Distance Learning: Snow Desk!

The park offers three programs from Snow Desk, each tailored to certain grade levels. All of these programs will be broadcast to you live, via Zoom, Teams or Google Hangout, from a desk made of snow at the base of the Teton Range. No matter the topic, it will be an amazing setting and a fun, interactive format. Each program is about 40 minutes and includes a few minutes for a question and answer session between your students and the rangers. Snow Desk programs are typically offered in February in early March only — contact GRTE_Education@nps.gov for more information.

• Snow Desk: Surviving Winter in Grand Teton (Grades K-3)
  The “original” snow desk program! Your students will laugh as they interact with park rangers and learn how snow affects the way everything survives in Grand Teton National Park. If your curriculum involves the diversity of life, how animals adapt to their environment, and/or what animals need to survive, then this will fit right in!
  • Cross Cutting Concepts: Matter is transported into, out of, and within systems. Events have causes that generate observable patterns. Patterns in the natural world can be observed. Systems in the natural and designed world have parts that work together.
  • Vocabulary: migrate, hibernate, adaptation, survive, camouflage, National Parks

• Snow Desk: Every Snowflake Counts (Grades 3-5)
  Snow is water and water is life! Your students will laugh as they interact with park rangers in the field and learn will learn why water is important to Grand Teton wildlife, how it moves around the Earth, and why it needs protection. Perhaps you will even discover that your water was once a glacier in Grand Teton National Park! If your curriculum involves the water cycle, distribution of water, or water’s role in the ecosystem, then this program will be perfect for your students.
  • Cross Cutting Concept: Patterns in the natural world can be observed. A system can be described in terms of its components and their interactions. Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified and used to explain change.
  • Vocabulary: water cycle, solid, liquid, gaseous, water vapor, evaporation, condensation, precipitation, freshwater, water conservation, National Parks

• Snow Desk: Why Winter Matters (Grades 6-8)
  Discover how wildlife in Grand Teton National Park continues to adapt to our ever-changing winter conditions. Your students will laugh as they interact with park rangers in the field and explore survival strategies of the pika, whitebark pine, and wolverine as the snow pack, temperatures and length of our winters change. Make decisions with your class about how you can help mitigate similar changes in your community and have a positive impact on the world around you. If your curriculum involves wildlife adaptations, climate, or human impact on the environment, then this will fit right in!
  • Cross Cutting Concepts: Observable phenomena exist from very short to very long time periods. A system can be described in terms of its components and their
    interactions. Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified and used to
    explain change. Patterns of change can be used to make predictions. Standard units are used to measure and describe physical quantities such
    as weight and volume.
  • Vocabulary: climate, weather, carbon footprint, adaptation, National Parks

Science Standards This Program Meets

About Grand Teton National Park

Turn Grand Teton National Park into your classroom! We offer programs year-round including field trips with hands-on exploration, rangers visiting your classroom with park resources, or even opportunities to connect to rangers digitally. Topics range from “taking a walk on the wild side” with ecology, “rocking the Tetons” with geology, or learning that "every snowflake counts" from rangers sitting at a desk made of snow. If you don't see a program here that meets your needs, please contact park educators to explore options for a customized program.

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Who	Park rangers (GRTE_Education@nps.gov)
What	Field trips and classroom visits about ecology, geology, history, ranger careers, and outdoor leadership
When	All year
Where	In your national park or your classroom
Why	Because learning sticks when you experience the real thing!