Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Potomac River Environmental Education Program offers an educational field day on the Anacostia in Washington DC onboard a CBF vessel. The boat accommodates up to 30 people, however it’s a bit crowded with that many young adults on board.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation Grasses for the Masses program sponsors workshops and provides containers and seeds for growing native aquatic grasses in your classroom to be planted in the Potomac River. Workshops are offered in January to mid-February.

Trout Unlimited connects students with their watersheds with their Trout in the Classroom program, guiding teachers and students to raise trout in tanks and release them in local streams. Contact George Paine, TIC Coordinator, Vienna Chapter, Trout Unlimited, ppafish@hotmail.com

Fairfax County Park Authority offers a wide variety of educational programs aligned to SOL’s at multiple FCPA sites throughout the county:

• Cub Run RECenter (PreK-4)

• Ellanor C. Lawrence Park (PreK-6)

• Frying Pan Farm Park (PreK-3)

• Green Spring Gardens (PreK-5)

• Hidden Oaks Nature Center (PreK-4)

• Hidden Pond Nature Center (PreK-6)

• Huntley Meadows Park (PreK-6)

• Lakefront Parks - Burke Lake, Accotink, and Lake Fairfax (1-5, but PreK, K, and 6 can be accommodated with advance notice)

• Riverbend Park (PreK-6)

Field Trips at Potomac Overlook - An interpretive naturalist staff is eager to work with you to plan and tailor programs according to individual needs, interests, and age groups. Programs must be reserved at least one month in advance. All programs can be tailored to meet various Standards of Learning. Contact park staff for questions at 703-528-5406.

Arcadia Farms hosts PreK-5th grade students for a day of interactive learning about soil and compost, edible plant parts, plant life cycles, pollination and pest control, livestock, and nutrition.  Learning takes place at the farm in Alexandria.

Employees of Fairfax County’s Wastewater Management Department bring Sewer Science - a hands-on laboratory program - into FCPS high school science classes. The program teaches high school students about municipal wastewater treatment by simulating wastewater treatment processes and is run over the course of two 90-minute classes. Tours of the plant are also available. Contact Judy Fincham judy.fincham@fairfaxcounty.gov

Ecologists from the Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services work with high school students on Stream Crime Investigation where students act as recruits for a crime prevention unit whose role is to track and stop common pollutants from entering our waterways.

As part of The Oyster Reef Habitat Project, Coastal Conservation Association’s Northern Virginia Chapter works with schools to construct concrete Oyster Reef Balls which the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) will place in tanks, oyster larvae will be introduced and when the spat are large enough to move, CBF will transport the reef balls onto the Tilghman Island reef. Contact Rich Redler richredler@verizon.net