Outside in the Field
The outdoor portion of the field trip is where all of the lessons and activities in the elementary curriculum are brought together for the students. It’s like multiple pieces of an ecological puzzle being put together by the students to create a big picture of what they’ve been studying.
They get to experience first-hand the beauty, uniqueness, and fragility of the vernal pool habitats at Mather. Students can actually see the snow-capped Sierra Nevada Mountains, which serve as a visual reminder that they are part of the Sacramento River Watershed. Even more exciting, while they’re walking in the field, students eagerly anticipate finding their critter or flower, which they studied as part of the curriculum.
The outdoor portion of the field trip varies depending on whether the class visits during the wet phase of the vernal pools or the flower phase. The progression of the phases is dependent on the weather conditions over the course of the late-winter and early-spring.
