Field
Trips
Hands-on Field Trips that
Enhance the Elementary
Science Curriculum
Enrich Your Curriculum
All Trips Aligned with NY State Core Standards Including a Pre-Trip Classroom Visit & Field Experience
Each of our trips include:
- Environmental education programs specifically designed to support and enhance the NY State science curriculums.
- Pre-trip in-class visits that ensure the children are ready to learn from the moment they step off the bus at the outdoor site.
- Trained Environmental Educators to lead the trip and emphasize explorations, hands-on activities and inquiry-based learning methods.
- Focus on ecology concepts in coordination with NYS curriculum objectives and standards and National Science Education Standards.
- Explorations and hands-on activities relating to ecological concepts.
- Content geared specifically to the grade level of each visiting class.
Three Unique Sites
Sheldrake
Environmental Center
Entrance at 687 Weaver Street
This trip focuses on the Larchmont Reservoir – James G. Johnson, Jr. Conservancy area which includes Sheldrake Lake, Goodliffe Pond, a meadow, a river and woodland paths.
Sheldrake
River Trail
Entrance on Rockland Avenue
This 23-acre conservation area features forest trails with towering trees, the Sheldrake River, wooden boardwalks over swampland, vernal pools and wetland areas.
Dog Beach
Entrance at the foot of Beach Avenue in Larchmont Manor
A beautiful stretch of Long Island Sound shoreline nestled at the edge of Manor Park, where a rich ecosystem includes an abundance of life in its intertidal zones and tidal pools. Barnacles, crabs, snails, and mussels abound, as well as a variety of shorebirds, ducks, geese and swans.
Choose your trip theme
Habitats
Sheldrake Environmental Center or Sheldrake River Trail
Discover what animals need to survive, what they eat, where they live, their interrelationships, adaptations and life cycles. Children will use their senses to explore the habitats and ecosystems of field and forest and will learn what makes each of these unique.
Woodland Ecology
Sheldrake Environmental Center or Sheldrake River Trail
Develop observation and interpretation skills, search for animal homes in different levels of the forest, explore the leaf litter, look under rotting logs, find animals in their special habitats, discover how soil is made and look for the decomposers and nutrient recyclers of the forest floor.
Long Island Sound Shoreline Exploration
Dog Beach
Observe marine life, learn the origins of Long Island Sound, measure the tide, discover the relationships and adaptations of plants and animals in the harsh and ever-changing environment of the inter-tidal zones.
Seasonal Changes
Sheldrake Environmental Center or Sheldrake River Trail
Explore the “happenings” in our ever-changing local ecosystems, become nature detectives, find out how plants and animals adapt in order to survive seasonal changes, observe life cycles of plants and animals and discover interrelationships. Your sense of smell, sight, hearing and touch will sharpen as we go.
Freshwater Ecology
Sheldrake’s Goodliffe Pond
Join us on an adventure to explore a pond, observe and investigate plant and animal life cycles, discover the food chains and webs of aquatic ecosystems, compare different pond creatures and how they move, eat and breathe. This interactive program will introduce students to the amazing adaptations that enable plants and animals to survive in their watery habitat.
Freshwater Ecology Plus
Sheldrake’s Goodliffe Pond and On-site Laboratory Classroom at Sheldrake Environmental Center
This 1.5 hour program augments our ponding field trips and is being offered as a natural complement to Microworld, the fifth grade microscope study unit, or to anyone wanting to take a closer look at their natural treasures through microscopes. Students will bring living samples of freshwater life encountered in their explorations of the pond to the Sheldrake laboratory where our educators will guide them in their use of microscope observations.
How the Winter Season Influences Life in the Natural World
Sheldrake Environmental Center or Sheldrake River Trail
Discover what animals need to survive, what they eat, where they live, their interrelationships, adaptations and life cycles. Children will use their senses to explore the habitats and ecosystems of field and forest and will learn what makes each of these unique.
Pricing & scheduling
School programs are offered throughout the school year, are 1 to 1.5 hours in length, Monday through Friday, with classes beginning at 9:30 a.m. The fee for our programs is $225 and up for field trip and pre-trip visit. Please inquire about volume discounts.
For more information and to book your date, please contact Jennifer Keefe at 914-834-1443 or at execdirector@sheldrakecenter.org.