Upcoming Programs 

 

December 2024: Wonderful Water: Tuesday December 17; Thursday December 19| 10am – 12pm

Join Sunriver Nature Center & Observatory as we explore the awesome properties of water! This is an experimental based field trip focusing on the water cycle and buoyancy. Students will see the water cycle in action, join in a water walk as we discuss how water moves in our local environment, and explore buoyancy through experiments and an engineering design challenge. Can your student make over 100 pennies float and predict how buoyant different objects are? Join us and find out! This lesson is NGSS aligned and addresses the following concepts:

• Cycles of matter and energy transfer in ecosystems: how water moves in an environment
• Earth materials and systems: how water and rainfall influence the land
• The roles of water in Earth’s surface processes
• Weather and climate
• Physical science: matter and its interactions: structure and properties of water
• Engineering design: defining a problem, developing solutions, optimizing the design solution

Tuesday December 17:  

Thursday December 19:  

 

January 2025: Extreme Earth: Tuesday January 14; Thursday January 16 | 10am – 12pm

What causes a glacier to melt? Can you build an earthquake-proof structure? Can you create a cloud in a bottle? Your student will explore these questions and more as we explore how extreme earth can be. Together we will test hypotheses on how fast glaciers would melt, design and test earthquake-proof structures, and learn about earthquakes, tsunamis, air pressure, and more. This lesson is NGSS aligned and addresses the following concepts:

• Weather and climate
• Plate tectonics and large-scale system interactions
• Physical science: matter and its interactions: structure and properties of gases
• Engineering design: defining a problem, developing solutions, optimizing the design solution

Tuesday January 14:  

Thursday January 16:  

 

February 2025: Geology: Tuesday February 11th; Thursday February 13th | 10am – 12pm

Join the Sunriver Nature Center & Observatory as we explore geology! Your student will learn all about rocks, volcanoes, and fossils. Together we will learn how rocks form and the different categories of rocks. Then we will learn about the explosive history of this area as we make our own volcanoes and see what rocks are formed from lava. Lastly, we will blast to the past and learn how fossils are made and start our own fossil experiment. This lesson is NGSS aligned and addresses the following concepts:

• Evidence of common ancestry and diversity: fossils
• Plate tectonics and Large-Scale System interactions

Tuesday February 11:  

Thursday February 13:  

 

March 2025: Chemistry Craziness: Tuesday March 11; Thursday March 13 | 10am – 12pm

Maybe you have seen what happens when you add mentos to coke, but why does that happen? Your student will have fun exploring chemical reactions in this hands-on experiment based Homeschool Day focusing on Chemistry! Join us as we learn about the pH scale, what a chemical reaction is, and explore acid-base reactions. This lesson is NGSS aligned and addresses the following concepts:

• Structure and Properties of matter
• Matter and its interactions: chemical reactions
• Energy in Chemical Processes and everyday life

Tuesday March 11:  

Thursday March 13:  

 

April 2025: Science of Small Things: Tuesday April 15; Thursday April 17 | 10am – 12pm

Have you ever wondered what the building blocks of a plant look like? What lets plants breath? How do feathers work? Together we will dive into the microscopic world of small things! We will learn how to use a microscope, what plant, animal, and fungi cells look like, and go on a nature hike to take a closer look at the small things we miss everyday. This lesson is NGSS aligned and addresses the following concepts:

• Structure and Function of organisms; introduction to cells

Tuesday April 15:  

Thursday April 17:  

 

May 2025: River Systems: Tuesday May 6; Thursday May 8 | 10am – 12pm

Learn all about the importance of rivers to wildlife and humans with Sunriver Nature Center & Observatory! This is an outdoor, activity and experimental based field trip focusing on salmon migration, river food webs, and engineering design with our favorite ecosystem engineers- beavers! Students will love going on a nature walk, building a river food web, learning about human impacts on salmon migration through our obstacle course, and putting their engineering skills to the test by designing and refining a beaver dam. This lesson is NGSS aligned and addresses the following concepts: 

• Relationship between physical traits and survival strategies of animals
• Cycles of matter and energy transfer in ecosystems
• Relationship between habitat and food web structure
• Biodiversity and humans: human impacts on habitat and organism survival
• Ecosystem preservation and best practices for nature stewardship
• Engineering design: defining a problem, developing solutions, optimizing the design solution

Tuesday May 6:  

Thursday May 8:  

 

 

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Program Details & Logistics

– Programs are geared toward homeschool students in kindergarten through fifth grade.
– At least one adult chaperone is required per group. There is no fee for adult chaperones to attend.
– All tools and materials for program activities are provided.
– This program takes place both outdoors and indoors. Students should wear sturdy footwear such as boots or sneakers, and dress for the weather.
– Please bring snacks and refillable water bottles.

 

Registration

$15/child; $10/additional child in family
Adult chaperones are free

If a desired program is sold out please email programs@snco.org or call 458-292-9995 to be added to the waitlist.