SCHOOL PROGRAMS

The Hitchcock Center the Environment serves the Pioneer Valley region as one of the most influential sources of environmental education, shaping the attitudes, beliefs and values of over 4,000 children and teachers in over 55 elementary and middle schools each year. The Hitchcock Center can accommodate 2 classroom field trips at a time. Some field trips are offered only during certain seasons. Field trips can take place at sites other than the Hitchcock Center. For more information, contact Helen Ann Sephton, School Programs Coordinator, at (413) 256-6006 or helenann@hitchcockcenter.org. To download our School Program Guide, please click here.

*Travel fees apply to visits to your school and are based on distance. Call for more information.

Money for Buses!
The Massachusetts Cultural Council provides grant money to help pay for the cost of busing students to field trips. Go to their web site www.massculturalcouncil.org and look for the Big Yellow School Bus Grants. You will find the application form there.

Programs & Services | Classroom Programs | Classroom Series | Field Trips

PROGRAMS AND SERVICES

FIELD TRIPS & CLASSROOM PROGRAMS
Classrooms are invited to visit the beautiful 20-acre Larch Hill Conservation Area and neighboring 120-acre Bramble Hill Farm through a variety of hands-on, inquiry-based field trips. We can also make a special visit to your classroom with live exhibits and a wide range of standards-based environmental and science activities. For a more in-depth ecological program, consider a 3-season or 3-part series, which can be tailored to your curriculum. Discounts are given for series and multiple programs. Also consider coordinating activities with other classes in your school to reduce travel fees. See below for details.

SCHOOL PARTNERSHIPS & LONG-TERM LEARNING PROJECTS
The Hitchcock Center has partnered with a number of schools and districts to develop and implement long-term initiatives that can be replicated in other schools. We can work with your school or classroom to design a fun, rewarding and educational learning project using the local environment and community as a dynamic teaching resource. Call for more information.

NATURALIST-IN-RESIDENCE
Nature is all around your school! A Hitchcock Center educator/naturalist will work with you and your class to investigate the natural world in your own schoolyard. This long-term program, designed to support and enrich your curriculum, will give students opportunities to learn about habitats, life cycles, and animal adaptations through live exhibits, outdoor field trips on school grounds, and exciting hands-on investigations. Call for more information.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
We provide tailor-designed teacher workshops and courses that focus on strengthening content knowledge and teaching methods in earth, life, and physical sciences, as well as environmental education. PDPs are available. Click here for details.

PEG MCDANIEL RESOURCE CENTER
The Hitchcock Center is a member of the Western Massachusetts Regional Library System and maintains an extensive curriculum resource and lending library for teachers. Call Micky McKinley for information and a free tour.

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT & ALIGNMENT
Our Educators offer science curriculum development and standards alignment based on successful models we have developed in several local districts.

CLASSROOM PROGRAMS
Program Length: 1 hour
Fee: $130 + travel fee

SMALL ANIMALS IN THE CLASSROOM
Children are naturally drawn to animals and our programs foster this curiosity and wonder while teaching respect for all living things. When children get a chance to watch a box turtle crawl on their classroom floor and eat worms, or hold a land snail in the palm of their hand, they are inspired to ask questions. We have activities that enrich and expand these questions into inquiry investigation. Our selection of live animals does change periodically, but we currently have Speedy the Box Turtle, Thai Walking Sticks, land snails, and various other arthropods.
Grade Levels: K-4
Standards Applicable: Science & Technology-Grades K-5

AMAZING ANIMAL ADAPTATIONS
How do animals survive in the wild? Meet some live and mounted local animals, and learn how their biology and behavior helps them to survive in their habitat. An educator will bring animals from forest, field and wetland habitats to your classroom, and students will learn about the amazing diversity of life in our area.
Grade Levels: K-6
Science & Technology Standards Applicable: Life Science (K-2) #1, 6, 7, 8; (Gr.3-5) #1, 5, 6, 8, 10; (Gr.6-8) #13

