ANN ARBOR – Who remembers field trips?
The pandemic has taken away so many experiences this year for students, including loading up into a school bus and venturing out to learn and see new things.
Luckily, University of Michigan’s Matthaei Botanical Gardens staff are organizing virtual field trips for classrooms and groups.
Virtual field trips are offered Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The cost is $30 per classroom and $1 per student.
Each field trip runs for 45 minutes and includes a Q&A session for students at the end.
Here are the topics and recommended grade levels, according to its website:
- Roots and Shoots: Explore plants and their needs. Compare the diversity of plant life and relationships to animals. This trip is for pre-K, kindergarten and first-graders.
- Plant & Animal Pairs: Living and non-living things are part of all ecosystems. Explore the ways plants and animals around the world depend on each other for pollination, seed dispersal, shelter and food. This trip is for second- and third-graders.
- Biomes are Beautiful: Explore three unique biomes and the characteristics that make them unique. Learn about plant adaptations that help them thrive from the Tropics to the Desert. This trip is for third- and fourth-graders.
- Ecosystems: Flowers, Fruits & Seeds: Plant structures are uniquely adapted to their role in an ecosystem. Explore plant adaptations from roots to flowers that aid in survival for both plants and animals. This trip is for third- and fourth-graders.
- Ecosystems; Energy flows, Matter cycles: Ecosystems are complex with interdependencies between living and non-living elements. Explore ecosystem interactions, food webs and energy flows. This trip is for fifth- and sixth-graders.
For more information or to schedule a field trip, contact Youth Education Coordinator Liz Glynn at lizglynn@umich.edu.