FIELD TRIP DESCRIPTION:

It is an exciting year at the Cable Natural History Museum! We are celebrating our 40th Anniversary, building a new Museum, and hosting an exhibit from the Smithsonian Institute.

We will also be offering two different field trip opportunities this spring. During the month of May, our current exhibit Birds in Focus will be on display. Even if your class visited the exhibit last year we are developing new activities and curriculum, so it is sure to be a different experience. In June, we will be hosting an exhibition from the Smithsonian Institute titled Between Fences. This exhibit explores themes of boundaries, space, and place. It examines how neighbors and nations divide, protect, offend, and defend through the boundaries they build. To find out more about these wonderfully, unique exhibits and how to schedule a visit to the Museum this spring read more below.

New activities and curriculum for 2008!

Birds in Focus:
Becoming a Birder

Available Dates:
Tuesday, May 13th – Friday, May 23rd, 2008

Do you love seeing and hearing wild birds, but don’t quite know where to find them? And when you do come upon them, do you have trouble telling a bobolink from a bobwhite, a robin from a redpoll, or a veery from a vireo? Would you like to join your students in learning more about birds and birding?

Our field trips this spring will:

• Provide an exhibit that is a hands- and senses-on experience that will help visitors of all ages discover and sharpen basic naturalist and birding skills that can be put to immediate use in the north woods.
• Hear owl calls, practice your own bird calls, and record and play them back.
• Learn bird silhouettes through a shadow puppet exhibit component.
• Discover when, where, and how to successfully look for songbirds, shorebirds, waterfowl, raptors, and other wild birds. Learn and practice simple tips to identify dozens of birds by sight and sound.
• Allow students to participate in outdoor explorations to learn about birds while meeting national science standards.
• Become a birder at the Cable Natural History Museum—it’s easier than you think!

Between Fences

Available Dates: Tuesday, June 3rd – Friday, June 13th, 2008

We all live between fences. We may hardly notice them, but they are dominant features in our landscape, our lives, and in our history. The Between Fences exhibition is a cultural history of fences and land use in America.  Our country has fenced millions of miles and countless rivals have seized post, rail, board, and wire to stake a claim for home and happiness. Join us in the discovery of how tightly the fence is entwined with the politics, industry, and daily life in America.

Our field trips this spring will:

• Introduce the concepts of how physical and symbolic fences are use to divide, protect, offend, and defend.
• “Don’t Fence Me In” – enjoy outdoor explorations in our outdoor classroom
• Explore the themes of boundaries and territories in the natural world through games and activities.
• “Good Fences make Good Neighbors” -- examine character building and the concepts of respect.

Costs: $2.00 per student, $40 minimum. There is no charge for teachers or adult chaperones.