Forest Floor Study
Grades: K – 5th
Limit: 50 students
Length: 1 – 2 hours
Explore the most popular layer of the forest the forest floor. Look for pillbugs, sowbugs, termites, ants, spiders and a host of other decomposers as you dig into leaf litter and fallen logs. Get a feel for decomposition, microhabitats and communities.
When:
April, May, June, September, October
Pond Study
Grades: K - 5th
Limit: 50 students
Length: 1 - 1.5 hours
Ponds provide habitat to many aquatic invertebrates. Don rubber boots and grab your net as we head into the pond near NNC and search for these tiny creatures. We will collect, study and observe their adaptations to live underwater. How do aquatic invertebrates fit into the web of life?
When: April, May, June
Wetland Walk
Grades: K - 5th
Limit: 50 students
Length: 1 – 2.5 hours
Explore the various habitats of the Navarino Wildlife Area, including ponds, marshes, bogs and woodland swamps. Observe some of the differences and similarities between the types of wetlands. Find out about the history, value and importance of our wetlands and their future.
When: April, May, June, July
Prairie Study
Grades: K - 5th
Limit: 50 students
Length: 1 - 2 hours
Discover what it is like to stand in the middle of a tall grass prairie with grasses 8 ft tall. Explore and identify the various types of grasses and flowers that make up our prairie. Help to collect seeds. Look for tree frogs, caterpillars and insect galls. Learn about the history, management, and wildlife of the prairie.
When: August, September, October
Seeds
Grades: K - 5th
Limit: 50 students
Length: 1 - 2 hours
Seeds are everywhere! Learn about the many forms seeds can take, how seeds travel to new environments, and learn about special adaptations of seeds all while being immersed in the habitats surrounding NNC.
When: August, September, October
Insects &
Invertebrates
Grades: K - 5th
Limit: 50 students
Length: 2 - 3 hours
Explore prairie, forest and pond habitats on the wildlife area. Collect and classify various types of insects and invertebrates. Discover what makes insects unique, and how vital they are to many other creatures’ existence.
When:
April, May, June, July
Fire Building
Grades: 3rd - 5th
Limit: 50 students
Length: 1 - 2 hours
Students will learn the importance of fire for survival, things to consider when collecting items to make a fire, fire safety, and other methods to start a fire besides a match. This is a hands on true fire building opportunity that if students succeed they will have made their very own little fire.
When: Year Round
Compass
Grades: 3rd - 5th
Limit: 50 students
Length: 1 - 2 hours
Learn the world of orienteering and compass work with this hands on opportunity. Students will interact with a compass, learn the parts of a compass, how to use a compass, take bearings, move with a compass and try their hand at our compass course.
When: Spring, Summer, Fall
Forestry
Grades: 3rd - 5th
Limit: 50 students
Length: 1 - 2 hours
Students learn to identify trees by bark, bud, leaves, fruit and nuts. Determine the height of a tree, diameter, crown spread. Also look at which areas of the forest provide the best cover and habitat for wildlife. Find out about historical forestry activities, and use a 2 person cross-cut saw.
When:
April, May, June, September, October
Explore Renewable Energy
Grades: K - 5th
Limit: 50 students
Length: 1 - 3 hours
Discover the possibilities of renewable energy, we will look at the nature center’s photovoltaic solar array, solar hot air heater, solar cooker, and geothermal heating / cooling system. We will also explore renewable energy through a variety of activities and student sized models including: solar cells, wind turbines, hand generators and more. NNC staff will work to help match your renewable energy activities back to classroom lessons.
When: Year-round
Water Monitoring
Grades: 5th
Limit: 50 students
Length: 1 - 1.5 hours
Why is it necessary to test our water? Bring several water samples and find out yourself by testing them for dissolved oxygen, nitrates, hydrogen sulfide, iron, and phosphates and more. Is your water safe to drink, and safe for wildlife?
When: April, May, June, July, August, September
*Material Fee
Land Formations & Erosion
Grades: 3rd - 5th
Limit: 25 students
Length: 1 - 2 hours
Through a variety of different scenarios, students will be creating and witnessing the effect of erosion and land formation. Done in stations, students will explore the effects of erosion and how that helped to form the world we know today and erosions effects that continue to change their world.
*Material fee
When: All Year
Marvelous Mammals
Grades: K – 5th
Limit: 25 students
Length: 1 - 2 hours
Have you ever wondered what a bear skin feels like? Ever feel a badger’s claws? How big are a beavers teeth? Look at and touch study pelts. tracks, and skulls of our Wisconsin mammals. Make an animal track in class.
When: Year-round
*Offered offsite
Winter Wonderland
Grades: K – 5th
Limit: 50 students
Length: 1 – 3 hours
Look for wildlife tracks in the woods under the blanket of new fallen snow. Tracks often seen include: turkey, otter, mice, deer, rabbit, squirrel and others.
Where do the wildlife go during the winter? What do they do? How do they keep warm? Come and find out.
When: December, January, February, March
Winter Ecology
Grades: 5th
Limit: 50 students
Length: 2 - 3 hours
Everything looks different in the winter. The landscape may look still but the wildlife is very active. Explore and follow various animal tracks, and try to conclude information about the animal’s daily routine. Look for signs of insect activity, dormant plants, and frost / ice development. If snow conditions are right, students will study on snowshoes.
When: December, January, February, March
Snowshoeing
Grades: 3rd - 5th
Limit: 50 students
Length: 1 – 3 hours
Learn about the history of snowshoes, how they are made and why we snowshoe. Follow the naturalist through the woods, wetlands and prairies of Navarino on snowshoes. We will search for wildlife, as we float on top of the snow.
When: January, February
Raging Raptors
Grades: 3rd - 5th
Limit: 50 students
Length: 1 - 2 hours
Take flight with this great program designed around raptors. Using raptors, we will explore adaptations that these creatures have that allow them to survive in their different habitats. Through various hands on opportunities, students will learn about adaptations that make raptors a unique bird species to explore such as wings, feathers, beaks, talons, and more. Plenty of touch and feel chances! Students will also be able to dissect an owl pellet to see what an owl has eaten. Great lesson that can be adapted to ecosystems as well.
*Material Fee
When: All Year
Shelter Building
Grades: K - 5th
Limit: 50 students
Length: 1 - 2 hours
By far one of our most popular lessons, where students work in teams to create their very own survival shelter in the surrounding woods of NNC. They learn team work as they gather natural materials to make a shelter that they can all fit in and learn the importance of shelters and things to consider in a survival situation.
When: All Year
Who wants to be a
birder?
Grades: 3rd - 5th
Limit: 25 students
Length: 1 hour
Find out more about birds & birding by participating in a quiz game. Just like on TV you have a 50/50, Ask the Audience, and Ask the Teacher. We will also look at various birds and hear their calls, and special adaptations that birds have: feathers, hollow bones, beaks / bills, just to name a few.
When: Year-round
*Offered offsite
Wind Wise
Grades: 4th - 5th
Limit: 25 students
Length: 1 - 2 hours
Explore the world of renewable energy with this hands on opportunity for students. Students become engineers and work in teams to create, develop, and test their own wind turbines to see if their design can create energy. This program is a great introduction into the engineering side of renewable energy.
When: All Year