This program, one of the first initiatives of the Foundation, supports a field trip to a Discovery Trail site for all pre-K through 6^th grade students with 8 trips total, one site each year! TCSD Foundation, Discovery Trail and Trumansburg Central School District collaborate to make this program the success that it is. Discovery sites are matched to a grade level with site educators who work to coordinate the trip experience with teachers. Each student receives a book related to their field trip; the expense for the books has been supported by the ES and MS PTOs with help from Family Reading Partnership. The Kids Discover the Trail field trips provide a hands-on extension of classroom experiences and access the rich resources of our area.

8 Discovery Trail Sites

Johnson Museum of Art – Pre-K
Tompkins County Public Library – Kindergarten
Museum of the Earth at the Paleontological Research Institution – 1^st Grade
Sciencenter – 2^nd Grade
Cornell Plantations – 3^rd Grade
The History Center in Tompkins County (Eight Square School) – 4^th Grade
Cornell Lab of Ornithology – 5^th Grade
Cayuga Nature Center - 6^th Grade

So far this year, all 6^th graders went to the Cayuga Nature Center in September for outdoor adventures and experienced working together and developing team building skills. Their book is The Climb by Gordon Korman.

Second Graders went to the Sciencenter in January. They had a great time trying out exhibits that tied to what they had been studying about energy and in addition, they had time to explore the exhibits. Their book is Our Earth, Clean Energy by Peggy Hock. This was a popular trip with the students. Here are some of their comments:

I had so much fun at the Sciencenter. I had fun building a dam. — Jezebel

I liked making windmills. To test if it could do work we had it lift pennies in a cup. As the blades turned it wrapped a string that was holding the pennies. My partner and I lifted 50 pennies. — Leo

My favorite part was building a wall so the water would not get through. — Micayla

My favorite parts were terraforming, water gates and windmill. I really truly love the book. — Bailey

My favorite part was the windmills. Me and Matthew made one together. First we used circles, then we used squares. — Kyelan

It was so fun. We learned about oxygen. We learned and had fun! — Gina

I liked learning a lot. How many is a million is very cool. I couldn’t even get past 100. — Braden