IN-SCHOOL VISITS | TNAC Website

IN-SCHOOL VISITS - INSIDE YOUR CLASSROOM OR ON YOUR SCHOOL GROUNDS

We come directly to your school with our 45 minute - 1-hour programs. Many of these programs can be held outside, on your school grounds.

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Kindergarten

- Seasonal Changes and Weather (available September - November)

- Animal Homes and Structures

- Life Cycles (chick hatching for schools that incubate eggs)

- Sunflower Planting

Grade 1

- Beekeeping and Pollination

- Insect Safari and Cricket Habitat

- Plant dissection, microscope observation, flower flow experiment

Grade 3

Pond Ecology

We will bring scientific equipment, pond water, and creatures that live in the pond, directly to your classroom for study.

Students will be introduced to scientific inquiry using basic lab equipment including microscopes, petri dishes, and pipettes. Students will learn how to prepare their own slides for viewing under a microscope lens. Live creatures, such as a frog, turtle, and crayfish will be observed for learning purposes.
Students will have had an introduction into the use of authentic scientific tools in which to investigate organisms that live in pond water. They will understand that ponds are able to sustain both microscopic and larger creatures. They will be able to describe the differences and similarities between the observed creatures. They will be able to communicate why these specimens have adapted to survive in their habitat.
Students will work in teams to mimic an authentic scientific lab experience. A TNAC Environmental Educator will guide the students on how to properly and safely use their supplied equipment. They will first prepare slides, then view those slides through the microscope lens to observe microscopic life in motion. Students will have an up-close view of live animals from which to observe the inherited traits that allowed them to adapt and survive in pond water for millions of years. Additionally, they will learn how the environment can have an impact on the development of their unique body characteristics.
NGSS Alignment:
- LS4.C: Adaptation:For any particular environment, some kinds of organisms survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all. (3-LS4-3)
- LS3.B: Variation of Traits: Different organisms vary in how they look and function because they have different inherited information. (3-LS3-1) The environment also affects the traits that an organism develops. (3-LS3-2)
- LS4.B: Natural Selection: Sometimes the differences in characteristics between individuals of the same species provide advantages in surviving, finding mates, and reproducing. (3-LS4-2)

Grade 4

Flower and seed dissection

Students will dissect real flowers and beans to learn about plant structure, photosynthesis, growth, and reproduction through pollination.
A wide variety of native and exotic plants will be on hand so that students can compare their similarities and differences, and how each are unique, but adapt to their environment. Examples may include cacti, Venus Flytrap, and varieties of tree bark.
- NGSS Alignment:
  - 4-LS1-1: How internal plant structures support their survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.

Grade 5

Bioactive Terrariums

Our Lead Environmental Educator will instruct this program on how matter and energy cycle through ecosystems. Concepts such as photosynthesis, nutrients, and decomposition will be explored through students’ hands-on construction of bioactive terrariums. These easy-to-care for 1-gallon enclosures will contain living plants plus isopods that will consume decaying organic matter. The terrariums will remain in the classroom for students to examine and observe over time. Each class will create 4 terrariums, and all materials will be provided.
- NGSS Alignment:
  - LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems
    - The food of almost any kind of animal can be traced back to plants. Organisms are related in food webs in which some animals eat plants for food and other animals eat the animals that eat plants. Some organisms, such as fungi and bacteria, break down dead organisms (both plants or plants parts and animals) and therefore operate as "decomposers." Decomposition eventually restores (recycles) some materials back to the soil. Organisms can survive only in environments in which their particular needs are met. A healthy ecosystem is one in which multiple species of different types are each able to meet their needs in a relatively stable web of life. Newly introduced species can damage the balance of an ecosystem (5-LS2-1)
    
    LS2.B: Cycles of Matter and Energy Transfer in Ecosystems
    - Matter cycles between the air and soil and among plants, animals, and microbes as these organisms live and die. Organisms obtain gases, and water, from the environment, and release waste matter (gas, liquid, or solid) back into the environment) (5-LS2-1)