Field Trip Specialty Themes

Program Themes & Grade Levels

All NEST programs meet multiple, cross-curriculum, specific GLCE and NGSS based upon the selected theme. Suggested grade levels are shown for each program, but most NEST programs can be modified for different grade levels. Click on a theme below to view a description of the program.

Sensing Nature (Kindergarten)

Students will use their senses to observe the natural world. They will develop their senses and expand their use through hands-on activities in the Nature Center classroom and pavilion, and a “sensing nature” hike on the trails of the Grand Traverse Natural Education Reserve. Sensing Nature includes three components:

• What are the five senses?

• How do humans and other animals use their five senses to survive?

• How can we use our five senses to study and protect nature?

NGSS & MGLCES **Link Coming Soon!**

Life Cycles of Animals (1st – 2nd Grade)

Students will learn that living things grow and change and the details of these life cycles are different for various organisms. This program includes hands-on activities in the Nature Center classroom and pavilion and an expedition on the trails of the Grand Traverse Natural Education Reserve. Life Cycles of Animals will explore three key ideas:

• Both plants and animals begin life, develop into adults, reproduce, and eventually die.

• The details of this life cycle are different for various organisms.

• Human activity can affect the life cycles of animals and plants.

NGSS & MGLCES **Link Coming Soon!**

Life Cycles of Plants (2nd — 3rd Grade)

This program identifies the needs of plants, explores some of the characteristics of them, and looks at how people can positively and negatively impact the life cycles of plants. This program includes hands-on activities in the classroom and an expedition into the natural world around the Nature Center. The Life Cycles of Plants program includes three components:

• The Needs of Plants

• The Life Cycle of Plants

• The Impact of Human Activity on Plants

NGSS & MGLCES **Link Coming Soon!**

Busy Beavers (1st — 3rd Grade)

Students will explore the adaptations that allow a beaver to live in its environment. They will learn that beavers had a profound role in Michigan’s settlement and are still impacting their environment. The Busy Beavers program includes three components:

• Beavers have basic life requirements

• Beavers have special adaptations that help them live in their environment

• Beaver dams have an impact on their surroundings

NGSS & MGLCES **Link Coming Soon!**

Animal Adaptations (3rd — 5th Grade)

Students will identify and compare body structures in animals and will relate characteristics and functions of observable body parts to the ability of animals to live in their environment. The Animal Adaptations program includes three components:

• Structure & Function

• Environmental Adaptation

• Human Impact

NGSS & MGLCES **Link Coming Soon!**

Wildlife in Winter (3rd — 5th Grade)

This program explores the winter adaptations of animals, food webs, and the impacts that human activity can have on our environment. The program includes hands-on activities in the classroom and an expedition into the natural world around the Nature Center. The Wildlife in Winter program includes three components:

• Adaptations

• Food Webs and Interdependence

• Human Impact

NGSS & MGLCES **Link Coming Soon!**

Fossils Rock (4th — 6th Grade)

This program explores how Michigan fossils provide evidence of Michigan’s history and compares and contrasts life forms found in fossils with organisms alive today. Students will learn to identify a variety of Michigan fossils. This program includes hands-on activities in the classroom and an expedition into the natural world around the Nature Center. The Fossils Rock program includes three components:

• Identify what a fossil is and how it was formed

• Compare & contrast life forms found in fossils and organisms that exist today

• How fossils provide evidence of the history of the earth

NGSS & MGLCES **Link Coming Soon!**

Soils (6th — 8th Grade)

This program explores the soils of the Grand Traverse area, soil erosion, and the impacts that human activity can have on our soils. This program includes hands-on activities in the classroom and an expedition into the natural world around the Nature Center. The Soils program includes three components:

• What Makes Our Soils?

• Erosion of Our Soils

• Human Impact on Our Soils

NGSS & MGLCES **Link Coming Soon!**

Ecosystems (5th – 6th Grade & 8th – 10th Grade)

In this program, students will explore what defines an ecosystem, why each of those things are important, and what we can do to help preserve and conserve our natural environment.  Through interactive games and an outdoor hiking adventure to see different ecosystems first-hand, students will have a better understanding of their relationship and other species’ relationships to the ecosystems we interact with every day. This program encompasses three main components:

• What makes up an ecosystem?

• How are different species populations related?

• Where did all of the land go?

NGSS & MGLCES **Link Coming Soon!**

Wetlands (7th – 10th Grade)

This program will allow students to experience wetlands while learning about its characteristics, functions, and values. Students will also explore what impact the removal of Sabin Dam had on the surrounding wetlands. This program includes hands-on activities in the classroom and an expedition into the natural world around the Nature Center. The Wetlands program includes three components:

• The types and beneficial functions of wetlands

• How two organisms can be mutually beneficial and how that can lead to interdependency

• How human activities can deliberately or inadvertently alter the equilibrium in ecosystems

NGSS & MGLCES **Link Coming Soon!**

Water & Watersheds (5th – 7th & 9th – 10th Grade)

In this program, students will explore water as a precious natural resource, define a watershed, create an interactive model, and perform stream sampling to assess the water quality of the Jack’s Creek. Through interactive games and an outdoor hiking adventure that explores the Boardman River dam removal case study, students will have a better understanding of their relationship to the watershed that our community interacts with every day. This program encompasses three main components:

• Freshwater is essential for life, yet scarce on earth

• A watershed is an area of land that drains into a common body of water

• What happens throughout a watershed can affect the quality of water in the water body it drains to

NGSS & MGLCES **Link Coming Soon!**

Streamside Classroom (5th – 8th Grade)

In this program, students will draw connections between their community and their surrounding environment within the scope of age-appropriate scientific discovery and analysis. Each of the four components has been designed to engage students with a variety of scientific concepts that are illustrated through the study of water quality at Jack’s Creek.

Students can expect to get their hands dirty as they put on a pair of hip-boots and follow us into the creek to collect real data and get a closer look of what really makes up Jack’s Creek. The Four components of this program include:

• Stream Mapping

• Chemical Components of Stream Health

• Macroinvertebrates

• Riparian Zones

Each of these four components has been aligned with Next Generation Science Standards in order to promote accessibility and provide opportunities for students to become further involved with their community’s natural resources in a meaningful way.

NGSS **Link Coming Soon!**