Field Trips
Welcome to Fresh Air Family Field Trips! We have converted our curriculum to design-thinking to help you meet and exceed your academic goals. We also have a special needs expert on our staff with lesson plans for a wide variety of needs. Our staff is happy to provide a field trip experience that is engaging, sometimes gross, and always educational. We work at a variety of nature centers, including the Vulcan Trail, the Cahaba River in Trussville, Tannehill State Park, Aldridge Gardens, and two fossil sites.
Seed Party, All Ages
How do seeds disperse? We will study the ways. Then, we will design ways for seeds to cross a "river" to attend a "seed party." This especially fits Grade 2 Ecosystems #6.
Standards: Physical Science 5.7
Life Science 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 3.11, 5.8
STEAM, Design-thinking
Fairy Tales/Fairy Houses, All Ages/Groups
Take a magical tour around the trail with a story-filled hike based on plant folklore featuring heroes and heroines, dragons and fairies, princes and princesses. Our the senses will be explored as we touch, smell, see, and listen to the birds. Ranges from fairy houses for little ones to Latin names for older students.
Standards: Cultural Diversity, Ideas that relate to science, technology,
and society, Scientific writing, Engineering, Language, Botany, STEAM,
Design-Thinking
K.5,K.6, 2.2,2.3
Snakes and Dragons!
Live Animal Show
Meet your new friendesssss! Hands-on, you-can-hold-it live animals. Non-venomous snakes from corn snakes to a balled python, a bearded dragon, turtles and a lizard. Als, skinny pigs (Hairless Guinea pigs) and a bunny round out the show. Lean about the animals and their adaptations.
Standards: Physical Science 5.7
Life Science 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 3.11, 5.8
STEAM, Design-thinking
GO Fish! All Ages
Come on a fishing expedition with us. We fish Huck Finn-style, with cane poles and worms. Older children can tackle up their own poles. We look at fish mouth construction, the health of the stream, the amount of pull necessary to feel the tug of the fish and to ultimately catch one! We talk about types of fish, their food, and look for crawdads and other stream dwellers.
Life Science Standards: K.3, 1.5, 1.7, 2.7, 2.11, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, 3.10, 3.12, 4.9, 4.11, 5.16, 6.15, 6.16, 7.6, 7.7, 7.8, 7.9, 7.10, 7.11
Fossil Hunt Exploring Birmingham's Paleozoic Past, All Ages
A visit to Living River in Montevallo or the Union Chapel Mine in Sumiton, one of the top three Coal Age Fossil sites in the world. Students have found museum-quality pieces! A paleontologist will give a history of the site and tips for finding fossils. He will guide the students on the field trip and evaluate the fossils they find. They can keep any fossils that are not museum-quality. No digging. Instead, students can pull layer apart or find them in the slag pile. Fresh Air Family provides one of the few ways to enjoy this unique educational experience.
Program Cost: $15 per person with a minimum of $250
Life Sciences Standards: 3.9, 4.12
Social Studies History Standards: 3.3, 3.4, 3.7, 3.11, 4.4, 4.6
Earth and Space Science Standards: 6.4, 6.5, 6.6, 6.8
Shining the Light on Photosynthesis, 4th - 6th
The basis for animals in existence is undoubtedly the production of glucose by plants. Students will learn, through direct observation, the structure and function of plants. Students will utilize fieldscopes and other equipment to understand the transfer of light energy and its conversion into chemical energy or food.
Discipline: Life Sciences
Standards: 4.9, 5.8, 5.9
Discipline: Earth and Space Science
Standards: 6.7, 6.14, 6.15, 6.16
Creek Stomp! All Ages
Discover the diversity of life along the creek at Tannehill or the shallow Cahaba River. All students will have the opportunity to explore for macro invertebrates. Students will learn to identify the organisms and interpret what certain organisms mean for the health of the wetland. Upper level students will test the quality of water from the source, and relate its condition to the diversity of species found at the study site. Last, students will record the diversity and richness of macroinvertebrates and vertebrates as indicator species to the health of this ecosystem.
Life Sciences Standards: 3.5, 3.6, 3.1
Earth and Space Science Standards: 6.7, 6.15, 6.16