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About the University

First Grade

FREE PROGRAMS

Drip Drop Plop
  • Time: 30 minutes 
  • Students search to find “Drop” and learn how little water is actually available for human use. We will discover where water is found, discuss how humans use it, and formulate ideas to conserve it. Hands-on activities make learning fun! 
  • Topics Covered: Location of Water on Earth, Importance of Clean Water
  •  Science/Social Science Standards: 1.S.1, 1.E.4 
  • Live Animals: Yes 
  • Cost: Free
How does your garden grow?

Time: 30 minutes 

Adapting an activity from PLT, students become parts of a plant and review plants’ basic needs. Then they will explore the importance of water and how different environments support interesting plants through comparing plant adaptations. 

  • Topics Covered: Plants, Clean Water, Importance of Plants, Basic Needs of Plants, Plant Structures and Plant Life Cycles 
  • Science/Social Science Standards: 1.S.1, 1.L.5 
  • Live Animals: Yes 
  • Cost: Free
Up, Down, All Around

Time: 30 minutes 
Learn about the composition of the earth while creating earthquakes!  Students will explore the Earth’s components and learn how water shapes our earth, its importance, and the neat properties that make water so special!  

  • Topics Covered: Composition of Earth, Properties of Water, Importance of Water 
  • Science/Social Science Standards: 1.S.1, 1.E.4 
  • Live Animals: No 
  • Cost: Free
Shadow Show

Time: 30 minutes 
Using flashlights, students observe and compare how light behaves when it shines on different materials. Is it refracted or reflected? What is the difference between transparent, translucent and opaque? Students experiment to see how light travels and how shadows are formed. Using a pet dinosaur, students discover how to make his shadow move right and left, make him bigger and smaller, and shorter and taller. Is it possible to make the dinosaur shadow completely disappear? 

  • Topics Covered: Properties of Light, How Shadows are Formed 
  • Science/Social Science Standards: 1.S.1, 1.P.2 
  • Live Animals: No 
  • Cost: Free
Making Day and Night

Time: 30 minutes 

Let’s learn why the Sun is so important!  Using a globe and flashlight the students explore how to make day and night. As the students act out a song and pretend to be Earth, they rotate to make day and night. We’ll also see the difference between rotation and revolution.

  • Topics Covered: The Sun’s Energy, Day and Night, Rotation and Revolution.
  • Science/Social Science Standards: 1.S.1, 1.E.3
  • Live Animals: No 
  • Cost: Free

Fee Programs

All Around the World

Time: 30 minutes 
Animals and artifacts from the WEC come to visit with the students as they learn how the sun and moon affect animal behavior, their interaction with their habitat and special adaptations for nocturnal and diurnal animals. 

  • Topics Covered: Nocturnal and Diurnal Animals 
  • Science/Social Science Standards: 1.S.1, 1.E.3 
  • Live Animals: Yes 
  • Cost: $1/Student