Let's explore Madagascar! The fourth largest island in the world, Madagascar is located 250 miles off the coast of southeastern Africa in the Indian Ocean. The island country is about 1,000 miles long and 250 miles wide, which is similar to the size of the U.S. state of California. Did you know there are over 60 different kinds of lemurs and that Madagascar is the only place that lemurs live in the wild?
 
Create lemur masks while viewing photos taken by the teacher in Madagascar! Discover fascinating facts about aye-ayes, indris, mouse lemurs, ring-tailed lemurs, fossa, tenrecs, chameleons, and more. The teacher once spent a month in Madagascar teaching children about lemurs and she has also spent time volunteering at a lemur sanctuary in the U.S. She will facilitate discussions, share real life stories, and play lemur sounds. Students will be introduced to naturalist terms that describe animal behavior (eg: carnivore, nocturnal, arboreal, etc), as well as animal classification terms (eg: invertebrate, amphibian, etc). 

Day 1: Lemurs
Day 2: Fossas and Tenrecs
Day 3: Chameleons, Snakes, and Frogs

Students will also have the opportunity to interact with the Nature Explorers International classroom program animals, including: 
Scaly: the Corn Snake
Slimy: the Tiger Salamander
Lizzie: The Leopard Gecko

Topics may touch on the following subjects: the elements of habitat, endangered animals, deforestation, primatology, herpetology, biology, wildlife biology, scientific field work, volunteer travel, prosimians, Madagascar, lemurs, endemic, aye-aye, ring-tailed lemur, red-ruffed lemur, brown lemur, indri-indri, mouse lemur, lemur vocalization, fossa, nocturnal, arboreal, frugivore, insectivore, ecological hotspot