NYSI allows students to discover how predators and prey use characteristics, adaptations and behaviors such as camouflage, mimicry, coloration, and protective stillness to hunt, hide and survive.
Students hide and hunt selected animal models and learn the importance of predator-prey relationships.
Students are encouraged to communicate ways that changes in environment and habitat can affect these relationships.
This activity is recommended for grades 1 and 2.
Click here to download the NYSI – Grade 1 Standards
Life Science
- Students develop an understanding that Earth has supported, and continues to support, a large variety of organisms. These organisms can be distinguished by their physical characteristics, life cycles, and their different resource needs for survival. Different types of organisms live where there are different earth resources such as food, air, and water.
Core Ideas
- L1: Organisms are organized on a cellular basis and have a finite life span.
- L2: Organisms require a supply of energy and materials for which they often depend on, or compete with, other organisms.
- L3: Genetic information is passed down from one generation of organisms to another.
- L4: The unity and diversity of organisms, living and extinct, is the result of evolution.
Standards
- L2U1.7 – Develop and use models about how living things use resources to grow and survive; design and evaluate habitats for organisms using earth materials.
- L2U1.8 – Construct and explanation describing how organisms obtain resources from the environment including materials that are used again by other organisms.
- L4U3.11 – Ask questions and explain how factors can cause species to go extinct.
Social Studies
- The content areas of civics, economics, geography, history, and disciplinary skills and processes.
Standards
- SP3.5 – Ask and answer questions about explanations given.
- C1.2 – Follow agreed upon rules for discussions when responding to others and making decisions including consensus building procedures.
- C1.3 – Compare one’s own thoughts and opinions with others’ perspectives.
Click here to download the NYSI – Grade 2 Standards
Life Science
- Students develop and understanding that life on Earth depends on energy from the Sun or energy from other organisms to survive.
Core Ideas
- L1: Organisms are organized on a cellular basis and have a finite life span.
- L2: Organisms require a supply of energy and materials for which they often depend on, or compete with, other organisms.
- L3: Genetic information is passed down from one generation of organisms to another.
- L4: The unity and diversity of organisms, living and extinct, is the result of evolution.
Standards
- L2U1.9 – Obtain, analyze, and communicate evidence that organisms need a source of energy, air, water, and certain temperature conditions to survive.
- L2U1.10 – Develop a model representing how life on Earth depends on energy from the Sun and energy from other organisms.
Social Studies
- The content areas of civics, economics, geography, history, and disciplinary skills and processes.
Standards
- SP3.5 – Ask and answer questions about explanations and arguments.
- SP4.1 – Generate possible reasons for an event or development.
- SP4.2 – Select which reasons might be more likely than others to explain an event or development.
Click here to download the NYSI – Grade 3 Standards
Life Science
- Students develop an understanding of the flow of energy in a system beginning with the Sun to and among organisms. They also understand that plants and animals (including humans) have specialized internal and external structures and can respond to stimuli to increase survival.
Core Ideas
- L1: Organisms are organized on a cellular basis and have a finite life span.
- L2: Organisms require a supply of energy and materials for which they often depend on, or compete with, other organisms.
- L3: Genetic information is passed down from one generation of organisms to another.
- L4: The unity and diversity of organisms, living and extinct, is the result of evolution.
Standards
- L1U1.5 – Develop and use models to explain that plants and animals (including humans) have internal and external structures that serve various functions that aid in growth, survival, behavior, and reproduction.
- L2U1.6 – Plan and carry out investigations to demonstrate ways plants and animals react to stimuli.
- L2U1.7 – Develop and use system models to describe the flow of energy from the Sun to and among living organisms.
- L2U1.8 – Construct and argument from evidence that organisms are interdependent.
Social Studies
- The content areas of civics, economics, geography, history, and disciplinary skills and processes.
Standards
- SP4.1 – probable causes and effects of events.
Please tell us about your Field Trip experience
Thank you for participating in the Sabino Canyon Field Trip Program. We are constantly striving to make our program valuable for children and teachers. Could you help us evaluate our performance by completing this quick survey?
Field Trips in the Canyon
Field trips are offered from mid-October through mid-April.
Trips must begin between 9:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Allow two hours for the program; add an additional 30 minutes if your class will be staying for lunch. Since it takes time to drive to the teaching area from where a naturalist will meet you, please arrive 15 minutes before your scheduled field trip time.
We’ve increased our number of maximum students per field trip to 50. Multiple classes are encouraged to come together, as long as all students, school staff, and chaperones can fit on one bus.
To maintain safety for all users of Sabino Canyon, the U.S. Forest Service limits field trips to one bus and one lead vehicle driven by a naturalist; no other private vehicles are allowed into the Canyon. We strongly prefer that you not arrive in private vehicles in addition to your bus. However, if it’s absolutely necessary to do so, private vehicles will be led to an overflow parking lot where everyone must board and ride in the school bus to the teaching site.
If your school does not have access to a bus, please check back, as we are working on ways to accommodate you and your students.
We will begin accepting field trip requests for the 2026-2027 school year at 12:01 a.m. on August 1, and slots fill up quickly.
The application form will appear on this page at that time.