Trips to the zoo can inspire your child to design and create his own website (with your help, of course)

  1. Objectives:
    • your child will know the names of his favorite zoo animals.
    • your child will be able to read the names of his favorite zoo animals.
    • your child will be able to describe his favorite zoo animals.
    • your child will know general information about his favorite zoo animals.
    • your child will know what a website is.
    • your child will practice decision-making and creative design skills.
  2. Activities which will lead to the desired outcome
    • Activities before the trip to the zoo
      • With your child, look at the official website of the zoo you plan to visit.
      • Tell your child that when you visit the zoo, you want him to decide which are his three favorite animals at the zoo so you can help him create his own special zoo website. (Optional: ask your child to find his favorite mammal, his favorite bird, and his favorite reptile.)
      • Tell your child that you want him to remember what his favorite animals look like, what they are called, what they eat, and what area of the zoo they are in so he can include that information on his website.
      • Discuss with your child things you and he can do while at the zoo to help him remember the things you want him to remember.
        • Take photos.
        • Take notes.
    • Activities during the trip to the zoo
      • As you look at the animals, ask your child to rate them. Does he like the particular animal a lot, a little, or not so much.
      • Take photos of all the animals your child says he likes a lot.
      • Ask your child to help you gather information to take notes about all the animals your child says he likes a lot.
        • Ask him to point to the signs that have information about the animals and to listen for the information you want him to remember while you read the signs to him.
        • Encourage your child to ask a keeper about the animals.
        • Ask your child to tell you what to write on the notes (what the animal eats, what color the animal is, etc.)
    • Activities after the trip to the zoo
      • Ask your child to look at the photos you took during the visit and to select photos of his three favorite animals.
      • Ask your child to help you find the notes about his three favorite animals.
      • Help your child design and create a personal website to display his favorite animals.
        Preliminary steps to do on your own without your child's help:
        1. Create a new folder on your computer desktop and name it "yourchildsnameswebsite". (Do not use apostrophes.)
        2. Use your computer imaging software to resize the images to a width of 300 and a height of 225 and save the resized photos in the folder you created for your child's website files. Save the images as image1, image2, and image3, and save them as .jpg files. (You can use Microsoft Paint Microsoft Photo Editor, or whatever imaging software is pre-installed on your computer if you don't have Paintshop Pro or Photoshop.)
        3. If you don't know HTML, click here, select and copy all all of the html code. On your computer, open Wordpad and paste the code into a new document. Substitute your child's words for the words in red in the html code. Save the document as "index.html" as a "text document" in the same folder with the images for your child's website.
        4. Find a free website host (such as Geocities, Freeservers, etc.)
        5. Set up a free website account in your name.
        Steps that include your child's input:
        1. Ask your child to choose a name for his website.
        2. Ask your child to choose a color for the background of his website.
        3. Ask your child to choose a color for the words in his website.
        4. Ask your child which photo he wants in each position (first, second, third favorite).
        5. Ask your child to tell you the name of the animal in each photo.
        6. Ask your child to describe the animal in each photo.
        7. Ask your child what the animal in each photo eats.
        8. In each of the steps above, substitute your child's words where indicated in the code.
        9. Open the folder in which you have saved your child's website files and double-click on the icon for "index.html" to let your child see how his website will look.
        10. Ask your child if he wants to make any changes in the way it looks.
        Final steps for you:
        1. Log in to the free website account and select the option to "Edit" your website. (Do not select Site Builder or any of the other "easy" options. Trust me, my way is the easiest!)
        2. Select the File Manager option.
        3. In File Manager, select "upload files" and follow the simple instructions to find and upload the index and photo image files from the folder you created for your child's website.
    • Supplies for activities:
      • computer
      • digital camera (If you don't have a digital camera, you can take photos with a disposable camera and have them and saved on a Kodak picture CD instead of developed as prints).
      • note paper
      • pen or pencil
    • Measure the outcome of the lesson.
      • Does your child remember the names of his three favorite zoo animals?
      • Is your child able to read the names of his three favorite zoo animals?
      • Is your child able to describe his favorite animals without looking at the animals or at photos of them?
      • Does your child know what a website is?
      • Does your child know the background color he has chosen for his website?
      • Does your child know the color he has chosen for the text of his website?
      • Does your child know the name of his website?


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