| All Grades |
|
| Kindergarten |
|
|
Grade 1
|
|
|
Grade 2
|
|
|
Grade 3
|
|
|
Grade 4
|
StarLab (40 minutes)
|
|
Grade 5
|
Pond Trip (new version!) (3 hours including lunch)
|
All Grades
Length: 30 minutes
Location: Your classroom
Teachers can request a variety of live animals for a 30-minute observation/question and answer session with a science center staffer.
Kindergarten
Live Hedgehog Program
Length: 45 minutes
Location: Your classroom
What do different animals eat? Using pictures of teeth and claws students will predict if an animal is an herbivore or a carnivore. Then we observe a live omnivore (Popeye, our hedgehog). Teachers are encouraged to read Jan Brett's
The Mitten prior to the program.
Grade 1
Oaks of Eastman
Length: 60 minutes
Location: Your school
This program works best in fall and spring when trees have leaves. We focus on acorns and oak trees as part of the life cycle unit. We'll start off with a play that allows all students to act out the life cycle of an oak tree. From there, we observe oak trees in various life cycle stages. We will use Eastman's outdoor classroom to open up acorns and observe the root and stem.
This trip works best if the classroom teacher can find at least 3 adult helpers to accompany us. Learn how to "read a forest" by looking for evidence such as felled trees, bird nests, and rotten logs. Working in teams, we'll go on a forest scavenger hunt to learn more about reading the forest. Figure out creative ways to measure the girth of trees, and use a tool called "slice of silence" to help focus your observation skills. (Trip to town forest requires a 2 hour bus reservation.)
Grade 3
Students act as paleontologists and investigate and identify characteristics of a mystery animal that lived millions of years ago.
Grade 4
StarLab Portable Planetarium
Lenght:: 40 minutes
Location: Your school auditorium or cafeteria
Students observe the night sky inside an inflatable dome. The class predicts and observes changes in the sky such as sunrise and sunset, moon rise, movement of the stars and constellations.
Location: Your classroom.
As part of the Insects Unit, students use microscopes to examine parts of a honey bee and figure out how these parts help determine a honey bee's behavior and survival. Even within the same hive, honey bees have different jobs such as the queen, drones, and worker bees. Students also discuss how honey bees help plants, other animals, and humans survive.
Grade 5
Location: Eastman Area, Newman School and Science Center
Students collect data and organisms from a pond and learn about the ecosystem by identifying clues through observation.
In the Science Center Discovery Room, a Science Center staffer guides the students in discovering the diversity of living organisms within a drop of pond water. Students use magnification tools, classification keys to reveal and identify the microscopic invertebrates of the Eastman pond.
Length: 60-75 minutes
Location: Your classroom.
Students observe large-scale 3D model of a watershed and experiment with ways to prevent water pollution. (Lesson 8 of new Weather & Water unit)