Free School Programs from Pima County
Natural Resources, Parks and Recreation
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Pima County Natural Resources, Parks and Recreation’s K-12 field study trips and classroom programs are linked to Arizona Academic Standards. Reservations are required for all school programs. Lesson plans and teacher resources are available at www.pima.gov/nrpr.
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Interested in scheduling a Field Study program for your class? Email our Education Team with the name of the program(s), preferred location, and a list of dates that would work for you. Include the teachers' names, school name, contact information, along with the number of students and grade level.
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Schedule a Nature Walk at our Parks
Bring your class to one of our Pima County Natural Resource Parks for a naturalist-guided Bird Walk or Desert Ecology Walk.
Grades: K-12
Group Size: up to 30 students
Duration: 1.5-2 hours
Locations: Agua Caliente Park, Feliz Paseos Park, Brandi Fenton Park, Pima Prickly Park, Tucson Mountain Park – Desert Discovery Center, Historic Canoa Ranch, Desert Haven Park, other appropriate outdoor location
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Pollinator Survey
Grades: K – 3, 4 – 6, and 7 – 12, Curriculum varies by grade
Group Size: up to 60 students
Months offered: August – October and March – early May
Duration: 2.5 – 3 hours
Locations: Agua Caliente Park, Feliz Paseos Park, Pima Prickly Park, and Brandi Fenton Memorial Park, Historic Canoa Ranch
Learn about plants, pollinators, and pollination. Students use digital cameras to record pollinator populations. The class collects barrel cactus data and counts the seeds within a ripe fruit. This seed count, used as an indicator of pollinator population health, is submitted to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum for use by scientists to help identify and understand local pollinator hotspots. Data collected are compiled with existing data sets and made available to the class for further analysis in the classroom. Photographs taken are made available for classroom exploration and identification.
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Aquatic Ecosystems
Grades: K – 12, Curriculum varies by grade
Group Size: up to 30 students
Months offered: October – November, and March – May
Duration: 2.5 hours
Location: Agua Caliente Park and Historic Canoa Ranch
The ponds at Agua Caliente Park and Historic Canoa Ranch are teeming with life. Use nets, skimmers, and buckets to collect water samples then watch the water come to life under viewers. Students sketch aquatic invertebrates to refine their observations and recording skills. Data collected is used to update species checklists and establish phenology database.
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Bat Research Simulation
Grades: K – 12, Curriculum varies by grade
Group Size: up to 60 students
Duration: 2 hours
Locations: Agua Caliente Park, Brandi Fenton Memorial Park, and Historic Canoa Ranch
Students learn about the fascinating lives of bats while they practice scientific field-research methods during this outdoor bat-netting simulation. Students collect model bats, take measurements, identify species, and record data, which are compared to actual bat data from research in Southern Arizona.
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Urban Habitat Field Study
Grades: 4 – 6 and 7 – 12, Curriculum varies by grade
Group Size: up to 30 students
Duration: Pre-trip Orientation of one class period (recommended), Field Study trip 2.5 hours
Location: School, NRPR Park
Students and teachers select a study site at their school to create a baseline of data on biotic and abiotic aspects of their urban habitat. Working in teams of five or fewer, students use field guides, iNaturalist and BirdNet apps to document the plant and animal life at their study sites. Students use weather data to document conditions at the time of their data collection. Students use graphs and photographs to describe their results and draw conclusions. Data collected is collated and made available for further analysis. Class is encouraged to utilize data to inform decisions about improving their urban habitat as a wildlife resource.
