Field Trips

Richardson Bay Audubon Center’s educational programs foster a love for the outdoors and inspire a sense of stewardship. A diverse bay ecosystem that includes both land and water habitat provides a spectacular outdoor classroom.

Our education programs combine the best practices in teaching and environmental studies. Our trips are guided by developmentally appropriate themes, California Science Content Standards, and caring, committed Teacher Naturalists. We provide a unique experience that can’t be found anywhere else.

Our field trip options this year:

• Sense of Wonder
• It’s A Small World (Invertebrates in the Sanctuary)
• Audubon’s Birds
• Uplands (Life in Our Habitats & Plant Communities)
• Bay Science Programs (Including Bay Shore Studies)

Field trip descriptions:

Sense of Wonder - Pre-K

Using all five senses, children explore our site for one and a half hours and enjoy all the sanctuary has to offer while learning how to respect nature.  This program is also appropriate for kindergarten classes focusing on the 5 senses. Kindergarten programs are 2 hours.

It’s A Small World - K-3<,dt>

On hands and knees, with magnifying lenses, observing quietly ... this is how you will find us exploring invertebrates, fungi, and microbes during a Small World trip to the Sanctuary. Classes will compare small world creatures in our uplands with those we find along our beaches. For in depth study, combine with an Audubon in the Classroom program.

Audubon’s Birds - K-3

Young birders use binoculars, field guides, listening skills, and other tools. Fall and Winter trips focus on migrating shorebirds and water birds. Spring trips focus on songbirds. Enhance your study of birds with a Classroom Kit or Schoolyard birding.

Uplands - K-6

Students explore plant communities, local geology, native plants, and the animals that depend on them.  Together we focus on ecological connections and the importance of conservation. Older grades begin to explore how watersheds connect upland habitats to our streams, rivers, and bay.

Bay Science & Stewardship - grades K-3

Students learn scientific methods of inquiry while exploring local geology, watersheds, tides, and tide pools. Using nets, buckets, mud sieves, and our own observations, we uncover the diversity of animals living along our shore.  Grades 2 and 3 can participate in our multiple experience program by joining us in the Fall for in depth study of food webs, watersheds, geology and tides. Return in the Spring to explore the shore during low tide.  Pair with Audubon in the Classroom for an excellent in depth exploration of our important Bay ecosystem.

Bay Shore Studies - grades 4-6

Bay Shore Studies transforms students into estuarine ecologist. In small groups, students become estuarine ecologists to explore the intertidal zone--turning over rocks to study crabs, barnacles, mussels and more. Students collect data on population distributions, salinity and temperature and ponder local bay ecology with a focus on food webs, adaptation, and estuarine processes.

All Bay Science programs are scheduled according to tides. Dates are limited. Call for more information.
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Program Details