Spring Program Information

Fall School Programs

From September 17 through November, 16 2007, we are offered fall programs for children in Preschool through 5th grade. Each 90 minute program included time on the trails exploring a theme, looking for animals and plants, and playing educational games. The themes, which are aligned with KC4 guidelines are designed for a particular grade level, but can be adapted to different grade levels. The themes were:

Preschool and Kindergarten
Using our Five Senses

First Grade
Plants in the Fall

Second Grade
Animals Interactions

Third Grade
Habitats and Communities

Fourth Grade
Rocks and Minerals

Fifth Grade
Water Cycles and Watersheds

All programs cost $1 per student with no cost for teachers or chaperones.

K-5 Educational Goals:

• Present the natural history of specific flora and fauna of the preserve in the context of their geological setting.

• Offer treatments of the composition and function of the natural communities found on the preserve and the successional processes at work in them.

• Investigate the nature of significant interactions between humans and natural communities, both now and in the past.

• Seek to expand each visitor's general awareness and appreciation of the diversity and complexity of the natural environment.

• Develop each visitor's ability to take notice of and carefully observe objects in the natural environment.

Description of K-5 Programs:

Our curriculum was designed for students in kindergarten to fourth grade to complement units studied in the classroom. Our programs are offered to area elementary schools each spring and fall.

• Kindergarten students will use every sense but taste to explore the fields and forest.

• First grade program focuses on plant life cycles through the seasons. Spring programs will include searching for and naming wildflowerrs.

• Second grade students will discover the relationships between animals through predator-prey interactions and camouflage.

• Third grade students will look at various communities and habitats and see how animals and plants depend on each other for survival.

• Fourth graders use scientific tools to identify rocks and minerals and look for signs of Michigan's glacial history and modern erosion in the Ecosystem Preserve.

• Fifth graders explore the concepts of water cycle, water pollution, and watersheds and learn how to map them. They become a drop of water that moves through a city sewer system.