PeeWee House Calls: Natural Science on Wheels

PeeWees Spring Sessions

Want to explore the natural wonders of spring with your child? The PeeWees Naturalist program at the Cayuga Nature Center is for 3-5 year old children and their caregivers. Each week, parent and child share a nature lesson, craft activity, close encounter with a live animal, snack and more. We will explore a different topic each week such as wildflowers, animal tracks, and what trees do in the spring.

Spring and summer Pee Wee sessions are in the works! Each session runs for 6 consecutive weeks. Your suggestions and comments are welcome. We want to know what you think...do you like morning or afternoon sessions better? Please write us an email addressed to Kasey Cole, PeeWees Curator

Fee is $60 for CNC members, $85 for non-members.

Pre-registration is required. Please register on the web or contact Kasey Cole at 607-273-6260.

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Bringing Natural Science programs to your Pre-K or Kindergarten class.

• PeeWees House Calls History
• Program Topics and Descriptions
• Program Structure
• Program Fees
• Travel Trunks!

 

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PeeWees House Calls History:

In 1987, Cayuga Nature Center, Inc. began a naturalist program for children ages 3-5 called PeeWee Naturalist. This program brings young children to the center with a caregiver to focus on natural science lessons. While this popular program is successful, it is limited in the population that it serves. In order to serve the population of children who are enrolled in full time preschool programs, CNC developed the House Calls program. The PeeWee House Calls Natural Science on Wheels Program began as a grant funded program partially funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services in January of 2000. This grant was awarded to the Cayuga Nature Center to bring natural science lessons to preschools in the Tompkins County area. Once a month, these House Calls were tested and revised with the help of seventeen participating classes. These revised lessons were then published in our curriculum, and it is these House Calls and more that can be brought to your classroom.

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Program Topics and Descriptions:

Worms-

Wiggle into a lesson about worms and soil. Discover how soil is made and observe live worms.

Spiders -

Explore the fascinating world of spiders. Learn about the body parts of a spider, where a spider lives and how it eats. Then meet our live spiders.

Fall Colors and Leaves-

Investigate the different parts of trees and why they lose their leaves in the fall.

Tracks & Traces-

Discover what kind of signs animals leave behind and follow some tracks of animals that have "visited" the classroom.

Birds-

Discover what makes a bird a bird and imagine what life would be like as a bird. Option: Meet our live bird.

Frogs-

Hop into a fun time with frog life cycles. Act out the life cycle and observe some eggs of a frog.

Trees in Winter-

Are those trees alive or dead? Learn how trees get ready for winter and how they survive until spring.

Animals In Winter-

Migrate, hibernate, or adapt! Find out how local animals spend their winters and act out their survival techniques.

Wildflowers-

Explore the beauty of wildflowers. Dissect a real flower and learn how a flower grows.

Honeybees-

Buzz into the world of honeybees. Explore what a honeybee is and feel an empty nest. Then be a bee, and learn how a bee eats and talks.

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** Don't see a topic that fits your curriculum needs? Give us a call and we can try to customize any topic to fit your curriculum. needs.

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Program Structure:

This program is easily integrated into circle time. Live animals, natural materials, role playing, song, or craft are used to teach about the selected theme. The lessons are generally 45 minutes in length, but can be adjusted to fit your classroom needs.

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Program Fees:

Cost of one House Call - $60

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Travel Trunks!

Explore the fun of teaching natural science on your own with the help of one of our three different travel trunks! The travel trunks with curriculum lessons included, contain teaching materials such as puppets, natural objects, books and more to supplement the lessons. Fall, Winter, and Spring travel trunks are available for rental from the Nature Center.
Cost of renting the travel trunk:
$ 30 for one week
$ 80 combination House Call and travel trunk rental