The earth is what we all have in common. (Wendall Berry)
While all classes can be adapted for different grades and ages, the options following are our suggested programs that complement school curricula while providing engaging, outdoor learning. Note : All programs can include a nature walk and a live animal demonstration.
Elementary and Middle School Programs
Forest Adventures (preschool- 2nd grade)
- Nature walk : Learn about the local landscape, wildlife, and plants on a nature walk.
- Animal Tracks : Learn about animal tracks and paint a plaster animal track to take home.
- Animals : Learn about our native wildlife by by exploring animal adaptations and examining fur pelts, skulls, and other hands-on materials.
Eco Art (2nd – 3rd grade)
- Nature Journal : Students combine art and nature by creating nature journals and filling them with creative observations from the natural world.
- Monarch Life Cycle Necklace : Students will learn about the life cycle of a monarch butterfly while creating a necklace that represents each stage.
Gold Fever (3rd-5th grade)
- Learn and relive a formative period in California’s history and pan for gold.
World of the Tongva (3rd-5th grade)
- Tongva Village : Students learn about the culture of one of Southern California’s early Indigenous peoples through storytelling and reproductions of traditional cultural items.
- Pine Needle Brooms : Experience traditional Tongva crafting by making a hand-held broom using pine needles.
- Rock Art : Inspired by Indigenous storytelling tradition, students will create rock art with yucca paint brushes to share and illustrate their own stories.
Water Ecology (6th-8th grade)
- Practice the scientific method by testing water quality in a forest watershed.
Geology (Kinder – 8th grade)
- Assemble a nine-piece rock collection and learn the basics of local geology. This class can build on the 2nd grade program through introducing additional concepts, such as how the forces of plate tectonics effect geographic formations.
High School Programs
Water Ecology Lab
- Water Quality : Get hands-on using chemical kits to determine the water quality in our creeks.
Macroinvertebrate Lab : Explore biodiversity and watershed health by discovering the macroinvertebrates that live in our streams!
Geology Field Lab
- Review advanced geologic processes while creating a rock board and utilizing field observations.
Plant Identification Field Lab
- Act as a botanist and map out a section of a landscape to study the unique characteristics of our chaparral habitat. Students will get to identify different plant species and record their observations.
San Gabriel Bioblitz
What is this flashy “worm” doing? A clue – this one is munching on tropical milkweed. While adult monarch butterflies take nectar from different flowers, the caterpillars only eat milkweed, the monarch’s host plant. So without milkweed, which is in decline due to our increased use of herbicides, the species will not survive. As John Muir smartly said, each thing is hitched to everything else in the universe.
After feasting on the white sappy milkweed the caterpillar attaches itself to something stable and transforms into a chrysalis. This stage will last from 10 to 14 days. During the last portion the chrysalis turns transparent revealing the adult butterfly about to emerge.
There are two populations of monarchs in the U.S. Those east of the Rockies undertake an arduous migration to the mountains of central Mexico. Western monarchs travel west to overwinter in coastal California. To discover if a monarch butterfly is male or female, look for the black spot on the back of each of the male’s hind wing. The one in the picture is a male.
Teacher Resources