The Caterpillar’s 2012 Spring Program

Greetings! The Caterpillar enjoyed bringing last year’s program “Riddles in Biodiversity” to 13 schools throughout Josephine and Jackson Counties. We conducted programs for approximately 52 classes and 9 events; this equates to over 4,233 students and adults having a hands-on learning experience about animal diversity and adaptation!

Now, Pacifica’s traveling science trailer, the Caterpillar, is ready to continue its “Riddles in Biodiversity” program at your school! If you did not have the Caterpillar last year, or have some classes that were unable to participate, now is your chance!

And please consider our spring field trip options! Remember, we only have as many dates as our funding allows so call soon as our calendar fills up fast!

Our program outline is included below. Activities are correlated to State benchmarks and are age appropriate. Students in grades 2nd-5th will have a 75-minute program using journals; students in K & 1st, a 45-minute program.

Cost: Your costs remain the same! The cost of a school visit is $135 per day for Josephine Co. schools and $160 per day for Jackson Co. schools (our total cost is approximately $450 per day). Four classes can visit the Caterpillar per day – approximately $35 per class – a great deal in these times of constrained budgets. With grants more difficult to maintain, your fee contributions are appreciated. If needed, you might seek potential funding from your parent organization to help support a Caterpillar visit.

To Schedule: Select a key contact who will help with logistics, such as parking and scheduling classes. Next, contact me about scheduling dates from February through May that work for your school. We will attempt to consolidate dates for Jackson Co. schools. If there are any questions, please give me a call.

Vanessa Martinez
Program Facilitator
Phone: 541-846-1100
Email: info@pacificagarden.org

Greetings! Pacifica’s Caterpillar Science presents its 2012 Spring Program:

“Riddles in Biodiversity”

Through hands-on activities, students will study habitats, adaptations, genetics, animal diversity and classification (kingdoms).

GRADES: K-1

Animals, their Homes and Adaptations: What animals need to survive.

Explore animal groups
Animal book: five groups of animals plus insects and spiders
Sorting animals by habitat
Exploring bird bills and what they eat

GRADES: 2- 5

Adaptation: To survive, each kind of plant and animal must be adapted to its habitat.

Design a bird depending on choice of habitat, food etc.
“Feet and Leg” and “Beak” adaptation circuit boards for birds
Experiment: Are different bird beaks adapted for getting different food?

Animal Diversity & Genetics: How incredible diversity is! Each person, each animal is unique because of different recipes of DNA. Gene diversity helps to protect a population.

Vertebrates: five groups and adaptations to their habitat
Determining different mammals using a dichotomous key
Invertebrates: Defining characteristics between arachnids and insects
Microscope discovery of animal characteristics