Please Note:
Trailside's outdoor exhibits are open on weekends via ticket reservations; buildings remain closed. Read More
Search for School Programs at Blue Hills
Browse all Blue Hills School Programs or search using the form below.
Students will learn how and why scientists classify living things. Working in small teams, students will create their own simple classification systems for sets of natural items from the museum's collections. After discovering the characteristics used to classify the main classes of vertebrates, students will then meet living representatives of two different classes.
Program Location(s):
Blue Hills Trailside Museum, Milton
Your school or other location
Grades:
3, 4, 5, 6
Price:
-
$175/up to 30 students
Discover the different birds of prey that call Massachusetts home. Students begin the presentation by handling touchable artifacts to discover the adaptations that make these birds such fierce hunters and that define this group. Working in small groups at inquiry-based exploration stations, students investigate identification, adaptations, and the ecological role played by birds of prey. The program concludes with a live animal encounter featuring two birds of prey.
Program Location(s):
Blue Hills Trailside Museum, Milton
Your school or other location
Grades:
3, 4, 5
Price:
-
$175/up to 30 students
Curriculum Frameworks:
4-LS1-1 - From Molecules to Organisms--Structures and Processes - animal/plant, internal/external structures
Discover the different birds of prey that call Massachusetts home. Students begin the presentation by handling touchable artifacts to discover the adaptations that make these birds such fierce hunters and that define this group. Working in small groups at inquiry-based exploration stations, students investigate identification, adaptations, and the ecological role played of birds of prey. The program concludes with a live animal encounter featuring two birds of prey.
Program Location(s):
Blue Hills Trailside Museum, Milton
Your school or other location
Grades:
6, 7, 8
Price:
-
$175/up to 30 students
Curriculum Frameworks:
7-MS-LS1-4 - From Molecules to Organisms--Structures and Processes - animal beh., plant structures repro.
New species of animals and plants are appearing in Massachusetts every year. Which of them will survive here and where might they be found in the future? In this program students use data collected by scientists to find evidence showing that changes in the environment result in changes in the local distribution of animal species.
Program Location(s):
Blue Hills Trailside Museum, Milton
Your school or other location
Grades:
3, 4, 5
Price:
-
$175/up to 30 students
Curriculum Frameworks:
3-LS4-4 - Biological Evolution--Unity and Diversity - changes in habitat affect reproduction
Discover the diversity of life in Massachusetts while exploring how energy and materials cycle through local ecosystems. Students will create a local food connection while exploring the concepts of food chains and webs using organisims native to Massachusetts. Meet a local predator and analyze clues about its diet at the conclusion of this program.
Program Location(s):
Blue Hills Trailside Museum, Milton
Your school or other location
Grades:
3, 4, 5
Price:
-
$175/up to 30 students
Curriculum Frameworks:
5-LS2-1 - Ecosystems--Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics - movement of matter through food web
5-PS3-1 - energy - energy transfer in animals
Students examine how and why animals move in different ways. Including an interactive story, touchable natural artifacts, activities, and meeting a live animal, this program is 45 minutes long.
Program Location(s):
Blue Hills Trailside Museum, Milton
Your school or other location
Grades:
Pre K, K, 1, 2
Price:
-
$150/up to 25 students
Curriculum Frameworks:
PreK-LS2-2 (MA) - Ecosystems--Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics - how familiar plant/animals meet needs
1-LS1-1 - From Molecules to Organisms--Structures and Processes - function of plant/animal body parts
Students compare an animal's senses to their own and discover how animals use their senses to survive. Including an interactive story, touchable natural artifacts, activities, and meeting a live animal, this program is 45 minutes long.
Program Location(s):
Blue Hills Trailside Museum, Milton
Your school or other location
Online
Grades:
Pre K, K
Price:
-
$150/up to 25 students
Curriculum Frameworks:
PreK-LS2-2 (MA) - Ecosystems--Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics - how familiar plant/animals meet needs
1-LS1-1 - From Molecules to Organisms--Structures and Processes - function of plant/animal body parts
Animals need all sorts of things to help them survive, and during this program students will create a list of the most important things in an animal's home. Including an interactive story, touchable natural artifacts, activities, and meeting a live animal, this program is 45 minutes long.
