Fraser River Discovery Centre
Our Trips
Can’t come to the Fraser River Discovery Centre? No problem! We can come to you! Two FRDC staff will bring all the materials necessary to run some of our most popular River School Programs right in your own classroom!
All materials will be fully sanitized between use, and the staff will wear masks. If there are additional safety protocols we need to follow, please contact us. Please note, small group work is part of each program, with frequent sanitation of touched objects.
Cost: $9 per student, plus $0.90 per kilometer between FRDC and your school.
Programs:
- Nature Walk (Grades 2-7)
- On your last walk through nature, what did you notice? What did you wonder? In this program students will explore the connections between living things within their local environment (Kingdom Plantae). They will learn the connection between science and our communities and how they can begin to identify plants in their everyday lives. Students will learn some of the key identifiers of each sub-category in the Kingdom Plantae and use these skills on a nature walk. This information can then be used in the classroom to further investigate plants and find connections between plants, and between people and nature.
- Our Bones are Made of Salmon (Grades 4-7)
- Indigenous people have relied on salmon since the fish became abundant in the Fraser River about 5000-6000 years ago. This program explores the connection between Indigenous people and salmon on the Fraser River. Students get hands-on experience with fishing technology, learn about wind-drying salmon, and discover that salmon is in the hearts of Indigenous people living along the Fraser River today.
- Living Dinosaurs (Grades K-7)
- Sturgeon are amazing fish that have been around since the time of the dinosaurs. Human influences over the past 150 years have threatened their existence. In this program, students will learn about the sturgeon lifecycle, survival needs, and what we can do to protect this remarkable species.
- Trading Trail (Grades 2-5)
- The Fraser River is one of the world’s great rivers not only in its contribution to the environmental, cultural, and historical wealth of British Columbia, but because of its current pivotal role in the economy of BC. We are going to explore how people have used and shared the resources of the Fraser River, focusing on the tumultuous time when First Nations and Fur traders shared the river.
- Welcomed by the Water (K-3)
- Prior to European colonization, Indigenous peoples got what they needed from the land and water around them. Indigenous peoples have relied on salmon since the fish became abundant in the Fraser River about 5000-6000 years ago. They used native plants for food, medicine, building materials and more. This program explores the connection between Indigenous peoples, salmon, and the broader Fraser River Basin. Students experience the movement of salmon, storytelling and oral histories, and the many uses of native plants through an Indigenous perspective.
- PLEASE NOTE: This program requires a large open space, like a covered play area or gymnasium.
- River of Stories (Grades K-2)
- Join us as we journey down the river of stories from the headwaters to the mouth of the Fraser. Travelling along an interactive map, students will learn all about the Fraser River Basin through stories from the near and distant past. The program ends with a reflection on our place in this landscape, as students add their own story to the map.
- Complexities and Compromises (Grades 8-12)
- Many of the big decisions we face as individuals, communities, or nations don't have a correct answer. Making these decisions can be extremely challenging, as we grapple with information and misinformation, our own conscience, and strong opposing opinions. In the face of climate change, many of these decisions become even more challenging. In this program, students are sasked with deciding whether or not to approve a project that would have impacts on a global scale. We go step by step through the process, conducting research, mapping out consequences, and ultimately: deciding.
For more information, visit our website or email us.
Bring the joy of discovery into your classroom with one of our brand new Education Kits! It’s all the hands-on learning you expect from the Fraser River Discovery Centre, conveniently packed into one easily transportable package. Our Kits include all the materials you’ll need, as well as detailed lesson plans, for inquiry-based learning about life right here in the Fraser River Basin. The Kits are fully sanitized between uses.
We currently have one on offer, but check-back soon, as more are in development!
138 Reasons We all know that salmon are important for people, both culturally and economically, but did you know that there are 138 other species that rely on salmon for their survival? Learn all about them through hands-on or eyes-on materials, interactive lessons, as well as a scientific experiment!
- Kit includes:
- Detailed lesson plans
- Salmon life-cycle refresher (video or narrated storybook available, based on age)
- Salmon-arch building sets
- Replica skulls of some of the 138 species
- Water quality testing kits, including a Fraser River water sample
For more information, visit our website or email us.
Want something different in an outreach kit? Please fill in our educator survey to tell us what you need from an outreach kit, or email us your comments to programs@fraserriverdiscovery.org.
(K-3) Prior to European colonization, Indigenous peoples got what they needed from the land and water around them. Indigenous people have relied on salmon since the fish became abundant in the Fraser River about 5000-6000 years ago. They used native plants for food, medicine, building materials and more. This program explores the connection between Indigenous people, salmon, and the broader Fraser River Basin. Students experience the movement of salmon, storytelling and oral histories, and the many uses of native plants through an Indigenous perspective.
This program is divided into:
- Introduction to program, centre and rules Outside (5 minutes)
- Read aloud P'ésk'a and the First Salmon Ceremony (20 minutes)
- Stations (20 minutes each)
- Salmon Life Cycle and Migration (An acting game where students envision themselves as migrating salmon)
- Build a Plant (Understand traditional Indigenous uses for local plants, and invent a possible new plant)
- Film (Salmon origin traditional Indigenous oral stories) (20 minutes)
- Conclusion (5 minutes)
For more information, visit our website or email us.
(Grades 6-9) Follow each step of the scientific method to conduct a water quality investigation. During this 2 hour workshop students observe and become curious about the Fraser River, do background research, construct hypotheses, test their hypotheses by doing experiments, analyze their data, draw a conclusion, and report their results. Students determine whether the current temperature, pH, and turbidity will or will not be above acceptable levels for salmon survival.
This program is divided into:
- Introduction Outside (5 minutes)
- Observe and Conduct Background Research
- Observe the Fraser (outdoor observation and water sample collection 20 minutes)
- 5-minute transfer to upstairs exhibit gallery
- Background research (10 minutes upstairs exhibit search, 10 minutes presentations)
- Construct hypotheses (10 minutes)
- Stations (25 minutes each)
- Turbidity Testing Station
- pH Testing Station
- Conclusion (10 minutes)
For more information, visit our website or email us.
(Grades 4-7) Explore local Indigenous People's connections to the environment by comparing traditional salmon fishing tools, and learn how Aboriginal people preserve their culture from two local elders who share oral histories through a storytelling film.
This program is divided into:
- Introduction to program, centre and rules Outside (5 minutes)
- Salmon Origins Storytelling Film Theatre (20 minutes)
- Introduction in Theatre: (10 minutes)
- 2 Stations (25 minutes)
- Salmon Fishing Tools and Methods (Hands-on inqury of traditional Indigenous fishing tools)
- Wind-drying Salmon (Exploration of the method used to dry salmon in the Fraser Canyon, and a workshop on sharpening traditional slate knives)
- Conclusion Theatre (5 minutes)
For more information, visit our website or email us.
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