The Burlington Science Center

The Great American Eclipse 2024 March 14, 2024

The Burlington Science Center is hosting the Great American Eclipse Event on April 8th from 2:30-4:30 for K-5 Burlington students and families. The eclipse maximum totality happens at 3:25. It will take place at the Burlington Parks and Recreation Center. The event will include informational activities, live animals and eclipse viewing opportunities. More detailed information sent through Parent Square! RSVP is appreciated.

Watch our Science Center Video to learn more about eclipses and the event!

2023-24 Name the Alligator Challenge Winner! February 27, 2024

It is a yearly tradition for second graders to name our educational ambassador alligator. The winner is Bernadette Kennedy from Memorial School. She picked the name “Sisu.”

Bernadette had her photograph taken for the Daily Times newspaper and received a framed award with a goody bag of science prizes. She also had the opportunity to show the alligator to her classmates, allowing each student to touch the animal if they wanted to. Congratulations and thank you to all the students who participated.

Reliable Fence Donates Fence to Owl Enclosure November 27, 2023

We would like to thank Reliable Fence of Boston for their generous donation of a new fence for our owl enclosure at the Burlington High School. We appreciate them and do not hesitate to contact them for any of your fencing needs.

Mill Pond Habitats Field Trip June 8, 2023

Second grades in Burlington learn about Habitats in their Science curriculum. During their unit, they visit the Mill Pond Reservoir in Burlington to observe local plant and animal species, while discovering information about the local water source. They are introduced to the field trip by viewing this video: Habitats Intro Video.

Students visit 2 different habitats (field & vernal pool) to compare and contrast the habitats themselves and the living things that are found there.  We encourage classes to visit their own schoolyard as a 3rd habitat when they return to school. Students are placed into groups of 3 (3 jobs in groups: one person is recorder, other weather & temperature, other soil scientist) and each group works as scientists to fill out a Reservoir Field Trip Student Data Sheet at each of the habitats.  They record air temperature, water temperature and soil temperature. Students Collect soil samples for description (color, smell, contents) and fill out plant & animal observations. The data sheets will are brought back to the classroom to then analyze the data and make comparisons of the habitats.

Science Center Visit to Senior Center June 5, 2023

BHS Science Center aides visited Atria Longmeadow Independent, Assisted and Memory Care Facility. They introduced themselves and an animal of their choice including facts about the animal. They then interacted closely with the residents, allowing them to touch, hold or closely view an alligator, hedgehog, Guinea pig, snake, giant toad, owl, tortoise, box turtle, parrot and gecko. I am so very proud of our students!

Animals Need Foster Homes for the Summer May 31, 2023

The Burlington Science Center is looking for homes for some of its animals over Summer break.

• Gerbils & Hamsters (several available, easy-low care)
• Guinea Pig (high care, large cage, 2 available-one is recovering from surgery)
• African Clawed Frogs (2 available, care similar to fish-eats hand/tweezer fed live worms)
• Tarantula (easy care, eats live crickets)
• Young snapping turtles ( 1 tank available, eats pellets & live worms)
• Gecko (1 available, eat live insects-worms & crickets)

• The Science Center will provide cage, STARTER food, shavings, & care sheet for the animal. 
• Call Ms. Pavlicek (781)-270-2928 or e-mail pavlicek@bpsk12.org asap if interested. You will need to interview & discuss the details of care with Ms. P for all animals before being assigned the animal for the summer. If you travel, you must find someone to carefor the animal while you are away.
• Animals are distributed on a first come, first serve basis. PLease respond to emails within 48 hours or will move onto the next interested family. 
• All animals must be picked up by Tuesday June 13th making an appointment with Ms. Pavlicek. Thank you.

Tide Pool Cancellation Update and Opportunity May 26, 2023

As many first grade families already know, the tide pool field trips for the Memorial and Fox Hill elementary schools were cancelled this week due to broken plumbing in the facilities at Marblehead’s Chandler-Hovey Park that left students, chaperones, and educators without a proper public bathroom for miles.

Ms. Pavlicek and Mr. Musselman do everything in their power to reschedule experiences for our students whenever possible, and our field trips are no exception. That said, the opportunities to schedule and visit the tide pools within the time frame of a school day is very limiting due to the nature of the tides themselves and travel necessary to visit what few publicly accessible tide pools exist in Massachusetts.

While nothing can completely replace the experience at Chandler-Hovey Park, Ms. Pavlicek and Mr. Musselman visited the Fox Hill and Memorial first grades on Thursday and Friday to provide alternative programming addressing the academic goals of the trip. Students participated in a “Create-a-Creature” challenge after viewing a video created by Ms. Pavlicek during the pandemic exploring the tide pools and its inhabitants parts and function.

Though Ms. Pavlicek and Mr. Musselman are disappointed in being unable to share the shoreline with our students this year, the cancellation creates an opportunity for families to discover the joy of the tide pools for themselves with a trip this Memorial Day weekend to Chandler Hovey Park.

Chandler Hovey Park is located on Marblehead Neck. Its tide pools are accessible during low tides by traversing down a slope of large boulders. This weekend’s low tide times are 11:48AM on Saturday, May 25th and and 12:39PM on Sunday, May 26th. Because of our Moon’s 28.5 day orbital period around Earth, the high/low tide times shift by about 50 minutes later each day.

As stated before, the restrooms are not currently operational because of a plumbing failure that remains unfixed so if you do travel to Marblehead, plan accordingly! You can also go any time this summer and spend a morning or afternoon flipping rocks for crabs, snails, seastars and even urchins. Just be sure to check the tidal calendar before you go and aim your visit a little before low tide.

Earth Day Celebration with Fox Hill Elementary School April 28, 2023

Library Media Specialist, Mr. Murphy collaborates with the Science Center every year to celebrate our Earth and nature via an Earth Day Celebration at Fox Hill School. Students can interact with live animals including an alligator, snake, tortoises, cockroaches, giant marine toad and tarantula. Other natural items were available for students to explore, such as extra large pine cones, bones/skeletons, animal furs, skulls, track molds, quills, antlers and taxidermied specimens. Students could also make animal track rubbings and were provided with information about how to be good stewards of our Earth.

Science & ELA Integration Unit-Animal Parts & Function April 13, 2023

The first grade Science curriculum standards involve students learning about the external parts and functions of animals. We have collaborated with ELA to integrate science and other curriculum areas where possible due to time constraints. In this unit, student knowledge is assessed via a probe about items and their parts. They then sort animal models based on their prior knowledge and make a “me map” human sized model of their own body parts and functions.

Students are then introduced to a real world application video: Burlington Science Center “Amazing Animal Parts” TV show video. “The Burlington Science Center is starting a new TV show called “Amazing Animals Parts” for BCAT TV. Ms. Pavlicek needs your help coming up with animal parts and function presentation for one of her episodes. Will you help her?” Students will then work towards making making a product of their choice (via video, book, poster, ect.) for the Burlington Science Center TV show while using their own observations of live and/or taxidermy animals. The product is the result of creating a student driven “inform” project, through the Explorations in Nonfiction writing unit in ELA. They learn how to read text to pull out information, how to use videos for research purposes and how to use a research notebook to collect and organize the information. Teachers facilitate learning from a “class product” that allows students to practice their skills and then each student makes their own individual projects to share.

Here are some pictures of student projects and animal vistits/presentations for this unit.