Program Location(s):
Blue Hills Trailside Museum, Milton
Your school or other location
Grades:
Pre K, K, 1, 2
Price:
-
$150/up to 25 students
Curriculum Frameworks:
PreK-LS2-2 (MA) - Ecosystems--Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics - how familiar plant/animals meet needs
K-LS1-1 - From Molecules to Organisms--Structures and Processes - where animals and plants get food
2-LS2-3 (MA) - Ecosystems--Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics - how plant/animals depend on surroundings
Find out how owls look, sound, and feel by handling natural artifacts and meeting a live owl. Including an interactive story, touchable natural artifacts, activities, and meeting a live animal, this program is 45 minutes long.
Program Location(s):
Blue Hills Trailside Museum, Milton
Your school or other location
Grades:
Pre K, K, 1, 2
Price:
-
$150/up to 25 students
Curriculum Frameworks:
PreK-LS2-2 (MA) - Ecosystems--Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics - how familiar plant/animals meet needs
1-LS1-1 - From Molecules to Organisms--Structures and Processes - function of plant/animal body parts
Discover evidence using native wildlife that animals of the same species can sometimes be very different from each other.
Program Location(s):
Blue Hills Trailside Museum, Milton
Your school or other location
Grades:
1, 2
Price:
-
$150 per presentation
Curriculum Frameworks:
1-LS3-1 - Heredity--Inheritance and Variation of Traits - sim./diff. among indiv. plant/animal
Take a journey in time by investigating the geology and landforms of the Blue Hills. Students will produce a scientifc description of a rock from the museum's collections, go on an outdoor scavenger hunt to observe clues and deduce the story of how the Blue Hills were formed, and meet a live animal whose survival depends on rock formations. This program is offered at the museum between April 1 and November 15, the fee is the cost for each group of no more than 30 participants.
Program Location(s):
Blue Hills Trailside Museum, Milton
Grades:
3, 4, 5
Price:
-
$325/classroom
Curriculum Frameworks:
4-ESS1-1 - Earth's Place in the Universe - erosion and deposition shapes landscape
4-ESS2-1 - Earth's Systems - mechanical weathering
Massachusetts is home to seven different species of owls. During this program, students will explore the adaptations owls have that make them unique nocturnal birds of prey.Students will handle touchable nature artifacts and meet two live owls which are native to the Commonwealth.
Program Location(s):
Blue Hills Trailside Museum, Milton
Your school or other location
Online
Grades:
3, 4, 5
Price:
-
$175/up to 30 students
Curriculum Frameworks:
4-LS1-1 - From Molecules to Organisms--Structures and Processes - animal/plant, internal/external structures
Massachusetts is home to seven species of owls. During this program, students use touchable natural history artifacts and live animals to examine the physical adaptations and other characteristics that makes this order of birds and its individual species unique. Students will also explore the environmental factors which are causing some owl species to decline in Massachusetts.
Program Location(s):
Blue Hills Trailside Museum, Milton
Your school or other location
Grades:
6, 7, 8
Price:
-
$175/up to 30 students
Curriculum Frameworks:
7-MS-LS1-4 - From Molecules to Organisms--Structures and Processes - animal beh., plant structures repro.
Journey to an outdoor classroom to explore the importance of freshwater wetlands. Students use nets and field guides to investigate the flora and fauna of the wetland. Older students will determine the health of the wetland and what factors couuld be affecting this important habitat. This program is offered at the museum between April 1 and November 15 and is limited to 25 participants per group.
Program Location(s):
Blue Hills Trailside Museum, Milton
Grades:
2, 3, 4
Price:
-
$175 per presentation.
Curriculum Frameworks:
2-LS4-1 - Biological Evolution--Unity and Diversity - observe/compare living things diff. env.
4-LS1-1 - From Molecules to Organisms--Structures and Processes - animal/plant, internal/external structures