Natural Heritage Program

The Natural Heritage Program for 4th-5th graders provides students with an understanding of natural systems and explores all aspects of the natural history of the Blue Ridge's forests, fields, rivers, and mountains. Through classroom sessions and field trips, students study plants and animals in their environments.  Through observation and discovery, they will deepen their connection to this region we call home.

Lessons Include:

  • Insects- Monarch Butterflies
  • Dendrology - Leaf ID/Dichotomous Keys
  • Owl Pellets/Bird Feeders and Citizen Science
  • Geology - Plate Tectonics/Cranberry Gneiss
  • Mammals - Opossums
  • Animal Tracks and Signs - Casting prints
  • Herpetology - Hellbenders/salamanders/frogs
  • Geography - The Blue Ridge Mountains

This program will enhance the following SOL’s for fourth grade:

  •  4.1 a,b,e   Scientific Investigation, Reasoning and Logic
  • 4.4 a,b,d    Life Processes
  • 4.5 a,b,c,d,e,f    Living Systems
  • 4.9 a,b,c,d    Earth Resources
  • VS 1i    Skills
  • VS 2a,b,c    The Physical Geography and Native Peoples

This program will enhance the following SOL’s for fifth grade:

  •    5.1 a,g    Scientific Investigation, Reasoning and Logic
  •     5.5 a,c    Living Systems
  •     5.7 a,b,c,d,e,f     Earth Pattern, Cycles and Change
  •     USI.2 b,d    Geography
Featured
Happenings with BRDC in the Schools
Happenings with BRDC in the Schools

Each month, BRDC shares elements of the natural history of the region with the students in elementary schools in Grayson and Washington Counties.

Do You Know Your Trees?
Do You Know Your Trees?

Do you know the tree species that live and grow around your home and provide shade and shelter to wildlife that visit you?

Taxonomy: the Science of Classification
Taxonomy: the Science of Classification

The fifth-grade students of Grayson County explored taxonomy last week by sorting picture cards.

January Programs with Grayson County Public Schools
January Programs with Grayson County Public Schools

Blue Ridge Discovery Center shared two programs with 1st and 5th graders in Grayson County reaching five schools and seven classes in each grade.

November Programs: Grayson County Public Schools
November Programs: Grayson County Public Schools

November was a busy month as BRDC joins the 1st, 5th and 7th grade classes to study Owls, Watersheds and Trout.

What is an Owl Pellet?
What is an Owl Pellet?

In this program, students identify an owl pellet's contents and practice recording and analyzing the data.

Learning about Amphibians & Aquatic Insects
Learning about Amphibians & Aquatic Insects

BRDC has been busy with education programs, working with Galax Middle School, Fries School, Fairview Elementary, Grayson Highlands, Independence Elementary.

Grayson County's fourth grade students participated in the Natural Heritage Program with an emphasis on salamanders, toads, and frogs. Students learned about salamanders commonly found in the Blue Ridge.

Animal Tracks & Signs in Grayson County Schools
Animal Tracks & Signs in Grayson County Schools

This month, Grayson County students learned all about Animal Tracks and Signs. 

BRDC Program Director, Lisa Benish, showed fourth grade students examples of tracks made by animals found here in the Blue Ridge. Students were asked to reenact the walking patterns of species such as white-tail deer, black bear, and eastern cottontails.  

Superheroes of Grayson County
Superheroes of Grayson County

All of Grayson County's first, fourth and fifth graders became superheroes last week. BRDC guide and wildlife rehabilitator, Darin Handy presented a wonderful program about mammals; marsupials in particular, of the Blue Ridge.

December...A Great Time to Study Geology!
December...A Great Time to Study Geology!

BRDC's Natural Heritage Program offered geology programs to the students of Grayson County Public Schools during December.