1:00-2:00pm Class Program (Virtual)
2020-11-18 13:00 - 14:00, 2020-11-23 13:00 - 14:00, 2020-11-24 13:00 - 14:00, 2020-11-30 13:00 - 14:00, 2020-12-01 13:00 - 14:00, 2020-12-02 13:00 - 14:00, 2020-12-07 13:00 - 14:00, 2020-12-08 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) and 3 more dates
Have a Hitchcock educator pay a virtual visit to your classroom or home! Our virtual class programs will be focused on specific topics to fit with your science curriculum. You will receive special topic-focused, take-home resources, and a remotely accessible video of a Hitchcock educator that will spark student interest. This will be paired with a 40-minute interactive lesson on Zoom with a Hitchcock educator that will end with a fun game that will check for students’ understanding and reinforce lesson goals.
When registering, choose your first and second preference for a date and time and one of the Virtual Class Program themes below:

Life Underground
Predator and Prey
Flowers and Plants
Insects
Animal Observations
Decomposers
Metamorphosis

with Aemelia Thompson
Ages 5–8 or Grades K–2
Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, 1–2pm
September 21–December 18 (no program September 28 or November 2)
Fee per program: Tier A-$61 | Tier B-$50 | Tier C-$37 | Tier D-$18
Group size: up to 22 students, including at least one adult

1:00-2:30pm Nature Discovery Preschool Adventure: Water Wonders
2020-11-18 13:00 - 14:30
Come explore the wonders of winter! This award-winning adult and child preschool program offers weekly outdoor exploration together combined with multi-modal learning experiences to foster wonder and curiosity about the natural world. Each program includes movement, song, nature exploration, snacktime, and a story. Sign up for one or more days and choose from one of two time offerings, Friday mornings or afternoons. An adult caregiver must attend with child(ren).
Ages 3–5 or Grades Pre-K
Limited to 12 participants (limit of 2 children per adult).
with Helen Ann Sephton
Fridays, 10:00–11:30am OR 1:00–2:30pm
February 12, 26, March 12, 19
Fee per Child: Tier A-$17 per day | Tier B-$13 per day | Tier C-$9 per day | Tier D- $7
Fee per Adult: Tier A-$21 per day | Tier B-$17 per day | Tier C-$13 per day | Tier D- $9
January 15: Winter Wonderland
January 29: Stick Stories
February 12: Snow Surprises
February 26: Plant Pleasures
March 12: Wild About Wind
March 19: Water Wonders

10:00am-12:00pm Nature-based Field Trip: Mountains and Valleys
2020-11-20 10:00 - 12:00
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! We 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 mostly light hiking with several short steep sections of trail.
with Helen Ann Sephton
Minimum Age 8
Fridays, 10am–12pm
October 23 – December 11
No program November 27
Fee per Child: Tier A-$24 per trip | Tier B-$19 per trip | Tier C-$14 per trip | Tier D- $7
Fee per Adult: Tier A-$28 per trip | Tier B-$23 per trip | Tier C-$18 per trip | Tier D- $9
Limited to 12 participants. Children must be accompanied by an adult (limit 1 adult and up to 4 children).

1:00-2:00pm Class Program
2020-11-25 13:00 - 14:00

10:00am-12:00pm Nature-based Field Trip: Mountains and Valleys
2020-11-28 10:00 - 12:00
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! We 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 mostly light hiking with several short steep sections of trail.
with Aemelia Thompson
Minimum Age 8
Saturdays, 10am–12pm
October 17 & November 28 only
Fee per Child: Tier A-$24 per trip | Tier B-$19 per trip | Tier C-$14 per trip | Tier D- $7
Fee per Adult: Tier A-$28 per trip | Tier B-$23 per trip | Tier C-$18 per trip | Tier D- $9
Limited to 12 participants. Children must be accompanied by an adult (limit 1 adult and up to 4 children).

10:00am-12:00pm Nature-based Field Trip: Mountains and Valleys
2020-12-04 10:00 - 12:00
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! We 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 mostly light hiking with several short steep sections of trail.
with Helen Ann Sephton
Minimum Age 8
Fridays, 10am–12pm
October 23 – December 11
No program November 27
Fee per Child: Tier A-$24 per trip | Tier B-$19 per trip | Tier C-$14 per trip | Tier D- $7
Fee per Adult: Tier A-$28 per trip | Tier B-$23 per trip | Tier C-$18 per trip | Tier D- $9
Limited to 12 participants. Children must be accompanied by an adult (limit 1 adult and up to 4 children).
Register here

