Education is central to our mission to connect community members of all backgrounds to the Chicago River, and one of our most popular educational opportunities are field trips!
We offer free field trips to any school or youth group who asks -- Field trips always begin with a tour of the park (led by either staff or out docent-trained volunteers) before splitting into small groups for ~20 minute station rotations. This is where we need your help!
With so many students, we need help leading activity stations centered around ecology and nature. Stations can include seed bomb making, exploring aquatic habitat and macroinvertebrates, cleaning the river by picking up trash, and more. All stations are straight forward and fun to teach, so you can pick your preference!
If you love education, engaging students with the environment, or just want to hang out with some cool folks, sign up today! Most of our field trips occur in the Spring and Fall. We will update this opportunity with new field trip dates as they are scheduled.
In addition to these field trips, we'll use this opportunity to post any public programs we might need help with. Monthly fishing events, partner events, etc... Please be sure to read the description of each event before signing up!
If you have any questions, please feel free to email rangers@urbanriv.org or maddie@urbanriv.org
Feb 28th: CAC Engineering Fest 10-3: We will have a drop-in style station focused on the engineering behind the floating wetlands. Description: "Kids build lego models of the garden units that make up the Wild Mile. They will be challenged to design units that specifically attract birds, insects or mammals. An additional challenge will be to design structures that create a floating eco-park for humans" *This is at Willis Tower; Programs Manager will help coordinate transport etc.
March 19th:Waters Elementary at River Park. 3 rotating activities, probably macroinvertebrates, handheld microscopes, and trash pick up. *Note that this is at River Park and not the Wild Mile. Volunteers can meet at the launch/dock on the west side of the river here.
April 18th: Healthy Kids Day at YMCA: As part of their Water Works Water related career exploration programming for 16-24 yr olds, we will be tabling and doing a station activity on Buoyancy. The Tabling aspect should aim to highlight the careers that make up urban rivers; and also highlight the river rangers program The Buoyancy activity will relate to our floating wetlands and connect to swimming which is a big component of their program. *Note that this is at Lakeview YMCA Volunteers will need to take materials to the location at 3333 N Marshfield Ave, Chicago, IL 60657
