It's been a hard year for everyone, but teachers had it pretty tough. Adjusting to online learning, and then in many cases switching back-and-forth between online and in-person learning, trying to keep kids' attention over a Zoom call... yeah, that'd be pretty difficult.

We owe our teachers a huge debt, this year more than ever, with so many tirelessly continuing to do their jobs in a year of total uncertainty. And this doesn't even begin to cover it, but it's definitely a start.

ZooMontana in Billings is offering all Montana teachers free admission during the winter break, from December 19th through Janurary 3rd. All they have to do to enter the Zoo is show their teacher ID and they'll be all set.

Executive director of ZooMontana Jeff Ewalt calls it a "thank you" for all that teachers have been doing in 2020, and notes that the zoo will likely not be all that crowded thanks to the winter season, so teachers could have the zoo all to themselves.

That's pretty cool! Exploring a zoo is cool, but dealing with crowds is not, especially in the age of COVID. If you're at the zoo on your own, you can hang out with the monkeys, make friends with the penguins, play fetch with the lions, the world if your oyster.

Ok, maybe you can't do ALL that stuff, but it should still be fun. Are you a teacher in Missoula? Would you want to travel out to Billings to get into ZooMontana for free?

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