Indoor Programs

“BRING NATURE INTO THE CLASSROOM” $150/class

These programs include hands-on study of specimens/exhibits and include appropriate games and other activities. Programs last 45 mins (K/Grade 1) or 1 hour (all others). Details of costs here and how to book here.  (Note: the contact phone number in the above video has been changed. Please email education@theweaselhead.com for more information)

K – Grade 1   Animals, Adaptations and Seasonal Changes Fur, tracks, and scat samples are investigated for clues as to the needs of common Canadian mammals. What do animals do in winter? What made these tracks in the snow? Curricula Connections: Topic B: Seasonal Changes; Topic D: Senses; Topic E: Needs of Animals and Plants

Grade 2   Small Crawling and Flying Animals  Make a watery habitat for Mr Scud and his friend Miss Snail. Check it has everything needed to keep them healthy – then find out what happens when you add a predator! Curricula Connections: Topic A: Exploring Liquids; Topic D: Hot and Cold Temperatures; Topic E: Small Crawling and Flying Animals

Grade 3   Animal Life Cycles Build a miniature pond that includes examples of invertebrates that undergo complete, incomplete and no metamorphosis. Do young animals always look like their parents? Curricula Connections: Topic E: Animal Life Cycles

Grade 4   Plants in a Natural Community & Natures Waste Follow the story of a leaf in life and death, from decomposition to re-birth. Take the bio-diversity challenge and design your own natural area with woody and herbaceous plants, fungi and decomposers. What would you include? What would you leave out? Curricula Connections: Topic A: Waste and Our World; Topic E: Plant Growth and Changes

Grade 5   Wetlands: Important to a Healthy Environment  Build a miniature wetland – complete with aquatic invertebrates, aquatic plants and terrestrial plants. Is your ‘wetland’ sustainable? Does it have producers, consumers and decomposers? What are all these strange bugs that live in the water? Availability of aquatic invertebrates is dependent on access to wetland water. Programs will be adjusted during the winter months. Curricula Connections: Topic E: Wetland Ecosystems

Grade 6   Trees & Forest Diversity What is meant when we say a tree is ‘coniferous’ or ‘deciduous’? Examine and identify examples of both. Explore the interdependence of trees and the animals. Compare native with non-native plants and investigate the impact changes in vegetation have on forest ecosystems. Curricular Connections: Topic D: Evidence and Investigation; Topic E: Trees and Forests

Grade 7   Plants for Food and Fiber Calgary in the late 1800’s: how would you survive? What would you use for transport, for medicine, for food, for fun? Part survivor-man and part a lesson in our own history, students go back in time and try their hand at making everyday items from the natural materials found around Calgary. Curricula Connections: Unit B: Plants for Food and Fibre

Grade 8   Freshwater Ecosystems Students build a model of a watershed. What happens when there is a toxic waste spill? How far will it spread? Which parts of the watershed are affected? Try it and see! Measure the changes in nitrates/nitrites, dissolved oxygen, pH and turbidity when water becomes contaminated. Curricula Connections: Unit E: Freshwater and Saltwater Systems

Grade 9   Biodiversity Investigate the factors that influence biodiversity. Explore the adaptations of animals and plants to their environment and how these adaptations are passed on. Invasive species and climate are changing the environment far faster than in the past: can living things adapt to rapid change? Curricula Connections: Unit A: Biological Diversity

(Programs developed with the generous support of The Calgary Foundation)

Calgary Captured 

In partnership with ‘Calgary Captured’, a Calgary-wide citizen science project, the Society is offering  45 min. (younger grades) to one hour in-school presentations from January to April and November to December inclusive. These programs explore biodiversity, human impacts on our environment, and the need for co-existence with urban wildlife:

 

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