Guest Speakers

Pre-school & Kindergarten
Natural History	Who Lives in a National park? introduces students in pre-school and kindergarten to the differences between pets and wild animals and what desert animals are.
	Tracks and More explores how animals move, what sort of shelters they live in, and what their tracks look like. (kindergarten)
	Fossils, Rocks, and Digs
Cultural History	Park Rangers: Special People with Special Jobs

 

First & Second Grades
Natural History	Habitats introduces students to the concept of what animals need to survive.
	Furry Flyers: Desert Bats helps students explore the important roles bats play in our desert ecosystem. (second graders only)
	Tooth and Claw engages students in how animals survive in their environment.
	Earth’s Bare Bones: Desert Minerals explores the makeup of the minerals in our rocks and helps students identify local minerals by color.
Cultural History	What Do Park Rangers Do? helps students understand the importance of national parks and the variety of jobs performed by park rangers.

 

Third & Fourth Grades
Natural History	Wasteland or Wonderland: Exploring Desert Systems helps students understand the importance of desert systems and how they work.
	Geo Kids: The Rocks of Joshua Tree National Park helps students discover how the rocks of Joshua Tree were formed and eroded. (fourth grade)
	Desert Adaptations engages students in exploring how plants and animals have adapted to survive in the desert. (fourth grade)
Cultural History	They Called The Desert Home engages students in exploring the human history of the park.
	Living in Harmony helps students explore how the California Desert Indians lived and survived in the local area.

 

Fifth & Sixth Grades
Natural History	Rocks and Faults engages students in how the ever-dynamic geology of Earth formed and continues to shape the landscape. (sixth grade)
Cultural History	Layers Upon Layers engages students in the science of archaeology by mapping artifacts and making inferences based on what is found.

 

Middle & Jr High Students
Natural History	Tortoise, Tortoise launches students into a study of the desert tortoise through scientific study practices using tortoise replicas. (sixth & seventh grades)
	Desert Connections helps students understand how rocks, plants, animals, and humans are connected, and begins to examine how our actions affect the resources, as well as some of the issues the park faces.
Cultural History	Epitaphs on Rocks

 

Highschool Students
Natural History	Desert Connections helps students understand how rocks, plants, animals, and humans are connected, and begins to examine how our actions affect the resources, as well as some of the issues the park faces.
	Discovering the Ancients: Exploring the Desert helps students understand the ancient ages of our desert plants, how plants are aged, and what is threatening the plants.
Cultural History	National Park Service Careers helps students explore the importance of national parks and the types of jobs needed to manage these special places.
	Epitaphs on Rocks
	Job Shadowing allows a student to accompany a park ranger in order to experience what he or she does on a daily basis.