Search for School Programs at Wachusett Meadow

Through hands-on activities and outdoor exploration, students will observe and identify adaptations of common animals and identify how local wildlife use physical characteristics and behaviors to meet some of their needs.

Students will explore the concept of adaptation through analogy; examine animal specimens, play an adaptation game, and look for adaptations in a schoolyard exploration or sanctuary trail walk.

Also available and recommended: schedule a classroom visit before your field trip. A naturalist will introduce the concept of adaptation through hands-on animal specimens and then guide students as they explore adaptations through the creation of "hybrid animals."

The program will combine biology and technology to empower students to think of how to create a more sustainable human world.

Using a wide variety of local specimens, Mass Audubon educators will introduce students to local, native plants and animals through hands-on observation and investigation. Students may, for example, examine tent caterpillar egg cases on cherry twigs; scales on the wings of our native giant silk moths;  the movement of a coyote's lower jaw bone; or the reaction of a pine cone to moisture. Students will see, up close, the biological strategies their local plants and animals use to survive.

Students will then transition from learning about the natural world to learning from the natural world. Biomimicry, the emerging discipline of emulating nature’s best ideas to solve human problems, turns biological strategies into design principles. Famous examples include Velcro inspired by burdock burrs, solar cells inspired by plant leaves, and self-cleaning exterior paint inspired by the lotus flower plant. After a short power point presentation on biomimicry, students will pick a human problem and brainstorm ways their nature object may provide solutions.

Rather than doom and gloom, this positive approach connects students to their local nature, teaches them how nature solves problems, and then empowers young people to create nature-inspired solutions for a healthy planet.

Students will learn how birds are adapted to survive in their habitat through learning exercises, pictures, models and observing birds in the wild.

Students will learn how birds meet their basic needs in order to survive through learning exercises, pictures, models and observing them in the wild.

Students will learn to measure a tree, calculate how much carbon it holds, and then calculate the carbon storage capacity of Wachusett Meadow's forests or schoolyard trees. Students will determine how many sanctuary or schoolyard trees are needed to offset their carbon footprint, as well as national and international footprints. If time, students can discuss the pros and cons of formal carbon offset programs. This program is very hands-on and involves problem-solving, the acquisition of some real-world forestry skills, a bit of tree identification, and lots of math calculations.

2.5 to 3 hours is the ideal length of time for this program. This program pairs well with the Climate Change Hike program.

Guided by a Teacher-Naturalist, students will visit key areas on the sanctuary that are being, or will be, affected by climate change.  Examples include: the invasion of southern butterflies in our meadows, the decline in moose numbers, the loss of cool hemlock groves, the spread of invasive plants and more. This walk will take a hard look at the effects of climate change, but the message will not be doom and gloom. Students will also experience the positive steps the sanctuary is taking to reduce its carbon emissions and the ways we strive to monitor and mitigate stressors on our wildlife.

In this hands-on, high-interest program, students will scoop and examine the many small creatures that live in a wetland habitat. Through close observation, students will explore how these creatures move, breathe, find food, and defend themselves, as well as how this watery habitat provides for an animal's needs.

Program may be done at your site if there is an accessible pond.

Students will get to know a wetland habitat in this hands-on, high-interest program. Using nets and bug boxes, students will conduct an in-depth survey of the pond with a focus on populations and species identification. While classifying the animals that live in the pond students will investigate the adaptations needed for survival in this watery habitat.

Third graders will focus on the unique and diverse life cycles of the pond creatures they identify.

Fourth graders will focus on the internal and external structures that allow animals and plants to survive in the wetland habitat.

Fifth graders will focus on the movement of matter among producers, consumers, and decomposers in a wetland habitat.

Additional foci, such as comparing species composition in different wetland habitats or determining water quality based on species composition, are available upon request.

Program may be done at your site if there is an accessible pond.

Wachusett Meadow has an active Ecological Management plan that is critical to our ability to maintain and enhance natural communities, inventory biological diversity, and evaluate changes over time. 

In this real-world, hands-on program you will work alongside a sanctuary staff member to observe, record, and manage for certain species. In the process you will learn about the plants and animals of the sanctuary, use the tools of science, and weigh management choices and conflicts. 

All classes will be outdoors (except in extreme weather) and will require physical activity. Some classes may require respectful handling of sanctuary creatures.

This class is designed for single classes, science clubs, and smaller groups. 15 students is ideal for this program; 30 students is the maximum number. 2 hours is the ideal time for this program, but shorter or longer programs are possible.

