2nd Grade

Autumn Nature Adventure: (October)
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Combine classic autumn fun with hands-on learning:

• 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: $7/person, $70.00 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

Butterflies, Butterflies! (August, September; April, May)
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Butterflies are a beautiful and non-threatening introduction to insects and life cycles:

• Search for and compare caterpillars and their parents
• Study the butterfly life cycle
• Identify common local butterflies
• Use a simple check list to document your finds
• Find out how different kinds of butterflies deal with winter
• Learn how to collect, raise and release your own local caterpillars
• Collect information about host plants and nectar plants.
• The program may include a short slide show
• Cost: $5/person, $50 minimum/class.
• Limit three classes per visit

Tennessee Standards (Science GLE 0207): Inquiry 1, Inquiry 2, Inquiry 3, 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 8.1, 10.1 (Math GLE 0206): 5.1 (Social Studies 2) 5.02b

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: (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

Fossil Hunt (September through April)
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An introduction to paleontology for young students:

• Examine fossils from the Owl's Hill collection
• Discuss how fossils are made
• Learn about common fossils in Middle Tennessee
• Find out why dinosaur bones are rare here
• Consider what it means to be extinct or extant
• Hike Owl's Hill trails, searching for fossils
• Cost:  $5/person, $50 minimum/class. 
• Limit four classes per visit

Tennessee Standards (Science GLE 0207):  Inquiry 1, Inquiry 2, 5.1, 5.2, 7.2, 7.3, 10.1 (Social Studies 2): 5.02b

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

Tennessee Standards (Science GLE 0207): Inquiry 1, Inquiry 2, 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 7.3, 8.1, 10.1 (Social Studies 2): 3.02, 5.02b

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.

Native American Program: (November)
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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

Pond Ecology: (After April 15)
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Participate in a feet-wet, hands-on study of an aquatic habitat:

• Wade into the pond to collect specimens for identification
• Observe the life cycles of amphibians and aquatic insects
• Study basic insect classification
• Build and test a simple watershed
• Perform basic water chemistry tests
• Wear old clothes and shoes; bring a change of clothes and shoes to wear home
• Cost: $5/student, $50.00 minimum.
• Limit one class per visit.

Tennessee Standards (Science GLE 0207): Inquiry 1, Inquiry 2, Inquiry 3, 1.1 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 7.3, 8.1, 10.1, 11.1, 11.2 (Math GLE 0206): 5.1 (English GLE 0201): 6.1, 8.1, 8.2 (Social Studies 2): 3.02

• English GLE 0201:  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