The Gullah Geechee are African Americans with ancestral roots in the Southeastern U.S., from southeastern North Carolina all the way down to northeastern Florida. Their ancestors, taken from West and Central Africa between the early 1600s and the 1850s, were forced into labor due to their skills and strength. To preserve their heritage, they created the Gullah Geechee language by blending native African languages with English.

Food chains reveal how each organism depends on someone else for survival and can help scientists learn more about ecosystems and how to help them stay balanced.

Compare and contrast adaptations displayed by animals that enable them to survive in Florida's natural habitats.

Use these activities to prepare for your field trip and to reflect on the experience!

Wish you could be there in person? Experience the next best thing - the Virtual Field Trip. Virtually explore the fort's interior and exterior, watch the ranger videos, and more!

Discover how St. Augustine played a vital role in the civil rights movement in the mid-1960s.

Use catchy music videos to introduce your students to memorable places and stories.

Students will explore how the Timucuan, Guale, and Apalache contributed to the construction of the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States.

Students will be able to understand the role of Fort Matanzas in relation to Spanish colonial history and how Fort Matanzas played an integral role in protecting the city of St. Augustine, FL.

Explore the causes and effects of sea level rise. Learn how you can join park staff in protecting coastal areas threatened by climate change.

Students will choose a habitat found in Haleakalā National Park and create a model of that habitat inside of a shoebox. The diorama projects will be shared with the class the following day.

Native species are those that reached the islands without the help of people. Many of our native plants and animals occur nowhere else in the world! In this activity, students learn how the different characters (species) in the story could reach the isolated Hawaiian Islands. The class is divided into the different ways that species arrived (4 groups): fly, swim, ride on the wind, and waves. As the story is read, students try to figure out how each new plant or animal reached the island.

Mālama means to care for. This activity helps us to remember ways we can care for the environment on our special island.

Students participate in a guided imagery exercise and take a trip to an imaginary “wild” place.

Haleakalā National Park protects one of the only remaining habitats for native species. Maui’s endemic species are native species that adapted to the islands over time and are found nowhere else. They had to adapt to the vast variety of ecosystems in order to improve their ability to find food, water, shelter, and space. An adaptation is a change of form or behavior that helps a species survive in a specific environment. Most living things have a variety of adaptations.

Students explore the idea that animals need a home and the basic parts of a habitat.

Students will understand the difficulty animals have finding all the components of their habitats through a role-playing game (best done outside).

Students will develop an awareness of carrying capacity (the number of species that can survive in an area over time) and its relationship to habitat.

Students will demonstrate, through a creative arts project, how snow helps some animals survive winter. They will create a diorama depicting life under the snow. (Adapted From Hands-on Nature)

Students will (1) explain habitat transition from a pond habitat to a meadow habitat (2) identify wildlife in a meadow habitat and imitate animal behavior, and (3) recognize that conditions within habitats are continually changing.