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
October 9th: 27 college students at Wild Mile. Macroinvertebrates ID and birdwatching activities after Wild Mile tour.
October 10th (AT CANAL ORIGINS PARK): Chicago Tech Academy AP environmental science field trip! 25 high schoolers for soil quality testing, nature journaling, and macroinvertebrates. The address is 2701 S Ashland Ave, Chicago, IL 6060
October 10th: LaSalle II Magnet School. After-school trip with mixed K-12 age group and parents. Macroinvertebrates and seed bombs!
October 15th: 6-8 Bell Elementary middle schoolers, science olympiad competitors! Wild Mile tour and macros activity - but a more formal version. They're learning about water quality, so they want to be able to actually count the macros and compare samples/make an assessment about water quality. Using petri dishes for this as opposed to the white tubs!
October 17th: Julian High School. 15 high school sophomores for macroinvertebrates, trash cleanup, and seed bombs.
October 20th: Decatur Classical. 30 8th-graders for macroinvertebrates and two other activities TBD
October 18th (10am-12pm): Honeycomb Project families visiting the Wild Mile. Up to 40 individuals, mix of kids and adults, for tour and activities. Three stations, ideally macros, seed bombs, and microscopes!
October 23rd: Bogan High School. 30 freshman for macroinvertebrates, seed bombs, and trash cleanup.
October 24th: (group 1) 33 Latin School students. Macros and plant ID nature journaling at the Wild Mile.
October 24th: (group 2) 33 Latin School students. Macros and plant ID nature journaling at the Wild Mile.
October 25th: PROGRAM FACILITATION: Wild Mile Fishing! This is a public program we lead monthly, and we have found that it requires us to be very hands-on. The main task here is making sure people don't hook themselves, helping people handle fish safely, getting lines un-snagged, putting worms on hooks, and informing the public about sustainable fishing techniques and regulations.
October 30th: Sarah E Goode High School. Freshman (number TBD but likely ~30) for macroinvertebrates, trash cleanup, and seed bombs.
