Randall Davey Audubon Center
Santa Fe, NM
Fifth Grade Ecology Program
The Randall Davey Audubon Center’s (RDAC) Fifth Grade Ecology program engages Santa Fe fifth graders in a four day learning experience in their own schoolyards and at RDAC’s nearby nature center. In an outdoor setting, the program explores the idea of an “ecosystem” and allows students to practice skills important to scientific inquiry. On the first day of the program, students use their observation skills in the classroom and then in the schoolyard to describe the size, texture, color, and shape of items they find. On day two, students return to the schoolyard where they learn about classification and practice categorizing different living and non-living items they come across. The theme of the field trip, which takes place on the third day of the program, is “asking questions”. At the Nature Center, students explore a collection of skulls and try to identify the corresponding animals by asking questions and making observations. The class then moves outside where students explore, observe, classify, and ask questions about three different “plots” in the piÑon-juniper forest. On the fourth day, students share their data and create a final art project depicting the ecosystem of a favorite animal. The program has been extremely well-received, and many teachers sign up year after year. It has been especially popular among teachers and students because it integrates fifth grade science standards into an active, creative, and enjoyable outdoor experience. The program is offered for free, and only to low-income schools, through a grant from the City of Santa Fe.
Learn more »
