Students will come out to Little Creek for a full day to learn and bond with their new 6th-grade
teams. They will do this through team-building games and visiting our resident animals.

Early education will be walking out to the prairie to look for insects. Each student will use a bug
box and an insect field guide to collect and ID their insects. We will also be visiting our resident
animals (dove, snake, turtle, and rabbit) in the Elementary building. The class will also get to
explore our Discovery Classroom.

All living things depend on one another and their environment to live and grow. After being
introduced to some of the plants and animals common to Missouri prairies, our student
“scientists” hike the Prairie Loop trail, using their senses to explore Little Creek’s prairie habitat
and observing its inhabitants and their unique relationships. At stops along the way, students
consider how the prairie habitat provides the basic needs of its animal inhabitants and humans.
Students will also examine and discuss the structures and functions of plants, focusing on their
role in plant survival and their use by humans. Students will visit the bees/apiary and discuss
pollinators and how they help farm crops like apples. The student will help make apple cider
using an old cider press. Back in the classroom, they will finish their day by sampling apple
cider, apple chips, and honey.

In this visit, students will have the opportunity to experience how seeds travel. They will
participate in several activities designed to introduce them to classification. The students will
sort and chart seeds from different trees and plants. Then, the class will be divided into teams,
working cooperatively to create a group seed based on how it travels. Students will also get up
close with some of the resident vertebrate animals at Little Creek who help seed travel. They will
record information about each animal including habitat, food, body covering, how they help
plants, and their type of movement.

During this visit, students can use observations of temperature and wind measurements to
compare and contrast a variety of Little Creek’s habitat types—pasture, prairie, deciduous
forest, and pond. The hike begins with a walk past the pastures, through a small section of
woodland, and then along the Prairie Loop Trail. As they hike from the woodland into the
prairie, students can see, hear, and feel the contrasts that exist between these two very different
ecosystems. On this walk students will get an up-close look at some of the inhabitants and
experience the sights and sounds of the prairie, pond, and forest. Bird songs, scat, leaves,
tracks, and plant life are just a few of the topics students will learn about on the hike. Students
will use hand lenses to discover what tiny creatures live in the water, identifying some of them
with a field guide and then drawing what they have observed. In the classroom, students will
work in teams to create a critter using a variety of materials they can select from. The animal will
need to live in one of Little Creek Habitats (pond, forest, prairie). Students will brainstorm on a
design sheet first before selecting materials. After building their critter, the students will present
their critter to the class and explain the traits it has to survive in the habitat.

This visit provides an orientation to Little Creek. After exploring the question of how the winter
season affects the lives of animals, students will focus on how some animals migrate south,
returning in the spring, Hibernate, or adapt. The students will visit Little Creek’s indoor resident
animals. Always a favorite with the children, they are moved to the classroom building from
their usual home in the museum so students can experience them “up close and hands-on “.
Also, the students will be using their senses to explore animal traits with our Discovery boxes
and using science tools like binoculars, students observe birds feeding at the Christopher Brown
Nature Viewing Habitat. They will also be using their senses on a Winter hike through the woods
(weather permitting).

The Sun, either directly or indirectly, powers planet Earth. Whether coal or solar panels are used
to generate electricity, the Sun was the original energy source. In this visit, students will be
introduced to the six forms of energy, learn the difference between renewable and
nonrenewable energy resources, investigate the visible spectrum of radiant light, and look at
examples of how the Sun’s energy is transformed as it is stored, transferred, and used on our
planet. In addition, students will create a “Coal Chain”, tracing the path of this nonrenewable
form of energy from its formation millions of years ago to the light in our classroom today.

Students will study a large map of the United States and test their knowledge of the Louisiana
Purchase, the Native American tribes who lived there, the trail of the Lewis and Clark
expedition, and its importance to Missouri history. Students will then use authentic Native
American tools to create an artifact from flint while learning about the impact of the explorers on
the culture and tools of the Native Americans. Students will also observe and, using a
dichotomous key, identify animal tracks that the explorers might have seen along the way,
logging the information in a “journal” just like Lewis and Clark did. Finally, they will examine and
try to identify various items that the Corps of Discovery carried along with them for both survival
and trade with native tribes.

During this visit, students will discover how a variety of physical adaptations help animals
survive in the habitat in which they live. In one series of activities, students will investigate how
camouflage coloration helps some animals blend into their environment and avoid predators.
They will also use a variety of tools that simulate the diversity of bird beaks to determine which
beak works best for a variety of foods commonly eaten by birds. A close-up look at a bird
feather and careful observation of a Little Creek resident dove will round out their study of how
feathers, beaks, and feet are important survival tools for our avian friends.

One highlight will be a visit to the barn, garage, pasture, and chicken coop to see the farm
animals born this spring, including the calf and piglet(s), along with the resident adult sheep,
goats, and chickens. We’ll discuss their life cycles and how humans depend on them for food
and resources. We’ll also point out the apiary in the barnyard (where the bees live). Back in the
classroom, students will hold baby chicks while learning about chickens and eggs. Students will
also make their butter from cream. This will be followed by a “tasting” of their homemade butter
on saltines, a delicious way to end their visit “down on the farm”!

During this visit, students learn how wool from sheep becomes fabric we use for clothing and
other needs. The process begins with herding. The students will see a demonstration of how
dogs are used to help in the task of herding livestock—a wonderful example of how people use
domesticated animals. Then, the shearing of the sheep by our skilled shearer. Students also go
to one of the elementary classrooms to observe the steps involved in turning wool into
something usable, such as a sweater, shawl, or placemat. Artisans demonstrate how to use
hand carders and the drum carder, tools that prepare the wool for spinning. Next, students
observe spinners using a spinning wheel to change loose wool into spun yarn. Students then
use a loom to weave yarn into fabric by “throwing” the shuttle and using the beater bar.

This visit will focus on how the spring season affects the lives of the plants and animals found in
both the wild and manmade habitats at Little Creek. Little Creek staff will accompany classes on
a hike along one of the nature area trails. Students will learn the difference between wild and
domesticated animals and look for examples along the way. Students will use their senses and
simple tools to observe particular signs of spring in the habitats they visit and compare them to
what they would observe during a winter walk. Also included is a visit to the barn, garage, and
pasture to see the farm animals, including the calf and piglet born this spring. The students will
also spend time in the classroom, where students will hold baby chicks. Kindergarten ends its
visit with a trip to the Discovery Classroom.

The spring visit will include an introduction to chickens, from egg to adult. They are challenged
to think about how hens, roosters, and chicks are the same and different, and how chicks hatch
from eggs. Several baby chicks are brought out for the children to see, and they are questioned
about how the chicks look, sound, and feel. Then each child is allowed to hold and touch a
chick. The visit continues with a trip to see other animals found during the spring at Little Creek
in the barn, garage, chicken coop, and pasture, including a piglet, calf, adult sheep, goats, and
hens. The children will have the opportunity to touch many of the animals and feed the sheep
and goats at the pasture fence. The children will also hike along the Log Cabin Loop trail (ADA
Trail), discovering some of the plants, birds and animals that live in Little Creek’s forest habitat
along the way. The hike finishes with a visit inside the Discovery Classroom.