LIVE ANIMAL INQUIRY
Inquiry is the natural way we find things out about our environment and our relationship to it. It involves making observations, asking questions, and investigating those questions. In this exciting lesson, students will carry out an inquiry investigation of a live animal, learning the steps scientists take to set up a fair test and record data. They will come away with a deeper understanding, both of the process of doing science and the animal they investigate.
Grade Levels: K-6
Standards Applicable: Science & Technology- Life Science-Grades K-5

WILD ABOUT WATER
Where does our drinking water come from? How much water do we need? How do we protect this precious resource? These questions are explored through hands-on activities, discussion and small group work. Lesson content varies with grade level, focusing on the water cycle and conservation in the early grades, and ground water issues in older grades.
Grade Levels: 2-7
Standards Applicable: History and Social Science-Grades 5-8; Science& Technology-Grades 3-5

ENERGY INVESTIGATIONS
Energy is both in the news and in the Massachusetts Framework. This award-winning curriculum will help you and your students understand where our energy comes from in Massachusetts and how it is generated. You will explore both renewable and non-renewable energy sources and generate electricity using a simple generator, solar collectors, mini-wind mills (turbines), and water wheels (turbines). There is an emphasis on sustainable technologies and carbon emissions, and making the connection between human activities. There is an emphasis on sustainable technologies and carbon emissions, and making the connection between human activities and climate change.
Grade Levels: 4-8
Standards Applicable: Science & Technology- Physical Sciences (Gr. 3-5) #4, 5, 6, 7; (Gr. 6-8) #13

The following field trips can be adapted to a one-hour classroom program: Habitat Studies; Animals in Winter; Forest Ecology; Insect Investigations; Life in a Pond; Ecology of Salmon in the Connecticut River.

CLASSROOM SERIES
Program Length:  One teacher meeting (1-2 hour) + three 1.5-hour field trips
Program Fee: $600 + travel fee

SCHOOLYARD HABITAT: OUTDOOR EXPLORATIONS AT YOUR SCHOOL
School grounds offer rich learning environments for life, earth and physical sciences. A Hitchcock educator will come to your school and survey the site with you. Together, you will identify habitats, plants and animals, and discuss educational opportunities. The educator will return to lead 3 grade-level-appropriate activities to explore and learn science content outdoors. Seasonal ecology studies, tree changes over time, and original inquiry investigations are several possible activities depending on grade level and teacher needs. You will come away with ideas about how to continue to utilize this teaching resource right outside your school’s doors!
Grade Levels: K-5
Standards Applicable: Science & Technology, Grades K-5

FIELD TRIPS
Program Length: 2 hours
Fee: $175

PLEASE NOTE: All of our programs are aligned with the Massachusetts Science and Technology/Engineering Curriculum Framework.

ANIMALS IN WINTER
The world is very much alive in winter. We can learn about that life by following the tracks and signs of the animals around us. We will explore animal homes, food, signs and various adaptations that animals use for surviving in the cold, snowy months. We will learn to recognize tracks and signs that tell a story about an animal’s life during this challenging season.
Grade Levels: K-4
Science & Technology Standards Applicable: Earth Science (K-2) #1, 3, 4; (Gr. 3-5) #6, 7, 12; Life Science (K-2) #1, 2, 3, 6, 7; (Gr. 3-5) #3, 5, 8, 9; Technology/Engineering (PreK-5) #1

SEASONAL DISCOVERY
Discover the natural world through three seasons! We will investigate a variety of habitats to increase our understanding of the uniqueness of each season and how it affects animal and plant life cycles. We will learn about trees, animal adaptations and behavior, and the changes taking place in forest, field and wetland throughout the year. This program may be tailored to meet your specific curriculum needs. A discounted field trip rate is offered for the series of three field trips. See Program Fees for details.
Grade Levels: K-6
Standards Applicable: Science and Technology-Grades K-5

LIFE IN A POND
A pond has much more than frogs and fish. It demonstrates a beautiful web of life from algae and microscopic organisms to insect larva and amphibians. We will use our limnology lab to practice techniques for observing small aquatic creatures and learning about their unique adaptations. At the pond, we will collect and observe several varieties of invertebrates that depend on this habitat.
Grade Levels: K-6
Science & Technology Standards Applicable: Earth Science (K-2) #1, 4; Life Science (K-2) #1, 2, 3, 6, 8; (Gr. 3-5) #3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11; Technology/Engineering (Pre-K-5) #1