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Wildlife Corridors: Connecting Habitats through Urban Spaces
Grades: 6 – 12
Group Size: up to 75 students
Duration: This program is divided into three parts – 1.5-hour virtual introductory session, class work sessions (as determined by school facilitator), and 1.5-hour virtual wrap-up session
Location: Online via Zoom AND Classroom or Computer Lab Session
Explore how scientists use wildlife cameras to record wildlife activity, catalog diversity, and inform decision on conservation measures. Discover the importance of wildlife corridors to connect conservation areas. Examine how camera data is used to determine the success of wildlife corridors along Oracle Road, in Catalina, Arizona. Using the Oracle Road wildlife crossings as examples, in conjunction with data from the Tucson Mountains, each of four working groups propose placement of a wildlife crossing connecting the Tucson Mountains to the Tortolita Mountains across Interstate 10.
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Wetland Wildlife Habitat Field Study
Grades: 4 – 6 and 7 – 12, Curriculum varies by grade
Group Size: up to 30 students
Duration: Pre-trip Orientation of one class period (recommended), Field Study trip 2.5 hours
Location: Agua Caliente Park, Historic Canoa Ranch
Students run a scientific study of a wetland habitat. Data collected include plant and animal diversity and abundance along with abiotic factors that may affect that abundance. Data and photographic documentation are made available to classrooms for further analysis. A pre-field trip at your school is strongly recommended.
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Ecosystem Discovery
Grades: K – 8, Curriculum varies by grade
Group Size: up to 75 students
Duration: 2 hours
Location: Agua Caliente Park, Historic Canoa Ranch, Tucson Mountain Park – Desert Discovery Center, and Pima Prickly Park
Explore the diversity of life in our desert ecosystem through guided, hands-on exploration. Students use binoculars and hand lenses to make observations then work as a class to understand the interrelationships between plants, animals, and the environment. Students reflect on their observations of ecosystem connections through a “sitting-in-nature” journaling activity.
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Life on the Ranch
Grades: K – 6, Curriculum varies by grade
Group Size: up to 60 students
Months Offered: November – early April
Duration: 2-2.5 hours
Location: Historic Canoa Ranch
Discover the rich history of ranching in the Santa Cruz River Valley, from Spanish and Mexican settlers, to the Gadsden Purchase that led to the American period as represented by the Manning family’s ownership of Canoa Ranch. Students tour Historic Canoa Ranch, try their hand at ‘roping’, design a cattle brand, and engage in other interactive activities that showcase life on a working ranch to learn how people utilized the natural resources in creative ways to sustain their way of life.
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Nature Journaling (schedule now for spring 2022)
Grades: 4-12, Curriculum varies by grade
Group Size: up to 30 students
Duration: 1.5-2.5 hours (depending on the age of group)
Locations: Any appropriate Pima County Park, Schoolyard
Good science depends upon keen observations. Nature journaling provides opportunities for authentic, inquiry-driven, learning that incorporates multiple disciplines using verbal, nonverbal, analytic, logical, spatial, and synthetic skills. Using nature as a source of inspiration, participants will hone their powers of observation and reflection, then record their observations and thoughts in words and pictures.
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Living River of Words Youth Arts and Science (LROW): Residency
Grade: K – 12, Curriculum varies by grade
Group Size: 25 – 60 students
Months Offered: October – Mid-January
Duration: 2.5 to 3-hour field trip PLUS 3 to 4 virtual or outdoor class sessions (depending on art medium)
Field Locations: Santa Cruz River, Historic Canoa Ranch, Agua Caliente Park
This multidisciplinary program combines nature, art, and science to help students explore how water moves through the landscape and the connections that plants, animals, and people have to water. After learning about these topics in the classroom and the field, students work with one of our teaching artists to share their impressions and create entries of poetry, visual art or photography to Living River of Words: Youth Poetry and
Art Contest. An LROW Arts and Science Residency includes:
- A virtual pre-program teacher orientation session
- A virtual pre-field classroom session with NRPR environmental educators
- A field trip to connect with a local water body and study water quality; aquatic life; riparian habitats; and poetry, art, or photography
- Two or three sessions with a teaching artist (virtually or outdoors at your school) for students to complete their contest entries.
