Elementary Program: Investigating Vernal Pools

Our 4th & 5th grade program, Life in Our Watershed: Investigating Vernal Pools, integrates a 13-lesson, standards-based science curriculum with a field trip to the vernal pools at Mather Field. The curriculum prepares the students for their field trip by teaching them all about vernal pools and the plants and animals that live in them.

Classroom preparation is the key difference between Splash field trips and traditional field trips because the students arrive already knowing a lot about the vernal pools. This knowledge empowers the students and results in an exciting, interactive field trip in which information is shared among students, guides, and teachers.