Per your request, attached are the two field trips the Brayton 3rd grade
has requested through use of funds from the Elementary Outreach
Program. I have given a brief description of the programs and how they
relate to the Massachusetts Science and Technology Curriculum
Frameworks. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Thank you.
Robyn
Berkshire Botanical Gardens
Students will learn about plant parts, their structure and their purpose.
They will classify plants by physical characteristics and discuss the life
cycles of different plants. They will also discuss plant behaviors and how
some plants survive in harsh conditions. Finally, they will discuss how
energy from the sun is used by plants to produce sugars and how that
energy is transferred in the food chain. Brayton third graders will use
this information to plan and create a school garden, observe, gather and
record quantitative data of changes in plants during the growing and dying
season, and harvest the crops from the plants.
Standards that correlate to this program:
Life Science = (Biology)
Standard 1: Characteristics of Plants and Animals
Classify plants and animals according to the physical characteristics that
they share.
Standard 2: Structures and Functions
Identify the structures in plants that are responsible for food,
production, support, water transport, reproduction, growth, and
protection.
Standard 3: Structures and Functions
Recognize that plants go through predictable life cycles that include
birth, growth, development, reproduction, and death.
Standard 5: Structures and Functions
Differentiate between observed characteristics of plants that are fully
inherited and characteristics that are affected by the climate or
environment.
Standard 9: Adaptations of Living Things
Recognize plant behaviors and that many plants can survive harsh
environments because of seasonal behaviors.
Standard 11: Energy and Living Things
Describe how energy derived from the sun is used by plants to produce
sugars and is transferred within a food chain from producers to
consumers to decomposers. Berkshire Museum
The third graders would participate in one program that would be
educator led by museum personnel and then would participate in several
other programs that would be led by Brayton teachers. Teachers from
Brayton have previously attended these programs and have program
information to lead the group through each program.
Program Native Peoples
This program would be museum staff led. It focuses on hands-on
exploration of traditional Mohican life and the ways in which this culture
used the environment for shelter and storage and how by using elements
of the environment designed and built prototypes to solve these
problems. Students will be given information and instruction on how to
problem solve and build a prototype of a Mohican home (teepee).
Standards that correlate to this program:
Technology/Engineering
Materials and Tools:
Standard 1.1 Identify materials used to accomplish a design task.
Standard 1.2 Identify and explain the appropriate materials and tools to
construct a given prototype safely.
Engineering Design:
Standard 2.1 Identify a problem that reflects the need for shelter,
storage, or convenience.
Standard 2.3 Identify relevant design features for building a prototype of
a solution to a given problem. Program Aquarium Exploration
This program would be led by Brayton teachers. It is an activity-based
program that focuses on the traits and behaviors of aquatic life.
Students will observe corals, fish, and invertebrates and investigate their
environmental adaptations.
Standards that correlate to this program:
Life Science
Standard 1: Characteristics of Plants and Animals
Classify plants and animals according to the physical characteristics that
they share.
Standard 5: Structures and Functions
Differentiate between observed characteristics of plants that are fully
inherited and characteristics that are affected by the climate or
environment.
Standard 6: Adaptations of Living Things
Give examples of how inherited characteristics may change over time as
adaptations to changes in the environment that enable organisms to
survive. Standard 8 - Adaptations of Living Things
Describe how organisms meet some of their needs in an environment by
using behaviors in response to information received from the environment.
Recognize that some animal behaviors are instinctive and others are
learned. Program Playing Around with Simple Machines
This program will be led by Brayton teachers. Students will discover how
simple and complex machines make toys spin, bob, etc. Students will
identify and discuss the mechanisms (levers, wheels, cranks, etc.) that
make the toys work.
Standards that correlate to this program:
Technology/Engineering
Standard 1.1 Identify materials used to accomplish a design task.
Standard 1.3 Identify and explain the difference between simple and
complex machines (gears, wheel, wedge, lever, etc.)
Materials and Tools
Standard 2.2 Describe different ways in which a problem can be
represented.
Standard 2.3 Identify relevant design features for building a prototype of
a solution to a given problem. Program Mammal Adaptations
This program will be led by Brayton teachers. Students will compare and
contrast pelts, skulls, teeth, etc. to determine how Berkshire animals are
adapted for survival.
Standards that correlate to this program:
Life Science (Biology)
Standard 2: Structures and Functions
Identify the structures in plants that are responsible for food, production,
support, water transport, reproduction, growth, and protection.
Standard 5: Structures and Functions
Differentiate between observed characteristics of plants and animals that
are fully inherited and characteristics that are affected by the climate or
environment. (Fossils provide information about living things that inhabited
the earth many years ago.)
Standard 6: Adaptations of Living Things
Give examples of how inherited characteristics may change over time as
adaptations to changes in the environment that enable organisms to
survive. (Interaction through the senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell,
and taste.)
Standard 8: Adaptations of Living Things
Describe how organisms meet some of their needs in an environment by
using behaviors in response to information received from the environment.
Recognize that some animal behaviors are instinctive.