|
                |
Click here for information on fieldtrips to Redbud Valley
How To Schedule A Fieldtrip at Oxley Nature Center
When is a good time to visit?
Fieldtrips can be scheduled year-round. Each season offers different lessons
and experiences. If a guided field trip is not available, you are welcome to use
our facility for your own self-guided programs. Please call and let us know you
are coming.
Guided fieldtrips may be scheduled up to 13 months in advance by calling (918) 669-6644 during regular office hours: Monday - Saturday, 10:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.; and Sunday Noon - 4:30 p.m. The Nature Center is closed most City holidays.
The reservation calendar rolls forward one month at a time on the first Tuesday of each month. Starting on that date, a fieldtrip may be scheduled one year in advance through the end of that particular month. For example, starting on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2000, any open field trip through September 30, 2001 may be scheduled.
There is a fee for weekend guided fieldtrips. Weekday tours are free.
Programs available
Many or first-time visitors choose to go on a General Discovery Tour. Whatever the students and their leaders discover along the trail (animal homes, evidence of wildlife activity, plant growth, see dispersal, predator-prey interactions, etc.) will be the topics of discussion. Discovery Tours run for one to two hours (depending on the age of the students.) On weekdays, all tours must end by 1:00 p.m.
Any Discovery Tour may also have a Special Topic added to the program, especially for older students or repeat visitors. They may choose to work on forest ecology, seasonal change, habitats, tracking, aquatic analysis, map skills, pollution studies, etc.
The Pathfinder Tour is a little more structured than a General
Discovery Tour. As part of their discoveries, pathfinders earn a badge
by learning to identify five plants (one being poison ivy) and finding five
tracks or signs of wild animals, and becoming able to discuss five wild animals
that live at the Nature Center. Allow an hour for Pathfinder Tours.
Each 1 1/4" blue and white sew-on badge costs $0.75, tax included.
The following programs are available weekdays only, Spring or Autumn (Tuesday-Friday)
The award-winning Riddle of the Woods Tour is designed for 4th
grade students (adaptable for 3rd and 5th grade.) The Riddle is revealed to
students a week or two before the fieldtrip, and a series of preparatory
materials covers basic vocabulary and background information. With the students
prepared to search for clues, the fieldtrip itself puts discoveries into the
framework of energy flow from the sun to green plants to herbivores to
carnivores and omnivores to decomposers.
The fieldtrip begins at 9:30 or 10:00 a.m. and breaks for lunch around noon. After lunch, all clues and discoveries are put together, and the Riddle of the Woods is solved. The handbooks include follow-up materials and activities.
"Who Lives Here?" is a program designed for first graders. The guided tour and the follow-up discussion with a flannel-board emphasize animal homes and habitat.