Elementary School Programs

Adventure Team
Grades 4-5; 2 hours; $6.00/participant

Can you untangle a human knot? Can two groups create an identical piece of art while whispering down the lane? Students will participate in a variety of simulated problem solving experiences that require group cooperation and physical activity. Activities are designed to break down barriers, build teamwork and identify leadership potential among students. This program is recommended at the beginning of the school year or prior to group projects or problem-solving activities.

Amazing Adaptations
Standards: 4.6.4/4.7.4
Grades 3-5; 2 hrs; $6.00/participant or 1.5 hrs; $5.25/participant

Observe a variety of structural and behavioral adaptations of plants and animals at the Myrick Center. Students will play games and go on a hike to see examples of how plants and animals have adapted in order to survive.

At Home in Your Habitat
Standards: 4.3.4/4.4.4/4.6.4/4.7.4
Grades K-3; 1.25 hours; $5.00/participant

Search for signs of wildlife while learning the four basic components of a habitat. Students discover a variety of animal homes while understanding how specific habitats provide food, water, shelter and space.

Backyard Farming
Standards: 4.4.4/4.5.4/4.6.4/4.8.4
Grades 2-5; 2 hours; $6.00/participant
Available Apr.17-Oct.20

Learn about the life cycle of plants and insects while exploring the Myrick Center's organic vegetable garden and greenhouse. Students will test the soil, search for insects and help plant and harvest vegetables as the season permits. Produce is donated to local food cupboards. See "Growing, Growing, Gone" for a Double program option.

Common Sense
Standards: 4.7.4
Grades K-4; 1.25 hours; $5.00/participant

Test your sense of touch, smell, sight and hearing in the outdoors during an exploratory walk. Students will learn to use their "tools" to become more aware of the world around them.

Communities at Work
Standards: 4.1.4/4.2.4/4.3.4/4.6.4/4.7.4
Grades 4-5; 2 hours; $6.00/participant

Explore a pond, stream, or field/forest community while discovering how its inhabitants interact and adapt. During each community study, students collect organisms and examine their interdependency through the transfer of energy. Small groups may request which community they would like to explore. Due to physical limitations, large groups will need to be divided so that each student explores only one of the three communities.

Digging Dirt
Standards: 4.4.4/4.6.4
Grades 2-4; 1.5 hours; $5.25/participant

Do all soils feel the same? Smell the same? Look the same? Students will use their senses to distinguish different types of soil. Learn what ingredients make up soil and what animals use it through hands-on exploration.

Findings of Fall
Standards: 4.6.4/4.7.4
Grades K-2; 1.25 hours; $4.25/participant
Available Sept.5-Nov.18

Discover how plants and animals change in the fall to prepare for the upcoming winter. Observe the beautiful variety of autumn colors; learn how different animals plan ahead, migrate, and hibernate and investigate the adaptations of special seeds.

Geology and Landforms
Standards: 4.2.4/4.8.4
Grades 3-5; 1.5 hours; $5.25/participant

Explore a rock outcropping that was quarried in the 1800’s and go through the tests geologists use to identify rocks. Discover connections between the rock and soil cycles using a scavenger hunt. Observe how humans and nature impact the cycles. Discover how weather, water and plants affect landforms.

Growing, Growing, Gone (DOUBLE PROGRAM)
Standards: 4.4.4/4.5.4/4.6.4/4.8.4
Grades 2-5; 2 lessons (approx. six weeks apart) -- 2 hours per lesson; $11.50 total/participant
Available Apr. 17-Oct. 20
Learn about the life cycle of plants and insects while exploring the Myrick Center's organic vegetable garden and greenhouse. Students will test the soil, search for insects and help plant and harvest vegetables as the season permits. Produce is donated to local food cupboards. During this double program, students will start seeds during the first program and transplant/harvest those plants during their return visit approximately six weeks later. Students will also participate in extension activities to build and expand upon their initial visit. Students will plant a seed their first visit and take a seedling home at the end of their second visit.

Inspect an Insect
Standards: 4.6.4/4.7.4/4.8.4
Grades 3-5; 1.5 hours; $5.25/participant
Available Apr.24-Oct.20
Collect fascinating insects in a sweep net. Learn the characteristics of insects and observe the similarities and differences between the various insects and other invertebrates collected at the Myrick Center. Compare and contrast the adaptations of insects that live on the land with those that live in water.

Lenape Lore
Standards: 4.2.4/4.6.4/4.7.4/4.8.4
Grades 4 & 5; 2.5 hours; $6.75/participant
Explore the ways of ‘pre-contact’ Lenape, our local Native Americans. Experience and learn about home life, hunting, foraging, fishing and games while doing hands-on activities in our Lenape Village. Find out about giving back to the earth and taking only what you can use. Maximum 75 students. Minimum 25 students. This program cannot be held outdoors in rain.

Lenape Sense
Standards: 4.7.4
Grades 2-3; 1.5 hours; $5.00/participant
This lesson is designed as an introduction to the 4th grade Lenape Lore Program. Students travel back in time and imagine the life of the Lenape. Students use their five senses to sharpen their observational skills and gain a better understanding of how animals and people use their senses to survive. Various games and hands-on activities are used to connect students with the ways of the Lenape. The lesson emphasizes how indigenous peoples lived in harmony with nature and why this is important for us today.

Pond Sense
Standards: 4.1.4/4.7.4/4.8.4
Grades K-2; 1 hour;$4.75/participant
Complete a sensory journey around the pond. Discover how a frog is adapted to survive in a pond and learn the different stages of its life. Collect and look at other plants and animals that live in ponds. Compare animals that live in the pond to those that live around the pond.

Signs of Spring
Standards: 4.6.4/4.7.4
Grades K-2; 1.25 hours; $4.25/participant
Available Mar.27-June 19
Watch spring unfold as buds and wildflowers pop up, hibernators emerge from their winter shelters and activity picks up again as the days grow longer and warmer. Students will learn how and why plants and animals change with the season.

Stream Sense
Standards: 4.1.4/4.6.4/4.7.4
Grades K-3; 1.5 hours; $4.75/participant
Practice using your senses as you explore a stream and its surroundings. Students will discover what lives in and near a stream and how the plants and animals that live near a stream are different from those that live in a field.

Weather Whys
Standards: 4.1.4/4.6.4
Grades 4-5; 2 hours ; $6.00/participant
Explore the Myrick Center while learning about weather. Learn how to identify clouds and take basic meteorological measurements, such as temperature, wind speed, and relative humidity. Discover microclimates as you go on a heat hunt. Figure out how weather impacts plants, animals and rocks.

What's Bugging You? Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
Standards: 4.3.4/4.4.4/4.5.4/4.6.4
Grades 3-5; 2 hours; $6.00/participant
Available May 8-Oct.13

Explore the Myrick Center's organic garden to see different ways of monitoring pest populations and various IPM tactics to deal with these pests. Students will work in teams to collect and identify garden insects to determine which ones are harmful to plants and which ones are beneficial in the garden. Students will play a game to learn how pesticides and other chemicals bioaccumulate in the food chain.

Wonderful Wetlands
Standards: 4.1.4
Grades 3-5; 2 hours; $5.75/participant

Take a wetland walk along a stream corridor and participate in hands on activities to see how wetlands soak up water, act as filters and help to slow runoff. Search for animals and their signs and discover the unusual adaptations of wetland plants. Discover the biological diversity of the wetland environment and why protection of wetlands is important.


Brandywine Valley Association
1760 Unionville-Wawaset Road West Chester, PA 19382
(610) 793-1090; (610) 793-2813 fax
E-mail:
[email protected]

http://www.brandywinewatershed.org