A Day in the Rustic Countryside of Orange County

Tucker
Wildlife
Sanctuary

Located just two miles up Modjeska Canyon, in the eastern foothills of Orange County, Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary provides a delightful respite from urban life and suburban sprawl.It is also an excellent resource for local elementary school teachers for field trips, tying in with science and social studies standards. Students will enjoy an outdoor experience along with a modest, but fascinating museum. Guided tours are available.

Marcella Gilchrist, Site Manager

In this two-minute video, Marcella Gilchrist, the Site Manager at the Wildlife Sanctuary, told us about some of the experiences students will have when they visit. Starting with the live snakes and tarantulas available for petting, along with a diorama featuring many of the animals that live in the area, students first visit the museum building where they learn about the local environment and animals before going out into the sanctuary itself, where they might spend some time using binoculars on the observation porch to watch the activities of a variety of birds.

Later, during our chat with Marcella, she briefly described how Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary is a part of Cal State Fullerton.

Meeting all students needs.

Physically disabled and visually impaired students have access to all the site's attractions. The Sanctuary's main feature--a path that winds around their two prized ponds and through native cactus and trees--is well paved and marked. A teacher and guide could easily lead any group of students through this path. No exhausting hiking or trailblazing is required. Students in wheelchairs or with other physical disabilities, therefore, would find this trip accommodating. There is also a "Sensory Garden" made specifically for visually impaired students. This garden gives them a tactile experience of the Sanctuary (admittedly, though, it does not offer much for them to touch, and the plants are poorly labeled).
English Language Learners would benefit greatly from this experience because science content is brought to life before them. It might be helpful to have them learn some of the names of the animals before they visit and while there, perhaps recording notes, pictures, questions (in their own language) into a personal science journal. A teacher might also allow students to take pictures using a digital camera. These pictures would provide easy reference for future activities, or could serve as a picture dictionary.
GATE students would find many interesting topics to explore here. They might be given a project to do, such as "Find a way to create a safe-habitat for a creature in your neighborhood." I can see the possibility of many school-sanctuary-home connections happening because of a field trip to the Sanctuary.

What can students do before they visit? After?

Before students visit Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary, Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary can come to them. The Sanctuary offers an on-school-site program, which brings with it a slide-show and some of the taxidermy and live animals (like their desert tortoise). Teachers can also arrange to have a standards-based packet of worksheets and pictures sent to their school before the field trip. Additionally, teachers may call the Sanctuary ahead of time and arrange for the field-trip to be customized according to standards, class projects/interests--basically to any focus the teacher desires. The Sanctuary's website also includes some pictures that students may view before they visit.
Many fun and engaging activities could be made to follow-up this experience. ELL students, for example, could use the digital pictures they take to create an interactive or online dictionary. Any other student could do this as well.
I also think this trip would hopefully help students become more ecologically aware. They might be prompted to respond in a variety of real-life ways to their own local environments. A Learning Cycle lesson would be very appropriate for a post-trip activity.
Students could, at least, do an extension research project on their experiences. They might do further exploration of species they encounter, or look up ways to take care of a live cactus.

Hummingbirds, Finches and Woodpeckers

Visitors sit on a glassed-in covered porch looking out across the Wildlife Sanctuary. Feeders are strategically placed near the porch to allow visitors the opportunity to get an up-close view of the many birds that live in the area.

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Marcella outlined how state standards can be connected with a trip to the wildlife sanctuary, as well as how teachers can arrange to bring their classes, and what sort of materials are presented, including in-school visits by representatives of the wildlife sanctuary. This video segment is two and a half minutes.

What standards could be met?

Mac and I agreed that many standards, from many curriculum areas, could be met because of a visit to Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary.
Undoubtedly Tucker Wildlife presents many opportunities for students to engage with Science Content Standards, especially standards that fall under the Life Science strand.For example, the 3rd grade California Science Standard--"Students know when the environment changes, some plants and animals survive and reproduce; others die or move to new locations."--can be experienced by the students in light of the devastating fires that just ripped through much of this land. The fires left such an obvious impression, that students would see first hand how environmental changes affect wildlife. Students also have opportunities, at all grade levels, to develop investigating and experimenting skills. The site's manager told us about the opportunities that would be available for students to test water samples and investigate and explore other ecological features of the Sanctuary.
Tucker Wildlife also allows students to interact with standards from other content areas, like Social Studies. Students can, for instance, learn about how native California-Indians used plants, herbs, and animals for survival. A lesson focused on this topic addresses a standard from 4th grade Social Studies: "Discuss the major nations of California Indians, including their geographic distribution, economic activities, legends, and religious beliefs; and describe how they depended on, adapted to, and modified the physical environment by cultivation of land and use of sea resources" (History-Social-Science, 4.2.1)