School Tours
Independent Exploration
Offered 9 a.m. - noon, Monday - Friday
September 10, 2007 - June 13, 2008
(Closed Tuesdays November - February)
Your visit begins with an orientation in the Visitor Center Theater. After the orientation you can explore the galleries and grounds in small, chaperone-led groups. Engage your students with the many animals in our live animal collection. Explore all the connections to the natural world by visiting our gardens. Discover the people who have called - and still call - this region their home. Visit our two changing exhibit galleries, Exploration Hall and the Koenig Gallery, to see current exhibitions.
directed exploration
Docent-guided tours
Offered 9 a.m. – noon
Check description for days and dates offered. Your visit begins with an orientation in the Visitor Center Theater. Each tour will be approximately one hour in length. Your group may stay and enjoy the rest of the park after your tour.
Wintu Ways
Grades K-5
Offered 9 a.m. – noon, Fridays
October 5, 2007 – January 18, 2008
March 7 – May 2, 2008
Discover how Native Americans used natural materials for shelter and food and in the creation of tools and baskets. Sit in the replica Wintu bark house and listen to stories. This tour will bring alive traditional and contemporary Native American lifeways.
Pre and Post Tour Materials (PDF): Wintu Ways: Pre & Post
CA History-Social Science State Standards: 1.2, 3.1, 3.3,
CA Science Content Standards: 2.3a, 2.3b, 2.3e; 4.5c; 5.3d, 5.3e); 6.2.b.
3rd Grade Museum Art
Gallery Experience (MAGE)
Shasta County 3rd grade classes only
Offered 9 a.m. – noon
January 22 – February 29, 2008
Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays
Third grade students will enjoy a docent-led art gallery tour of the Picasso: Ceramics exhibition followed by a hands-on art project designed to foster creativity. The tour and art project will be aligned with 3rd Grade Visual Arts Content Standards. The entrance fee for this program is generously underwritten by Wells Fargo Bank and Jack and Kristen Schreder. Pre-registration required.
CA visual Arts standards: 3rd grade – 1.1, 1.4, 1.5, 3.4, 4.1, 5.4
Animal Adventures
Grades K – 5
Offered 9:00 – noon, Wednesdays
October 3, 2007 – January 16, 2008
March 5 – April 30, 2008
Raptors! Reptiles! Mammals! All animals have different needs. Enhance your study of animals’ basic needs, life cycles, habitat, or energy flow through a food chain with this tour. Connect your students to the animal world surrounding them while they examine natural objects and see live animals.
Pre and Post Tour Materials (PDF): Animal Adventures: Pre & Post
CA Science Standards: K.2.a, K.2.c, 1.2.a-d, 2.2.a-d, 3.3.a-d, 4.2.b, 4.3.a-c
The Monolith: A Story of the Sacramento River
Grades 2-6
Offered 9:00 – noon, Thursdays
October 4, 2007 – January 17, 2008
March 6 – May 1, 2008
Tours are conducted rain or shine, so come dressed for the appropriate weather. Kutras Aggregate Plant, now called The Monolith, played a crucial in role the building of Shasta Dam. Discover how renowned artist Buster Simpson tells the story of the Sacramento River in this important historical building. This interdisciplinary tour weaves art, history, geology, and biology through the story that includes what was once the world’s longest conveyor belt!
Pre and Post Tour Materials (PDF): The Monolith: Pre & Post
CA History-Social Science State Standards: K.6, 1.2, 3.1, 3.2, and 5.1
Shasta County History
Grades 3 – 4
Offered 9:00 – noon, Fridays
October 5, 2007 – January 18, 2008
March 7 – May 2, 2008
From the early fur trappers to the building of Shasta Dam, learn why people came to this area and how they made a living. Connect students with local history through touchable artifacts and permanent Turtle Bay displays.
CA History-Social Science State Standards: K.6, 1.2, 3.1, 3.2, and 5.1
Forestry Exhibit Tour
Grades 2 – 6
March 4 – May 6 2008
Offered 9-noon, Tuesdays
The Sustainable Forestry & Sustainable Communities exhibit is available at the museum for an on site, docent guided tour. Contemporary forest-management issues are discussed using forest science as a foundation. Supporting curriculum is available to educators using the trailer as a teaching tool. Exhibits installed in the 48-foot-long trailer are designed to teach basic concepts relating to forest resources and management, forests and ecosystem balance, the importance of sustainable forestry to local communities and animal habitats, the role of fires in forests past and future and the effects and control of catastrophic wildfires. The tour ends in the Paul Bunyan Forest Camp’s Mill Building where students can ask questions and discuss what they learned with a trained guide.
Please reserve in advance.
