Field Trips
Swaner Preserve and EcoCenter offers hands-on, science-based field trips to kindergarten through eighth grade classes as well as youth organizations. Our field trips allow students to get outside and explore while enhancing their classroom education with field experiences. Field trips are offered on a year-round basis, and field trip themes vary with the seaon. Bring your students to Swaner during every season of the year! All of our field trip curriculum is correlated to Utah State Core Curriculum Science Standards and adapted for each grade level.
Winter Field Trips
Field trips during the winter season involve snowshoeing on the Preserve while we explore snow and weather science, animal adaptations, and wildlife tracking. Winter field trips typically take place from January - mid-March. The following field trip options are available:
Kindergarten - Second Grade
Students will spend time in our EcoCenter learning about adaptations animals have that help them survive the winter. They will also experience snowshoeing as they venture out to look for signs of animal life in the snow.
Third - Fifth Grade
Students will explore the Preserve on snowshoes while learning about the winter water cycle and the insulating property of snow. They will also learn how to identify animal tracks and look for signs of animal life in the snow.
Sixth - Eighth Grade
Students will "dig in" to snow science as they dig a snow pit to learn about layers and properties that form the snowpack. They will also learn the science behind avalanches and will examine and classify snowflakes. All this will be completed as students snowshoe around the Preserve.
Spring and Fall Field Trips
Field trip programs for Spring and Fall 2012 are currently being developed. Trips will be offered to grades kindergarten through eighth. Spring field trips typically occur April-June while Fall field trips take place September - November. Topics to be covered in Spring/Fall field trips will include:
- The importance of wetlands
- Exploring a wetland habitat
- Pond ecology
- Stream ecology
- Plants
- Birds
- Habitat comparisons
- Animal life cycles
- Ecosystems
- Food webs and energy flow
- Classification
- Geology
Check back with us soon for Spring and Fall field trip offerings!
Field Trip Details
Scheduling: Field trips must be scheduled at least two weeks before the date you would like to attend. To schedule a field trip contact Andrew Giunta at 435-252-3583 or andrew.giunta@usu.edu. Please be prepared with the following information:
- Requested date with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd date choices
- Requested program time
- Contact Information: teacher/leader's name, school/organization, address, email, phone number
- Grade level of students
- Number of students
- If any participants have special needs that will need to be accomodated.
Fee: $2.00 per student; One chaperone for every 10 students is free of charge, additional chaperones are charged $2.00 each
Student/Chaperone Numbers: We require you to bring 1 chaperone for every 10 students (see fee structure above). A minimum of 5 students is required for any trip.
Field Trip Format: Field trips are typically 2.5 hours in length. Shorter trips can be accomodated, especially for younger students. You may choose to come early or stay later to explore the EcoCenter or have lunch in our EcoCenter (winter) or on the Preserve (Spring). Please indicate your preference to do this when you schedule. Groups are required to bring their own lunches and clean up thoroughly after lunch.
For a printable version of our field trip program information click here. For questions or schedule a trip contact Andrew Giunta at 435-252-3583 or andrew.giunta@usu.edu.
