NPS Photo Welcome educators! Rock Creek Park offers a unique opportunity to enhance the learning experience of your students. This page gives details on how to make a field trip request, explains our curriculum-based programs we currently offer, and prepares you and your students before visiting.
Visit our Planetarium Education page for more information about our planetarium films. ReservationsAt this time, we are only accepting field trip reservations for Thursdays until June 2025. To request a field trip reservation form, please contact us via e-mail. Reservations cannot be made over the phone. If you have questions, call us at 202-895-6070. We are available Thursday through Sunday from 9am to 5pm. Curriculum-based programs Our curriculum based programs are free, but must be booked at least two weeks in advance. Please keep in mind that Rock Creek Park Nature Center is closed Mondays through Wednesdays. Not able to visit the park? That's ok, a ranger can come to your classroom! Outreach programs are only available on Wednesdays and are for schools located in Washington, D.C.
We offer curriculum-based programs in the following themes:
Students per group: maximum of 20
Chaperones per group: 3 Field trip programs are only available on Thursdays. Outreach programs are only available on Wednesdays. Books and Beyond with a Ranger (Grades Pre K-K, 30-45 minutes) Bring your little students to the Rock Creek Park Nature Center to play and be inspired by the nature in the forest that surrounds us. This program includes puppets, books, songs, and movement to teach students about forest animals, seasons, and our sky. If weather permits, the program will take place outside. If the group is interested, the program will conclude with a 0.25 mile hike on a paved trail. Students per group: maximum of 30
Chaperones per group: 2-4 Field trip programs are only available on Thursdays. Outreach programs are only available on Wednesdays. What is a Habitat? / Animal Adaptations (Grades K-3, 60 minutes) This program encourages exploration of three habitats (forest, meadow, and stream) found within Rock Creek Park. Students will be able to compare the different habitats and learn how animals and places are connected. They will also learn what a food chain and food web are and how they connect to all living things. This is offered as a field trip at the Nature Center or outreach program. NGSS: 2-LS4-1, 3-LS3-1 You Can Help the Earth! (Grades 3-5, 60 minutes) Things that people do to live comfortably can affect the world around them. Students learn that people can make choices that reduce their impacts on the land, water, air, and other living things. For example, by reducing trash through reuse and recycling. This is offered as a field trip at Peirce Mill or outreach program. NGSS: 5-ESS3-1 Be a Jr. Naturalist (Grades 6-8, 60 minutes) Go on a hike with a ranger! Watch a squirrel looking for acorns. Listen to the calls of birds. Search for animals while using binoculars. Find out what lives within a pond. Record your observances. All of these experiences and more are available as students learn to be a junior naturalist. Offered only as a field trip. This hike will take place in the northern part of the park by Boundary Bridge. Your group will meet the ranger at the Nature Center and travel to the hike location. No restrooms or picnic tables are available at this location. NGSS: MS-LS2-1 Aquatic Ecology (Grades 6-8, 60-90 minutes) Water is a renewable resource. Explore how it cycles through our system in the forms of clouds, precipitation, ground water, streams and rivers, oceans, plants and animals. This is offered as a field trip at Peirce Mill or outreach program. NGSS: MS-LS2-3, MS-LS2-4 Students per group: maximum of 25
Chaperones per group: 5-7 Recommended for ages 12 and up Ranger-led hikes are only available on Wednesdays. Make sure to wear comfortable shoes, dress according to the weather, and bring plenty of water. The Milkhouse Ford Hike (1.7 miles, 90 minutes) The Milkhouse Ford Trail offers both beautifully forested nature and a glimpse into Washington, DC's history. Join a ranger at the Nature Center for a guided hike where you will encounter Fort DeRussy (which saw action during the Civil War), a two-room log cabin used by poet Joaquin Miller, and the historic Milkhouse Ford river crossing, one of Rock Creek Park's oldest and most well-preserved fords. After Emancipation History Hike (1.5 miles, 90 minutes) Meet with a park ranger by Peirce Mill and learn the stories of formerly enslaved individuals who lived in what would become Rock Creek Park. Who were they? What did they accomplish after emancipation? This hike will address enslavement, racism, social justice, and the previously untold stories of the park. African American History of Herring Hill (2.5 miles, 2 hours) Join a ranger on a walk to learn about Herring Hill - a historically African American neighborhood in Georgetown. Learn about the people who lived here and the changes this area has undergone over the years. This hike will utilize sidewalks that can be narrow and uneven at times. It will traverse neighborhood streets in the Georgetown area of DC. Meet the ranger at the Old Stone House gardens. There are no public facilities available on this hike. Students per group: 40
Chaperones per group: 4 This field trip takes place at Peirce Mill. Field trips are only available on Thursdays. Farm Fields to Mill Wheels: A Program for Young Millers (Grades Pre-K - 2, 90 minutes) Is there cornmeal in your kitchen cupboard? Where did it come from? Two hundred years ago, flour and meal came from the local mill. In this hands-on program, students will learn how farmers once grew corn, and how millers turned that corn into cornmeal. Students will also try grinding grain by hand, then see how a water-powered mill makes this job much easier! Title 1 schools are eligible for free bus transportation while funds are available for the Farm Fields to Mill Wheels: A Program for Young Millers field trip program. For more information regarding free bus transporation, contact angela@friendsofpeircemill.org Students per group: maximum of 55
Chaperones per group: 5 Field trip programs are only available on Thursdays. Smaller groups are welcome to inquire about currently scheduled weekend shows. The Young Planetarium (Grades Pre K-2, 30 minutes) Watch the sun set and reveal a star covered sky. Explore the solar system with a park ranger in this planetarium program. The Stellar Star Show (Grades 3-6, 30 minutes) Observe the movements of the moon, stars, and other planets in relation to the Earth and Sun. See the night sky as though you stayed up all night long!
Know before you goParking
Food
WeatherDuring inclement weather, particularly snow storms and hurricanes, federal offices in the district may be closed. To check if we are open visit the OPM website. Also check local television and radio broadcasts for announcements.Where to meet?For field trips at the Nature Center, plan to meet the ranger at 5200 Glover Rd. NW, Washington, DC 20015.For field trips at Peirce Mill, plan to meet the ranger at 2401 Tilden St. NW, Washington, DC 20008. Visit our Directions page for more information. Running late? Need to change or cancel your reservation?Call us at 202-895-6070. We're available Thursday through Sunday, 9am to 5pm. |
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Last updated: December 11, 2024