10-11:30am Chain Reactions and Creative Contraptions (Virtual)
2020-12-05 10:00 - 11:30
Playful Engineer, Jay Mankita, promotes play-centered exploration from in-school to un-school! The program engages children and families in a hands-on, thought-provoking, and open-ended STEM and STEAM exploration using chain reaction machines with household materials, tools and toys. Jay offers a live demonstration and presentation session where kids will engage with him through Zoom with questions and comments. Following the program, children and families can continue to explore using his online library of pictorial instructions, video demonstrations, and thematic slide shows for inspiration.
Children will have ample opportunities to learn and explore:

Physics principles: force and motion, scale, cause and effect
Engineering practice: plan, build, test, improve
Values: trial and error, persistence, growth mindset

with Jay Mankita
Saturday, December 5
10:00am-11:30am
FREE, thanks to funding from the Amherst Cultural Council
Registration required
About Jay
Jay Mankita has presented hundreds of in-person, hands-on, school and library programs for grades K-8, including a virtual STARS residency for 6-8 graders at the Greenfield Commonwealth Virtual School. His work dovetails well with Next Generation Science and National Core Arts curriculum, but is not tied to it.

10:00-10:45am Second Saturday Science Walk: Birds of Winter
2021-01-09 10:00 - 10:45
For our Winter sessions of Second Saturday Science we are changing things up a little. In order to still provide a safe outdoor space to learn about nature, while keeping warm, our programs will be set up as forest walks that will focus on different seasonal topics. Designed for children with their parents, registration is required.
January 9: Birds of Winter
February 13: Tracks and Traces
March 13: Camouflage
Ages ages 5–7 and Grades K–1
Limited to 12 participants.
Children must be accompanied by an adult. Limit of 3 children per adult.
with Aemelia Thompson
Second Saturdays, 10:00–10:45am
January 9, February 13, March 13
Suggested donation of $5-12 per family

10:00-11:30am Winter Nature Discovery Preschool Adventure: Winter Wonderland
2021-01-15 10:00 - 11:30
Come explore the wonders of winter! This award-winning adult and child preschool program offers weekly outdoor exploration together combined with multi-modal learning experiences to foster wonder and curiosity about the natural world. Each program includes movement, song, nature exploration, snacktime, and a story. Sign up for one or more days and choose from one of two time offerings, Friday mornings or afternoons. An adult caregiver must attend with child(ren).
Ages 3–5 or Grades Pre-K
Limited to 12 participants (limit of 2 children per adult).
with Colleen Kelley
Fridays, 10:00–11:30am OR 1:00–2:30pm
January 15, 29, March 19
Fee per Child: Tier A-$17 per day | Tier B-$13 per day | Tier C-$9 per day | Tier D- $7
Fee per Adult: Tier A-$21 per day | Tier B-$17 per day | Tier C-$13 per day | Tier D- $9
January 15: Winter Wonderland
January 29: Stick Stories
February 12: Snow Surprises
February 26: Plant Pleasures
March 12: Wild About Wind
March 19: Water Wonders

1:00-2:30pm Nature Discovery Preschool Adventure: Winter Wonderland
2021-01-15 13:00 - 14:30

10:00-11:30am Nature Discovery Preschool Adventure: Stick Stories
2021-01-29 10:00 - 11:30

1:00-2:30pm Nature Discovery Preschool Adventure: Stick Stories
2021-01-29 13:00 - 14:30

Climate Storytelling and Music Workshop: A Virtual Climate Stories Project Event
2021-02-04 19:00 - 20:30
What is your Climate Story? We all have personal responses to the climate crisis – our local observations of the changing climate, our emotional responses to rapid environmental change, and our convictions to contribute to a positive future. Join Jason Davis, musician and director of Climate Stories Project, in a 90-minute online workshop in which you will learn about climate storytelling and craft your own climate story. During the workshop, you will have the opportunity to record and share your story. With participant permission, Jason will integrate fragments of the recorded stories in an original musical composition which will be shared on the Hitchcock Center Website and via other channels. Please have paper and writing utensils with you. Workshop is sponsored by Art Angels and Hitchcock Center for the Environment.
Thursday, February 4, 7:00 – 8:30pm
Free, registration required for Zoom link
REGISTER

10:00-11:30am Nature Discovery Preschool Adventure: Snow Surprises
2021-02-12 10:00 - 11:30

1:00-2:30pm Nature Discovery Preschool Adventure: Snow Surprises
2021-02-12 13:00 - 14:30

10:00-10:45am Second Saturday Science Walk: Tracks and Traces
2021-02-13 10:00 - 10:45

10:00-11:30am Nature Discovery Preschool Adventure: Plant Pleasures
2021-02-26 10:00 - 11:30

1:00-2:30am Nature Discovery Preschool Adventure: Plant Pleasures
2021-02-26 13:00 - 14:30

10:00-11:30am Nature Discovery Preschool Adventure: Wild About Wind
2021-03-12 10:00 - 11:30

1:00-2:30pm Nature Discovery Preschool Adventure: Wild About Wind
2021-03-12 13:00 - 14:30
