Pollinator Picnic introduces students to pollinator/plant relationships in Sabino Canyon and how pollinators are important to our daily lives. The concepts of pollination are introduced, with an emphasis on the value of pollination to both the pollinator and plant.
Students envision a picnic with and without the influence of pollinators. Students also discover what types of plants are attractive to five of the pollinators found in Sabino Canyon. They become pollinators themselves in a game that stresses the hazards that can prevent pollination from occurring and the conservation methods we can use to protect our pollinators.
This activity is designed for first through sixth grades.
Click here to download the POP – 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 – Explain probable causes and effects of events.
Click here to download the POP – Grade 4 Standards
Life Science
- Students develop an understanding of the diversity of past and present organisms, factors impacting organism diversity, and evidence of change of organisms over time.
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
- L4U.11 – Analyze and interpret environmental data to demonstrate that species either adapt and survive or go extinct over time.
Social Studies
- The content areas of civics, economics, geography, history, and disciplinary skills and processes.
Standards
- SP4.1 – Explain probable causes and effects of events and developments.
Click here to download the POP – Grade 5 Standards
Life Science
- Students develop an understanding of patterns and how genetic information is passed from generation to generation. They also develop the understanding of how genetic information and environmental features impact the survival of an organism.
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
- L3U1.9 – Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about patterns between the offspring of plants, and the offspring of animals (including humans): construct an explanation of how genetic information is passed from one generation to the next.</
- L3U1.10 – Construct an explanation based on evidence that the changes in an environment can affect the traits in a population of organisms.
- L4U3.11 – Obtain, evaluate, and communicate evidence about how natural and human-caused changes to habitats or climate can impact populations.
- L4U3.12 – Construct an argument based on evidence that inherited characteristics can be affected by behavior and/or environmental conditions.
Social Studies
- The content areas of civics, economics, geography, history, and disciplinary skills and processes.
Standards
- G2.1 – Describe how natural and human-caused changes to habitats or climate can impact our world.
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.