Discovery Class Registration

Discovery Classes are fully booked for the 2022-2023 school year. Please check back for announcements regarding the 2023-2024 school year.

Hidden Waters (Grades 4 & 8)*

Water is necessary for organisms to live and thrive in the High Desert. Yet one of the largest sources of water in our region is mostly out of sight, under our feet. Using hands-on activities, students will learn how:  

• the system of groundwater & surface water is connected, 
• groundwater reservoirs are formed, 
• our use of this valuable resource can impact wildlife and what we can do to protect groundwater.  

*content can be adjusted from upper elementary through middle school

Next Generation Science Standards covered:

Grade 4 – Earth’s systems

• ESS2.A: Earth materials and systems. Rainfall helps shape the land and affects the types of living things found in a region.

Grade 8 – Earth’s systems 

• MS-ESS2-4. Develop a model to describe the cycling of water through Earth’s systems driven by energy from the sun and the force of gravity. Emphasis is on the ways water changes its state as it moves through the multiple pathways of the hydrologic cycle.

FIRED UP!: Wildlife and Wildfires (Grade 4)*

This class challenges students to question how a ponderosa pine forest and the wildlife that live there thrive in fire-prone ecosystems. Students will uncover the important role fire plays in keeping this ecosystem healthy. They will identify habitat created by fire that enables plants and organisms to shelter and grow and will learn how humans can adapt to live with wildfire. 

*content can be adjusted for upper elementary

Next Generation Science Standards covered:

Grade 4 – Natural hazards

• ESS3.B: A variety of hazards result from natural processes. Humans cannot eliminate the hazards but can take steps to reduce their impacts.  

Grade 4 – Cause and effect

• ESS3-1: Cause-and-effect relationships are routinely identified and used to explain change. 

FIRED UP!: Mapping Change (Grade 8)*

In upper grades, students will examine the natural cycle of fire, examine factors that have caused a change in the intensity and frequency of wildfires, and utilize maps to determine areas of the region that are at higher risk of being impacted by wildfire.

*content can be adjusted for middle school

Next Generation Science Standards covered:

Grade 8 – Earth and human activity

• MS-ESS3-2: Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.

Grade 8 – Earth and human activity

• MS-ESS3-5: Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.