February 15^th is World Hippo Day! Use this theme to get your students excited about learning!

To explore lots of interesting facts about hippos head to this site.  You can encourage elementary school children to play Hungry Hippos and read appropriate books about hippos including A Fiona the Hippo.

If you have never gone to the Cincinnati zoo site to check in on Fiona the hippo that would be a fun activity for your class as well. The San Diego zoo also has a live hippo cam.

If you are using Defined Learning’s PBLs, use one of the following performance tasks to get your students excited about learning and thinking about future careers:

• PreK                Zoo Vet
• Kindergarten   Zoo Animals
• Grade 1           Plant and animal adaptations
• Grade 2           Zoo Veterinarian
• Grade 3           Nature center educator
• Grade 4           Animals adapting to human impact
• Grade 5           Zookeeper
• Grade 6           Zoologist
• Grade 7           Building an aquatic habitat
• Grade 8           Veterinarian: Animal prosthetics
• Grade 9           Wildlife management specialist
• Grade 10         Zoologist
• Grade 11         Wildlife biologist :endangered species
• Grade 12         Matter and energy: Wildlife biologist

The most important trait you can encourage in your students and children is curiosity, so use World Hippo Day (February 15^th) to get them curious about these amazing creatures. Remember, using real world problems and careers are key components of quality STEM teaching and learning, and they put the “fun” back in FUNdamentals.

About the author:
Dr. Cindy Moss is a nationally respected thought leader in STEM education and reform. Dr. Moss brings over 31 years experience in district leadership, classroom instruction and inquiry based learning to her work as a champion for STEM engagement and career & workforce readiness. Learn more about Dr. Moss here and follow her on Twitter at @STEMboss