Teachers and groups may request topics from the seasonal list below, or call to discuss program possibilities:

Amphibian Migration & Vernal Pools – Apr/May
Nest Box Monitoring (eastern bluebirds and tree swallows) – May /June
Terrestrial Amphibian Monitoring – May/June or Sept/Oct
Grassland Birds/Bobolink Monitoring – late May/June
Monarch Tagging – Sept
Beavers -- Sept thru Nov
Habitat Management/Invasive Species – year-round
Birding by Ear – June/July
Reptiles and/or Snakes – May/June, early July, early fall
Fungi – spring and fall
Mammal Tracking - winter

Wachusett Meadow has an active Ecological Management plan that is critical to our ability to maintain and enhance natural communities, inventory biological diversity, and evaluate changes over time. 

In this real-world, hands-on program you will work alongside a sanctuary staff member to observe, record, and manage for certain species. In the process you will learn about the plants and animals of the sanctuary, use the tools of science, and weigh management choices and conflicts. 

All classes will be outdoors (except in extreme weather) and will require physical activity. Some classes may require respectful handling of sanctuary creatures.

This class is designed for single classes, science clubs, and smaller groups. 15 students is ideal for this program; 30 students is the maximum number. 2 hours is the ideal time for this program, but shorter or longer programs are possible.

Teachers and groups may request topics from the seasonal list below, or call to discuss program possibilities:

Amphibian Migration & Vernal Pools – Apr/May
Nest Box Monitoring (eastern bluebirds and tree swallows) – May /June
Terrestrial Amphibian Monitoring – May/June or Sept/Oct
Grassland Birds/Bobolink Monitoring – late May/June
Monarch Tagging – Sept
Beavers -- Sept thru Nov
Habitat Management/Invasive Species – year-round
Birding by Ear – June/July
Reptiles and/or Snakes – May/June, early July, early fall
Fungi – spring and fall
Mammal Tracking - winter

Students will visit a forest to observe, collect, and study organisms in their natural environment. They will explore how the parts of a forest are interconnected.

Explore the forest and investigate the plants and animals of that habitat.

Students will survey several habitats - woodland, wetland, meadow, and edge habitats - to explore how each habitat meets the needs of the animals that live there, why some animals may thrive in one habitat and not survive in another, and how changes to a habitat can affect who lives there.

Also available and recommended: schedule a classroom visit before your field trip.

Students will explore woodland, wetland, meadow, and edge areas to discover how animals find food, water, shelter, and space in those habitats. Through the clues animals leave behind, we can also uncover the interrelationships between species and the diversity of species within and across habitats.

Also available and recommended: schedule a classroom visit before your field trip. A naturalist will introduce your students to the concept of habitat and guide them in building an ideal habitat for a favorite species.

Students will explore wetland, woodland, pond, and meadow to investigate plant/animal adaptations in different habitats and in response to climate change.

Students will visit beaver dams on the sanctuary and study beaver engineering skills. Students also will visit a variety of other animal homes (including nests and burrows) and explore ways that animals engineer their environments to meet their needs. Then, using natural materials, students will have the opportunity to build structures while experiencing first-hand the scientific engineering principles of design, materials, shape, strength, and force. In all design challenges, students will be encouraged to create plans, problem solve, ask questions, test materials, and work cooperatively.

All schools that register for this field trip will receive a year-long engineering curriculum, created by Worcester Polytechnic Institute engineering students, that supports and enhances the field trip.

This field trip, and supporting engineering curriculum, were specifically designed for third grade, but other grade levels are also welcome to register.

This program may be done at your school, or other location, if there is a suitable outdoor space.

Investigate the plant life cycle from seed to plant. Visit a meadow or the school yard to investigate how seeds travel, the relationship between structure and function, and plant adaptations.

Students will match seeds to the plants they become, go on a seed search, and investigate the relationship between structure and function by observing how seeds travel.

Compare mammal skulls and determine the adaptations that have allowed the animal to survive as a predator or prey. Learn how to hypothesize an animal's diet from knowledge of its teeth, read clues to distinguish between herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores, and use your observation skills to identify unknown skulls.

Complement this program with a hike or schoolyard exploration while looking for signs left behind by primary and secondary consumers, determine the food chains involved, and link these chains to create the diverse food web of this ecosystem.

Go on a gentle exploration of our sanctuary trails or your schoolyard.

We'll use our senses to sniff a smelly plant, find something prickly, contrast colors in nature, and listen to the sound of the wind or birds singing.

Learn to use a magnifier or other introductory observation tool.

Young children will become more familiar and comfortable with nature in this friendly, introductory program.