Spring Programs

Registration for Spring 2024 field trips is currently open. Bring your class to the park on a ranger-led field trip!

Please email [e-mail] if you would like to be added to the mailing list to receive notice of future programs.

Please submit your request by Tuesday April 9th. Requests made after that date will be considered, but may not be able to be accommodated due to limited staffing.

The ranger-led field trip programs being offered this spring are listed on this page, below the first photo. Click the title of any program to find more detailed information about it on its own separate web page.

Submit your program request by completing the form linked immediately below.

Field Trip Request Form

 

Students tidepooling during Shoreline Discovery

NPS Acadia

Spring Field Trip Programs

Click any program title below to go to the program page, which contains a detailed description of the field trip, lists the educational standards met by the program, and links to a trip planning document with further information.

Dates that field trips are available in 2024 are listed below in red. When submitting your request, please ensure that all of your dates fall within the availability window.

At Home in Acadia: Habitats

Kindergarten
2-1/4 Hours (usually 9:00-11:15 am)
Available May 7 through June 7 in 2024

Children will investigate what makes the park a good home for plants and animals. Kindergarteners will focus on the components of habitat, and use their senses on an exploratory walk with activity stations.

At Home in Acadia: Adaptations

1st Grade
2-1/4 Hours (usually 9:00-11:15 am)
Available May 7 through June 7 in 2024

Children will investigate what makes the park a good home for plants and animals. First graders will learn about how animals and plants are adapted to their environment, and use their senses on an exploratory walk with activity stations.

At Home in Acadia: Pollination

2nd Grade
2-1/4 Hours (usually 9:00-11:15 am)
Available May 7 through June 7 in 2024

Children will investigate what makes the park a good home for plants and animals. Second graders will study the relationship between flowering plants and the many animals that pollinate them, and use their senses on an exploratory walk with activity stations.

Shoreline Discovery

3rd Grade
3 Hours (usually 9am-12pm)
In 2024, available only on the following dates: May 14-17 and May 28-31
*The 5/25 program will be 8:45am-11:45am.

On this trip we’ll be exploring a sheltered part of Acadia’s shoreline called Otter Cove. Many animals call the shoreline home, but there are lots of challenges they must overcome to survive there. Students learn skills to safely explore the intertidal zone with the least impact to the environment.

Carroll Homestead

4th Grade
4 Hours (usually 9am-1:00pm)
Available May 7 through June 7 in 2024

Students take a walk back in time as they explore the Carroll family homestead and imagine what it would be like to be one of the first European families who lived here, almost 200 years ago. An Educator’s Guide with lesson plans is available.

The Great Fish Migration

5th–8th Grades
3 hours (usually 9am-12pm)
Available May 13 through May 29 in 2024

Witness the incredible phenomenon of the spring fish migration along the Maine coast. This field trip gives students a firsthand look at schools of alewives (“river herring”) as they return from the ocean along Somes Brook to spawn in fresh water on Mount Desert Island. This is a collaborative program with the Somes-Meynell Wildlife Sanctuary. Students will learn about former land use, life cycles, migratory challenges, food webs, conservation efforts, and impacts of climate change.

Fire & Ice: Discovering Acadia's Geologic Past

6th–8th Grades
4 Hours (usually 9am-1pm)
Available May 7 through June 7 in 2024

Using Acadia as their classroom, students will explore several geologic processes and see how they shape the land including the cycle of deposition versus transport, the formation of the three main rock types, the dynamics of plate tectonics and the movement of glaciers.

return to top

 

 

Where in the World is Tuzigoot Program

NPS Acadia

Classroom Programs

Acadia Education staff will not be visiting schools in Spring 2024. Please sign up for a field trip to the park!

The following classroom programs have been offered in previous years.

We are limited to visiting schools with a travel time of 2 hours or less.

Wildlife & Their Habitats

Offered Nov-March only

1st & 2nd Grade
1 Hour

Children learn how Acadia’s habitats provide animals with what they need to survive. This hands-on, interactive “show-and-tell” program includes the use of puppets, imagery, skulls, shells, and more!

Protecting Our Park

Not available 2024

3rd & 4th Grade
90 Minutes

How do park rangers and community members protect special places like Acadia? Students explore the current research projects happening in the Park. Then, they become "Junior Scientists" as they study biodiversity and learn to address the challenges facing our environment today. The schoolyard will be utilized as on outdoor classroom!

Bats in Your Backyard

Offered Nov-March only

4th–5th Grade
90 minutes

Bats are facing many stresses with the recent spread of the bat disease called white-nose syndrome. Learn about these unique animals through engaging hands-on activities as we debunk myths, review adaptations, and examine their importance. Students collect data during a mock bat research activity and discuss how rangers and students can help protect bats.

return to top