SCHOOL FIELD TRIPS

Please look over the many activites the nature center has to offer and schedule a program soon. Please contact us if you would like a custom program, we can use our many resources to help you.

All programs can be scheduled by completing the Request Form or calling the center at 810-796-3200. Programs must be arranged in advance and groups visiting the nature center have access to the building and trails only under the supervision of a naturalist.

Request Form

Scheduling Information

Scheduling: After a program is scheduled, the group leader will recieve a confirmation. In the case of a cancellation, groups should contact the nature center as soon as possible so that the program date can be made available to other groups.

Group Size and Chaperones: Seven Ponds can accommodate up to 60 students per program when visiting the nature center.

We allow up to four chaperones per class. Teachers and chaperones are responsible for student behavior.

Clothing and Weather: Group members should dress for the weather and natural setting. Unless the weather is dangerous (e.g. thunder/lightning storms) we will go outside.

Lunch: Sack lunches may be eaten in the picnic area or under our pavilion. We have no indoor eating facilities.

Gift Shop: The Rookery Gift Shop carries a wide selection of nature-related materials and locally made products. Items vary in price to fit every budget.

Transportation: If you need help covering the cost of transportation, Seven Ponds may be able to provide assistance. Contact us at 810-796-3200.

General Programs

Seasonal Walk
Pre-school children through adult Seasonal Walks take advantage of he variety of natural happenings at Seven Ponds through the seasons. spring features woodland wildflowers and singing frogs. During summer, prairie wildflowers are bloom ing and birds are singing. Fall features changing leaves and animals preparing for cold weather. In winter, birds abound at the feeders and animals leave tracks in the snow. Each season has its own fascinating mysteries for eager students to discover along our trails. Seasonal Walks are spontaneous, with our knowledgeable naturalists helping explore interesting objects and events encountered along the trail. The walk incorporates a variety of themes appropriate for each grade level.

Time: 1½ – 2 hours, Fee: $3.00 per person. ($25.00 minimum)

Pond Exploration: Grades K through 6
We will “dive” into the underwater world of our lakes and ponds. Through photos, animal specimens, and pond sampling, students will learn all about the critters that make the water their home.

Grades K – 1 will experience pond critter observation and grades

Grades 2 – 6 will use pond nets to capture organisms.

Time: 1½ – 2 hours, Fee: $4.00 per person. ($25.00 minimum)

Explorer Programs

Explorer Programs offer a sequential kindergarten through middle school curriculum, with each grade focusing on specific ecological concepts. Each program includes Next Generation Science Standards and Grade Level Content Expectations for Social Studies. We bring classroom lessons to life, reinforcing the work students are doing in school. These interesting programs promote greater knowledge, awareness, and appreciation of our natural world, using inquiry-based learning through investigations, observations, and activities while in nature.

Time: 2 – 2½ hours, Fee: $4.00 per person

Life in a Box: Grade Kindergarten

Life in a Box

Performance Expectations: K-LS1-1, K-ESS2-2, K-ESS3-1, K-ESS3-3

Concept: Interdependent relationships in ecosystems: animals, plants, and their environment

Kindergarteners will become biologists as they study animals and their needs. Focusing on a nesting box, your biologists will discover who could live there, and why they would use the nesting box as part of their home. Through hands-on activities and exploration, inside and outside the nature center, Kindergarten biologists will understand what animals need to live and how we, as humans, can help.

Junior Meteorologist: Grade Kindergarten

Dressed for Success: Grade 1

Dressed for Success

Performance Expectations: 1-LS1-1

Concept: Structure, function, and information processing with plants and animals

The natural world had many different challenges that plants and animals have to overcome to survive. Through many different activities along the trail, discussion, and observations, first graders will discover the many different structures plants and animals have to thrive at Seven Ponds.

The Amazing Life Cycle: Grade 1

The Amazing Life Cycle

Performance Expectations: 1-LS1-2, 1-LS3-1

Concept: Animal lifecycles

Your first grade biologists will investigate how wild babies survive in the natural world, and how their parents take care of them. Also, first graders will use their excellent observational skills to explore some of Seven Ponds water ecosystems to figure out what wild baby belongs to what wild parent.

Green Planet: Grade 2

Green Planet

Performance Expectations: 2-LS2-1, 2-LS4-1

Concept: Plant lifecycles and plant structures

Green plants are all around us: in the forests, prairie, fields, and wetlands. Second graders will become botanists as they study our green, natural world. Through investigations, discussions, and activities, your second grade botanists will understand the amazing life cycles of plants.

Pollination Nation: Grade 2

Pollination Nation

Performance Expectations: 2-LS2-2, 2-LS4-1

Concept: Plant pollination and seed dispersal

Second grade ecologists will discover the amazing relationship plants have with their pollinators as they explore the natural world found at Seven Ponds. Through hands-on activities, journaling, discussion, and games, your second graders will understand how plants are pollinated and how seeds move.

A Shape Shifting World: Grade 2

Cattails to Crayfish: Grade 3

The Forest Home of the Anishinaabek: Grade 3

The Forest Home of the Anishinaabek

Performance Expectations: 3-H3.0.5, 3-G5.0.1, 3-G5.0.2

Concept: The effects of human-environment interactions through early Michigan history to modern times

Michigan’s once vast forests were a giant supermarket to the Anishinaabek people. Their habitat provided everything needed for survival. In modern times, most of our needs are met from items purchased form a store. Though activities and hands-on nature study, students will learn how we used our natural resources in the past and how we use them today in the present.

Wetland Adaptations: Grade 4

Wetland Adaptations

Performance Expectations: 4-LS1-1

Internal and External Structures of Plants and Animals

Wetlands present a variety of challenges for the organisms that call them home. In order to live in water environments, plants and animals need specialized internal and external structures to survive. Through investigation, collecting, and discussion, students will get a hands-on experience of what it takes to live in a water world.

Amazing Animals: Grade 4

Amazing Animals

Performance Expectations: 4-LS1-1

Concept: Physical adaptations and body systems

Fourth graders will become wildlife biologists as they discover how the animals in Michigan survive our seasonal changes. Students will explore Seven Ponds and learn the many ways animals become linked to their environment through discussion, exploration, and hands-on activities along the trails.

Wetland Connections: Grade 5

Wetland Connections

Performance Expectations: 5-PS3-1, 5-LS1-1, 5-LS2-1

Concept: Food chains and food webs

Students will adventure into the wetlands to discover and investigate the complex interactions of the plants and animals that live in these wet ecosystems. Through collection, observation, and journaling, your fifth grade biologists learn about the food chains and food webs found in Seven Ponds’ wetlands.

Death Eaters: Grade 5

Death Eaters

Performance Expectations: 5-PS3-1, 5-LS1-1, 5-LS2-1

Concept: Food chains and food webs

Fifth graders will discover what happens to an animal after it dies, and how decomposition isn’t really the end, but the beginning. Your fifth grade ecologists will use their observational skills, discussion, journaling, and Seven Ponds’ natural world to explore decomposition and food chains.

A Scurry of Squirrels: Middle School

A Scurry of Gray Squirrels

Performance Expectations: MS-LS1-4, MS-LS1-5, MS-LS3-2

Concept: Growth, development, and reproduction of organisms

Middle schoolers will step into the shoes of wildlife biologist as they explore the world of gray squirrels. Using many different tools; like Punnett squares, field guides, range maps, students will study Seven Ponds’ gray squirrels’ behaviors, and make predictions about future gray squirrel populations at Seven Ponds. Please note students must have had some experience with Punnett squares.