Field Trips are an important part of every child’s education. When students leave the classroom, they see the connections between what is happening at school and in the ‘real-world’. They begin to see that what they learn within the walls of the classroom can help them solve the problems they see in the world around them and can have a direct impact on who they become as people.
It was a priority of ours that every Cherry Lane student go on a field trip this fall, and we were lucky to partner with the Science Museum of Long Island, in Manhasset, to make this happen. Each grade visited (or will visit in the upcoming weeks) the museum, participating in a hands-on workshop that enriches and supports the subjects they are learning about in science class.
Our first graders recently finished up a unit about sound and light in Science, and at the museum, they will participate in a workshop entitled, “Good Vibrations.” Students will explore the world of sound through hands-on experiments and demonstrations, discover the variety of ways sound can be produced, and learn how it travels through air and water. They will experiment with pitchforks (the musical kind!) and even create their own musical instrument.
In science class, our second graders will be learning about Animal Biodiversity. They’ll be classifying animals, and learning about animal needs and animal behavior. At the museum, our second grade students will participate in a workshop entitled, “Insects and Spiders,” which will be a great introduction to this unit. Students will investigate what distinguishes insects from spiders while observing live species and preserved specimens. They will also have the opportunity to meet a live tarantula and touch a hissing cockroach while learning about their habitats and adaptations!
Our third graders dug into a unit about fossils in science class, and at the museum, students participated in a workshop entitled “Discovering Dinosaurs.” They explored questions like, “How tall was Tyrannosaurus rex? What and how did dinosaurs eat? Where did they live? How do paleontologists study fossils?” Our students also visited the museum’s paleontology lab and saw how fossils are excavated, preserved and restored. Using special tools, students worked on actual bones encased in rock material, as well.
In General studies, our fourth graders read the book, When Lunch Fights Back: Wickedly Clever Animal Defenses, learning about the incredible way animals adapt to their environment and defend themselves. In their science class, students are studying the structure and functions of the body. Inside the museum, students participated in a workshop called “Animal Adaptations” where they got up close to a number of live animals in order to discover what adaptations these animals need to survive. Outside the museum, in the forest, students participated in a workshop called “Woodland Ecology.” Students were introduced to the basic components of the forest environment by observing soil and the various types of vegetation growing in it. In this hands-on workshop, students also discovered how producers, consumers, and decomposers work together to produce a balanced ecosystem and to survive.
In their fifth grade science class, students are finishing up a unit about chemicals and chemical reactions. Inside the museum, students will be participating in a workshop called “Slime, Goo, and Ooze.” Supplementing what they learned about in science, students will learn the basics of mixing solutions and forming plastics and will explore the exciting world of chemistry. Students will also make blobs of goo and handfuls of slime they can take home. Outside the museum, students will also participate in the workshop “Woodland Ecology.” Beginning soon, our fifth graders are learning about how ecosystems work and how different organisms in an ecosystem depend on each other, and this workshop beautifully complements this unit.
It’s an incredible learning experience when students can make connections between what they’re learning in the classroom and what’s happening in the real-world, and we’re thrilled that we could kick-off the year with these meaningful, hands-on experiences for all of our students.
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