MOUNTAINS AND VALLEYS: THE GEOLOGY OF THE PIONEER VALLEY
Discover the stories in the stones around us! The Holyoke Range can tell us much about how the Earth’s crust is shaped. It is a geologically unique area, where we can find evidence of shifting tectonic plates, earthquakes, volcanoes, glaciers, and erosion, all in one day’s field trip! Students will learn how fascinating geology can be and how the everyday landscape provides intriguing clues to the past. This trip is based at Skinner State Park and involves some light hiking.
Grade Levels: 4-8
Science & Technology Standards Applicable: Earth Science (Gr.3-5) #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 12

INSECT INVESTIGATIONS
With over 60,000 different species of insects in North America, we are sure to have at least a few play a part in our daily lives. We will discuss the science of entomology and discover what scientists have learned from insects. Using tools to observe live insects in the lab, students will get hands-on experience as an entomologist. Through the collection of insects from various habitats, students will learn about the adaptations of insects and why they are important to people.
Grade Levels: K-6
Science & Technology Standards Applicable: Earth Science (K-2) #1; Life Science (K-2) #1, 2, 3, 6, 8; (Gr.3-5) #3, 4, 5, 8, 10; Technology/Engineering (PreK-5) #1

HABITAT STUDIES
Every living thing needs a home or a habitat to survive. The Hitchcock Center has a variety of local habitats on site to experience first hand. Just as each neighborhood has its own needs and inhabitants, each habitat has its own animals and interactions. Our trip will take us through forest, field, wetland and pond where we will focus on the components of each habitat and adaptations that animals have to live there.
Grade Levels: 1-4
Science & Technology Standards Applicable: Earth Science (K-2) #1, 2, 3, 4; Life Science (K-2) #1, 2, 3, 8; (Gr.3-5) #5, 10, 11; Technology/Engineering (PreK-5) #1

FOREST ECOLOGY
Students will study the natural history of trees, the role of forests in our local environment, and the importance of plants in human life. Discover the dynamic processes going on inside of living and dead trees as we build connections between forests and ourselves. Seasonal changes allow for variations in themes (e.g. foliage, buds, photosynthesis, etc.).
Grade Levels: K-2
Science & Technology Standards Applicable: Earth Science (K-2) #1, 2, 3, 4; Life Science (K-2) #1, 2, 7; Technology/Engineering (PreK-5) #1

ECOLOGY OF SALMON IN THE CONNECTICUT RIVER
In working to restore the Atlantic Salmon in the Connecticut River, much has been done to improve our local rivers and streams. On this field trip, students will learn about the history of this remarkable fish, negotiate a salmon migration obstacle course, and survey a stream to determine its potential as a habitat for salmon. Teachers will learn how they can participate in the Connecticut River Salmon restoration program.
Grade Levels: 3-6
Science & Technology Standards Applicable: Earth Science (Gr.3-5) #10; Life Science (Gr.3-5) #3, 5, 8, 10, 11; (Gr.6-8) #12, 13, 14, 15, 17; Technology/Engineering (PreK-5) #1; (Gr.6-8) #7.2

THE CONNECTICUT RIVER: WILDLIFE AND WATER
Meet us at the Great Falls Discovery Center in Turner’s Falls where we will “take a walk along the river” past beautifully painted dioramas and many skillfully mounted local animals. Students will become familiar with these animals, their specific adaptations, and the vital role of the river in their lives. They will reinforce their learning by creating their own Nature Guide to the exhibit hall, and through a hands-on investigation will learn some amazing things about our local species. Best of all, students will come away with an appreciation for and understanding of the many animals that share our part of the Connecticut River Watershed.
Grade Levels: K-6
Science & Technology Standards Applicable: Life Science (K-2) #1, 2, 3, 8; (Gr. 3-5) #3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11; (Gr. 6-8) #1, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18: Earth Science (K-2) #1, 2, 3, 4; Technology/Engineering (PreK-5) #1; (Gr. 3-5) #1, 2; (Gr. 6-8) #1, 2

 

  Questions or comments?  E-mail us at info@hitchcockcenter.org.