First Grade

Registration & Fee Information

SENSING NATURE

1.5 hours
120 students maximum
Animals, including humans, use more than their eyes to learn and survive in nature. In this engaging program students discover how all five senses can be used to explore nature. Discover shapes and textures in nature and the various ways color and scent are used by trees and animals to communicate with each other.
Pre-Visit Vocabulary List
This program emphasizes the following Illinois Learning Standards: 
11A-1a: Observation
12A-1b: Observable Features of Living Organisms
12B-1b: Interdependence / Survival

BUGS ABOUND

1.5 hours
180 students maximum
Get up close and personal with insects and other invertebrates. Students use active inquiry to explore the component parts and life cycles of bugs and butterflies. Sweep the fields to discover the diversity of bugs in this region, find out how bugs move, locate and compare habitats and diets, and observe interesting characteristics.
Pre-Visit Vocabulary List
This program emphasizes the following Illinois Learning Standards:  :
11A-1b: Scientific Questions
12A-1a: Component Parts of Living Things
12A-2a: Simple Life Cycles
12B-1a: Invertebrate Characteristics

LEAVE NO CHILD INSIDE

1.5 hours
200 students maximum
A growing body of research is telling us that unstructured time spent outdoors in nature is critical to children's physical, social, and emotional development. Such outdoor experiences can foster creativity, emotional well-being, independent learning, and problem solving. The beauty of the Arboretum changes daily, and your students will have an opportunity to explore whatever is most interesting on the day of your visit. One of our guides can be on hand to answer questions and guide students to exciting questions and observations, but the focus is on free exploration of nature.
(This program is not meant to address any specific Illinois Learning Standards.)