School Field Trips

A hands-on field course for high school, middle school and elementary students.

Program Format

Students are divided into working groups which rotate to various stations featuring specific topics. Teachers may work with Shank’s Mare Staff to develop topics specific to their curriculum , student age, and class status. Our program runs from 8:30 am until 1:30-2:00 pm. Much of this depends on the school and when they arrive and depart due to bus scheduling.

Learning Stations

River Discovery

Students embark on a guided paddle tour of Lake Clarke on the Susquehanna River. After paddling orientation and short discussion on Susquehanna River facts and its unique relationship to the Chesapeake Bay, students will launch kayaks and paddle the waterway searching for wildlife including Bald Eagles, Ospey, Great Blue Heron and more. Students will have the opportunity to get an up-close view of this waterway and note the importance of the Susquehanna to our environment and that of the Chesapeake Bay.

Streamside Discovery

Streams play an ecological role to humans, mammals, amphibians and insects alike. Students will explore Fishing Creek and become acquainted with the invertebrates that live in and around the area through hands-on interaction. By discovering the aquatic life and the mammals and amphibians that visit the stream, students can determine the health of the waterway and the important relationship the streams have to the rivers into which they flow. Time permitting, we'll also run some chemical tests to qualify what we have found regarding the health of the stream.

Outdoor Team Building

For our larger groups, we have designed a third learning station utilizing group exercises to promote team building. The outdoor environment is a perfect place to demonstrate the importance of working together to attain a specific goal. Shank's Mare staff will lead students through a series of outdoor games designed to test skills and cooperation, and have fun at the same time.

Rivertales

Immediately following the lunch break, students will gather together for a short presentation on the history of the Susquehanna River and its importance in the daily lives of those who inhabited its banks. From the Native Americans to the early European settlers and their border disputes, to the Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal, the river has played a signiticant role in the settling of our area.

Program Goal

To give an overview of habitat, ecology, and history of the Susquehanna River. To create an appreciation and awareness of the natural beauty of the lower Susquehanna River Valley for area students.

Shank’s Mare’s field trip programs are suitable for middle, high school and home school earth science, history, and physical education curriculums.

Support Materials

Identification guides, program notes, and quiz materials are provided as requested to support the teacher’s lesson plan. We encourage discussion before and after the field day to support the student’s learning experience.

Safety:
We take great pride in our programs and strive to make the day both enjoyable as well as safe for everyone involved. The students are required to wear a PFD (personal floatation devise) at all times. Guides are experienced paddlers, and are certified in both First Aid and CPR. Students are supervised at all times. Attention to instruction and response to the guides leading the trip is respectfully enforced.

Participants should wear appropriate clothing and footwear for activities and weather conditions. Students may get wet at some point so plan accordingly. Bring a packed lunch.

Naturalist Gretchen Young with students

Students explore Fishing Creek during the Streamside Discovery station.

Students get hands on experience paddling the Susquehanna River.

Students learn Susquehanna River history during “Rivertales”

Students studying invertebrates and water quality at Fishing Creek.