Make Way for the School Bus

School visit in 2012

In spring a youngster’s fancy turns to – field trips!  Yes, it’s time to make way for school buses at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge as the field trip season begins next week.  The Friends currently have 6 school visits, 581 children in all, plus teachers and chaperones, on the calendar for late April and May.  Here’s what is planned for the students:

• A power point show prepared by Refuge Manager Kathy Whaley showing the children what a Refuge is, and who lives there, as well as who works there and what they do, for a good, age-appropriate overview.
• A guided nature walk on Harris Creek Trail - due to the closing of that trail April 25, one group will bus down to the observation platform at Egret and practice using binoculars to view wildlife from there.
• During snack time (animal crackers and water!), a presentation by one or the nest box monitors on the Nest Box Project and Bluebird life cycle.

Another shopper at Sam's remarked - "That's a LOT of cookies!"

• For grades 1 – 3: Presentation on the butterfly life cycle, with a story, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and creating butterfly life cycle bracelets to wear.

• For older students: Finding Fossils – students will uncover purchased fossils embedded in a mix of sand and plaster of Paris, and will identify their “find” from a fossil chart.

All of these activities are planned and led by volunteers, with snacks and craft materials provided by the Friends of Hagerman.  We would love to be able to have more schools visit next spring – but more volunteers will be needed, the current program of activities requires a minimum of 6-8 volunteers per visit.  If this sounds like your bag, contact us through Comments, below.

You may also contact us through the Friends website, at any time!