Teachers can sign their classes up for cultural and natural field trips to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for this spring.

The program, called Parks as Classrooms, turns the park into a hands-on learning experience, integrating the natural and cultural resources of the Park with North Carolina curriculum objectives.

Park rangers are the primary instructors during the field trips, with assistance from the classroom teachers. Funding is provided by the Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The following are the programs available at this time:

• Kindergarten: Oconaluftee River Classroom uses the senses to learn about various plants and animals in the Park. They will also get to speak to the “talking barn” to learn about mountain culture.

• Second grade: Mingus Mill Classroom goes inside a grist mill to learn how corn was ground into cornmeal. The students will make a wooden toy and participate in a discovery hunt to learn how the forest was both a supermarket and drugstore to the mountain community.

• Third grade: Habitat Diversity Classroom discovers how specific animals are interdependent in a forest or stream habitat, and build their own habitat using a “diversity” of species.

• Fifth grade: Clingmans Dome Classroom examines plant and animal interactions and weather in a high elevation forest ecosystem, as well as study about the impacts to the forest from non-native insects and air pollution.

• Sixth grade: Exploring the Soils Classroom studies soil characteristics, soil food chains and threats to soil health using the same techniques as Park biologists. Held at the Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center at Purchase Knob.

• Seventh and eighth grade: Deep Creek Classroom uses scientific research methods to study streams. Students conduct water quality tests and assess the watershed’s health while using waders and nets to discover stream creatures.

• Eighth grade and high school: Biodiversity Classroom turns students into researchers for the day as they participate in field activities that include a salamander mark-recapture study, long-term insect monitoring or a spider inventory. Held at the Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center at Purchase Knob in the Park.

The field trips are held March through May. Programs last three hours, including lunch break.

In addition to the on-site trips, the units include a pre-visit materials package with logistical information, a video and pre-site and post-site lesson plans for use in the classroom. Interested teachers can contact the Park at 865.436.1713. Reservations are prioritized in the order they are received by mail.