School Programs

Hartman Reserve School Field Trips

Call (319) 277-2187 for more information about our new programs brought right to your classroom!

New! Teacher Newsletter Fall 2011

Plan a field trip to Hartman! - NEW resource to assist teachers in planning field trips to Hartman Reserve.

A majority of the groups that visit Hartman Reserve Nature Center are from public, private, or home schools. Providing this service to our schools is our primary goal.

How does it work?
1. Determine your curriculum or activity goals (view grade specific details below).
2. Identify your eligible field trip dates.
3. Contact Chris Anderson, Program Coordinator, at chris.hrnc@gmail.com to reserve your trip date and set up a teacher's meeting. The teacher's meeting is a time to discuss your goals and plan a program at Hartman Reserve Nature Center that supports your classroom's academic objectives.
4. Complete the necessary paperwork required by your school (this may be required earlier in the process).
5. Line up volunteers/parents to help chaperone.
6. Confirm your details or please call with any questions.
7. Join us for a successful education field trip!

Your field trip includes a minimum of one Naturalist to guide you through your visit.

Financial Details
~ Current fees are as follows: $25 per class (up to 25 students) for less than 3 hours, $35 per class (up to 25 students) for trips over 3 hours. Multiple classes are welcome.
~ Call to determine if your school is eligible to receive a scholarship from the Field Trip Trust Fund, which pays for half of the program fees.
~ We have been able to keep our prices low through the generous support of the Amy Gephart Memorial Trust and the Cedar Valley United Way.

Waste Trac Partnership- FREE Recycling Programs
Waste Trac is a program funded by Black Hawk County Solid Waste Commission. Two Waste Trac staff members are housed at Hartman Reserve Nature Center and provide educational programs within Black Hawk County. To read about their programs for youth and adults, please visit their education page at www.wastetrac.org.

Activity Ideas by Grade

All age levels:

Animals of Black Hawk County (exploration time in exhibit room and the naturalist will get out a live turtle or salamander)
Apple Cidering in the fall (teachers bring 2 apples per student)
Maple Syruping in March (collect sap; see how it is cooked into syrup; discuss plant growth)
Trail Hike (different themes and lengths for different grades)

Pre-K

Fall Leaves (collect leaves, sort by shapes, and make rubbings)
How Do Animals Dress? (types of animal coverings are shared)
Magic Moment (go to the tree house deck for a story activity)
Squirrel Hunt (touch a stuffed squirrel, read a story and go for a hike)
Un-nature Trail (try to find the things that don’t belong in nature along the trail)

First Grade

Awareness Trail (using blindfolds follow a trail holding a rope)
Build a Tree (act out the parts of a tree, know that plants have external features that help them thrive)
Fall Leaves (collect leaves, sort by shapes, and make rubbings)
Maple Syruping in March (collect sap; see how it is cooked into syrup; discuss plant growth)

Second Grade

Animal Mania (indoor game played on the floor like a giant board game)
Lunch Recycling (Click here to view details about this and other recycling programs)
Nature Walk (scavenger hunt, identify and classify animal groups)
Our Feathered Friends (identify and classify animal groups)
Pond Peeking (identify and classify animal groups)
Snowshoeing
Waste Race (relay race with trash)

Third Grade

Deadly Links (predator and prey game)
Foxes and Rabbits (food chain game, how species depend on one another)
Oh-Deer (understand plants and animals and their dependence on one another)
Lunch Recycling (Click here to view details about this and other recycling programs)
Map-O (beginning orienteering, use of maps)
River Otter (understand how species depend on one another)
Rotten Log (understand how species depend on one another)
Snowshoeing
Waste Race (relay race with trash)

Fourth Grade

Living Map (large floor map of Hartman, understand a visual sense of our world)
Lunch Recycling (Click here to view details about this and other recycling programs)
Map-O (orienteering done in small groups)
Marvelous Mussels (restoration of an endangered species in Black Hawk County)
Nature Scramble (creative thinking and writing skills)
Turtle Hurdles (habitat game)
Snowshoeing

Fifth Grade

Canoeing/kayaking (instruction given and time to canoe on small lake)
Fishing
Lunch Recycling (Click here to view details about this and other recycling programs)
Mt. Lion Program (Mt. Lions' characteristics)
Marvelous Mussels (restoration of a threatened invertebrate species)
Skullduggery (uses mammal skulls to look at vertebrate characteristics)
Tipi talk (can set up the tipi and discuss bison importance to Native Americans)

Sixth Grade and up

Canoeing/kayaking (instruction given and time to canoe on small lake)
Fishing
Intro to Osprey (osprey introduction to the area and migration map activity)
Living Map (floor map used for deer management)
Lunch Recycling (Click here to view details about this and other recycling programs)
Mt. Lion Program (how species depend on their environment)
Map-O (orienteering, know locations on a map)
Marvelous Mussels (how species depend on their environment)
Snowshoeing

Other

Enviroscape (point and non-point source pollution model)
Enviroscape (landfill model)
Stream Table (river model)
Fishing Poles (can be loaned out)
IOWATER activities available

Hartman Reserve Nature Center
657 Reserve Drive
Cedar Falls, IA 50613
Phone: (319) 277-2187
Fax: (319) 277-4420

Chris Anderson, Program Coordinator:
chris.hrnc@gmail.com

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