The duration and specific lesson plans for LROW Residencies are determined at the time of scheduling and tailored to accommodate group size, grade level, field location, and time available.
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CALL TO TEACHERS
The availability of the LROW residencies is limited, but we will do our best to include a variety of schools, districts, age levels, etc. To be considered for a residency, please complete our interest form to help us understand your needs.
We will consider all requests together and then work with selected teachers to schedule residencies that serve a diversity of schools and students. If you are not selected for a full residency (school and field program) this year, we will still offer resources for independently engaging your students in LROW activities and entering the poetry and art contest.
Form Submission Deadline: Monday, September 6, 2021
Anticipated Notification Date: Mid-September
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Living River of Words Youth Arts and Science (LROW): Independent Learning
In addition to LROW residencies with schools, individuals and groups are encouraged to engage independently in this interdisciplinary program connecting youth (ages 5-19) to the wonders of water through nature, art, and science.
By using resources on our website or joining a community workshop, youth and their families are encouraged to learn about water in their community, explore and observe the natural world, and reflect on their experiences through art and poetry. Youth are then invited to share their creativity with the community by entering the annual Living River of Words: Youth Poetry and Art Contest. Submissions are due February 1, 2022.
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SERVICE LEARNING PROGRAMS
Serving Learning programs include a focused lesson coupled with in-the-field service experience.
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Desert Adaptations or Plant and Animal Interrelationships program, with Plant Propagation Project (schedule now for spring 2022)
Grades: K-12, Curriculum varies by grade
Group Size: up to 30 students
Duration: 2.5 to 3 hours
Location: Pima Prickly Park and adjacent Native Plant Nursery
In these two-part programs, students explore the ecology of native plants and animals to uncover their strategies for survival and reproduction in their Sonoran Desert habitat then participate in a service-learning project to help propagate native plants for use in community projects. Some of the student-propagated plants made available to the class for use at their school.
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Invasive Species presentation with Invasive Plant Removal Fieldwork
Grades: 7-12
Group Size: up to 30 students
Duration: 1-hour pre-field class PLUS 2-hour field experience
Location: Pre-field lesson in-class or online via Zoom, fieldwork TBD
During a remote or in-class lesson, students learn to identify buffelgrass and other invasive species and discover the threats they pose to the Sonoran Desert. During a service-learning field experience, students remove buffelgrass, fountain grass, Russian thistle, or other invasive plants from a natural area. The location for the removal project is identified at the time of scheduling.
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Leave No Trace: Trash Transect and Cleanup Project
Grades: 7-12
Group Size: up to 30 students
Duration: 1-hour pre-field class PLUS 2-hour field experience
Location: TBD in consultation with teacher
Litter strewn about a park, trail, wash, or neighborhood can interfere with our experience of the natural world, create health and safety hazards for people, and harm wildlife. Students will learn the seven Leave No Trace principles for protecting parks and wild spaces. We will then focus on short- and long-term impacts of litter on our environment and contemplate where trash comes from, where it ends up, and how we can all help reduce and better manage solid waste. In the field portion, students will become garbologists, using transects to categorize and collect data about the litter they find –
and ultimately cleaning up a park or neighborhood space. Students will use their data to consider likely sources of trash and come up with ideas to help reduce the problem.
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Canoa Days
Grade: K – 12, Curriculum varies by grade
Group Size: up to 200 students/date
Dates: Mid-February; dates offered grouped by grade level: K-3, 4-8, and 9-12 (specific dates TBA)
Duration: between 8:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.
Location: Historic Canoa Ranch
Bring your class for an open house filled with interactive demonstrations, hands-on activities, and round-table discussions exploring the vast and varied history of what is now Historic Canoa Ranch. Students are encouraged to bring their family and friends back to the Ranch the following Saturday to share their experience and join in more activities at our public Canoa Day event.
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If you have questions about our Field Study and Classroom Programs
or are ready to schedule, email us at:
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