1st Grade

Autumn Nature Adventure (October)
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• Participate in a traditional hayride through the sights, sounds and scents of autumn
• Observe how native plants and wildlife are adapting to seasonal changes on a guided hike
• Enjoy a seasonal story or a Smithsonian Backyard story (your choice)
• Finish with the always fun selection of the perfect "take home" pumpkin
• Remember to plan for pumpkin transport!
• Cost: $9/person, $100.00 minimum/class.
• Limit:  3 classes or 75 students per visit.
• Due to the up-front expenses, this program must be paid in full in advance; no refunds

Animals in Winter: (January through March)
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Combine science and math skills while looking for winter homes and cold weather adaptations of native plants and animals:

• Discover how different animals adapt to winter
• Compare cold weather strategies like hibernation and migration
• Find out why Groundhogs are considered weather prognosticators
• Learn to check and compare weather predictions using newspaper, television or computer
• End with an age appropriate Smithsonian Backyard story in the Owl's Hill  "people burrow."
• Cost: $5/person, $50 minimum/class.
• Limit 3 classes

Bees and Things That Fly: (September, March, April, May)
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A great spring program focusing on pollination and the value of insects:

• Explore the importance of plant and animal interdependence in the food chain
• Learn about honeybees through an introduction to our observation beehive
• Focus on the value of pollination
• Discover how insects see the world
• Find out how bees communicate
• Take a guided hike, hunting for pollinators and signs of their work
• Cost: $5/person, $50.00 minimum/class
• Limit:  3 classes

Tennessee Standards (Science GLE 0107): Inquiry 1, 1.1, 2.1, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1 (English GLE 0101): 8.1, 8.2 (Social Studies): 1.03, 3.03a, 3.03b, 5.02

Fall Adventures with Squirrel Nutkin: (August through November)
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Use this classic Beatrix Potter tale as a multidisciplinary introduction to food chain concepts and winter adaptations of native animals:

• Enjoy an introduction to Beatrix Potter and her work as a naturalist
• Participate in a reading of this charming story
• Explore the autumn orchard and pond
• Hunt for food appropriate for Squirrel Nutkin  and other animals
• Meet Mr. Brown's relatives in our non-releasable live owl exhibit. 
• Cost: $5/person, $50.00 minimum/class
• Limit 3 classes

Feather Your Nest: (February, March, April, May)
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An introduction to birds:

• Reinforce the characteristics that make a bird a bird
• Identify common local birds and their various nesting habits and habitats
• Examine the Owl’s Hill nest collection
• Use feathers from the Owl's Hill feather collection to demonstrate features of feathers
• Meet our resident non-releasable Owls
• Take a guided  hike, looking and listening for wild birds and their nests
• Peep into a nestbox to check for eggs or babies
• Cost: $5/person, $50 minimum/class.
• Limit two classes per visit

Interpretive Habitat Hike: (August through May)
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Designed to encourage observation, stimulate curiosity and increase sensory awareness in the natural world:

• Focus on evidence of the season
  • Autumn hikes abound with fruit, seeds, spiders and insects
  • Winter provides burrows, fossils and tracks
  • Spring offers nesting birds, mating amphibians, and paths of wildflowers
• Visit varied habitats, including old orchard, pond and forest
• Consider the adaptations needed to survive in each  habitat.
• Look for signs of herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, decomposers
• Listen for bird and amphibian sounds
• Cost: $5/person, $50.00 minimum/class

Meet an Owl: (August through May)
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Middle Tennessee is the year-round home to four species of owl; meet a live non-releasable representative of each species:

• Learn about their different habits
• Discover the place of each in the ecosystem. 
• Take a guided hike through owl territory
• See how rehabilitated birds of prey are prepared for release back to the wild
• Cost: $5/person, $50.00 minimum/class.
• Limit two classes per visit.

Tennessee Standards (Science GLE 0107): Inquiry 1, 1.1, 2.1, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1 (Math GLE 0106):  1.1, 1.7, 1.8, 5.1 (General Music): 8.1

This program provides an archaeological window on past inhabitants of Middle Tennessee and the Americas

• Experiment with picture language to design a "power shield"
• Follow natural trail signs to activities and a Native American story
• Compare the needs and resources of early residents of Tennessee and today's inhabitants
• Attend an interpreter's presentation of the Owl's Hill collection of Native American artifacts
• Store seeds to take home and plant as Native Americans did
• Cost: $5/person, $50 minimum/class
• Limit three classes per visit

Tennessee Standards (Science GLE 0107): Inquiry 1, 5.1 (Social Studies 1): 1.01, 1.02, 1.03, 3.03b, 5.01a, 5.02 (Visual Art): 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1

Spring Happenings with Mr. Jeremy Fisher: (March, April, May)
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A perfect opportunity to introduce aquatic habitats and food chains in a non-threatening environment:

• Enjoy an introduction to Beatrix Potter and her work as a naturalist
• Participate in a reading of this charming story
• Let British terms for everyday items expand young vocabularies
• Make a "feet dry" exploration of the Owl's Hill ponds
• Meet some of Jeremy's relatives and friends in the wild
• Listen for amphibian calls
• Cost: $5/person, $50.00 minimum/class.
• Limit three classes per visit

• English GLE 0101:  2.1, 2.2, 5.1, 5.2
• Physical Education: 1.1, 2.1, 3.1, 3.2, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 5.1, 5.5