School is back in session and Discovery Field Trips are underway!
During the school year, Kids Discovery Program Coordinator, Lucy Cohen, and her band of education volunteers lead half-day field trips for elementary school students from across Portland. Despite Forest Park’s location so close to downtown, many of these young Portland natives have never before visited the park. Thanks to SELCO Community Credit Union’s financial support, these students now have the opportunity to experience this magnificent outdoor classroom.
Under the forest’s canopy, students from kindergarten to fifth grade learn about the forest by embodying a tree as it grows from seed to snag, searching for plants in a native plant scavenger hunt, and sitting quietly, listening to the sounds of the forest. Along each trip’s guided hike, the students explore the forest’s array of native plants, count tree rings, hear birds’ songs and dodge banana slugs, while getting to know their forest just a little better.