California Nursery Historical Park

School Field Trips (Fifth Grade) Integration of Science with History all field trips start at the California Nursery Office and end at Vallejo Adode, build in the 1830's PRICE  $200 up to 32 students Book field trips by calling (510)790-6284 or email  field@msnucleus.org

Ecosystems in the Park

California Nursery Historical Park was part of a large tree nursery in the 1880's.  Trees in the park today are older than most trees in cities.  There are 150 year old palm trees, as well as dozens o ver 100 year old.  These trees provide an ecosystem that can maintain raptors (i.e. owls and hawks).   This field trip looks at the historical development of the California Nursery as part of a growing agricultural emphasis within California. As Californians recognized that water would make our lands into an agricultural producer of the nation, they also realized that the railways would move the products.

Walking throught the park we will look for habitat of Great Horned and Barn Owls.  We will hunt for owl sites and work on owl pellets to see what little critters were ate.  Discussion will be centered on use of owl pellets to help understand the local ecosystem.

Where:  California Nursery Historical Park
Dates:  Sept-Nov; March-June
Times:  9:30-11:30; 12:30-2:30
Activities:  identification of trees; owl pellet dissection and correlation
Lunch:  at the Vallejo Adobe or in nearby picnic benches (no extra charge)
Price: $200

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

5-LS2-1. Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.

LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems  The food of almost any kind of animal can be traced back to plants. Organisms are related in food webs in which some animals eat plants for food and other animals eat the animals that eat plants. Some organisms, such as fungi and bacteria, break down dead organisms (both plants or plants parts and animals) and therefore operate as “decomposers.” Decomposition eventually restores (recycles) some materials back to the soil. Organisms can survive only in environments in which their particular needs are met. A healthy ecosystem is one in which multiple species of different types are each able to meet their needs in a relatively stable web of life. Newly introduced species can damage the balance of an ecosystem. (5-LS2-1) LS2.B: Cycles of Matter and Energy Transfer in Ecosystems  Matter cycles between the air and soil and among plants, animals, and microbes as these organisms live and die. Organisms obtain gases, and water, from the environment, and release waste matter (gas, liquid, or solid) back into the environment. (5-LS2-1)

ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems

Human activities in agriculture, industry, and everyday life have had major effects on the land, vegetation, streams, ocean, air, and even outer space. But individuals and communities are doing things to help protect Earth’s resources and environments.

5-LS1 From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

Support an argument that plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air and water.

United States History and Geography: Making a New Nation

Students in grade five study the development of the nation up to 1850, with an emphasis on the people who were already here, when and from where others arrived, and why they came. Students learn about the colonial government founded on Judeo-Christian principles, the ideals of the Enlightenment, and the English traditions of self-government. They recognize that ours is a nation that has a constitution that derives its power from the people, that has gone through a revolution, that once sanctioned slavery, that experienced conflict over land with the original inhabitants, and that experienced a westward movement that took its people across the continent. Studying the cause, course, and consequences of the early explorations through the War for Independence and western expansion is central to students’ fundamental understanding of how the principles of the American republic form the basis of a pluralistic society in which individual rights are secured.

5.8 Students trace the colonization, immigration, and settlement patterns of the American people from 1789 to the mid-1800s, with emphasis on the role of economic incentives, effects of the physical and political geography, and transportation systems.

1.    Discuss the waves of immigrants from Europe between 1789 and 1850 and their modes of transportation into the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys and through the Cumberland Gap (e.g., overland wagons, canals, flatboats, steamboats).

2.    Name the states and territories that existed in 1850 and identify their locations and major geographical features (e.g., mountain ranges, principal rivers, dominant plant regions).

3.    Demonstrate knowledge of the explorations of the trans-Mississippi West followingthe Louisiana Purchase (e.g., Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, Zebulon Pike, John Fremont).

4.    Discuss the experiences of settlers on the overland trails to the West (e.g., location of the routes; purpose of the journeys; the influence of the terrain, rivers, vegetation, and climate; life in the territories at the end of these trails).

5.    Describe the continued migration of Mexican settlers into Mexican territories of the West and Southwest.

6.    Relate how and when California, Texas, Oregon, and other western lands became part of the United States, including the the significance of the Texas War for Independence and the Mexican-American War.