Field Trips and Class Visits

Hard Hat Tour

Schedule Your Class Visit

Contact James Webber, Education & Outreach Specialist, at 509-661-4939 or email [email protected].

Salmon, Biology, Energy, and Art!

Rocky Reach Dam & Discovery Center inspire and challenge students of all ages with a wide range of programs, many of which are designed to meet WA State curriculum standards. Peruse the menu below for a list of offered programs:

Elementary School Programs - À La Carte

WA State Standards Inspiration
- K-LS1-1 Describe what plants and animals need to survive
- 3-LS4-3 Some organisms can survive in an environment well
- 5-LS2-1 Describe the movement of matter through the environment
- K.CC.C.6 Identify objects in a group as larger or smaller
Salmon, Outdoors, Active, Biology

Salmon Maze is an outdoor game where students become salmon and their predators. Through multiple rounds, students will learn how the environment has changed throughout time to help and hurt salmon migration. Students will need to avoid predators and dams, collect food, and return home, upriver to spawn

Not part of a large Chelan PUD school event
WA State Standards Inspiration
- 2-PS1-2 Some materials are better suited for specific purposes
- 4-PS3-2 Energy can be transferred by electric currents
- 4-PS4-3 Compare solutions to information transfer
- 1.MD.A.1 Order objects by length
Electricity, Outdoors, Active, Energy

Energy Transmission is an outdoor activity where students act as power lines to different cities. After learning about the difference between conductors and insulators, students become powerlines and compete in teams to send electrons to different locations. Each round of the game changes the available pathways and destinations.

Not part of a large Chelan PUD school event
WA State Standards Inspiration
- K-PS3-1 Observe the effect of sunlight on Earth’s surface
- 2-ESS2-2 Represent the kinds of water bodies in an area
- 2-ESS2-3 Identify where water is found on Earth that is solid or liquid
- 3-ESS2-1 Describe typical weather patterns during different seasons
- 3.MD.B.3 Draw a scaled bar graph to represent data
Water, Outdoors, Active, Art, Math

The Water Cycle Game is an outdoor activity and craft where students become a droplet of water and move throughout the water cycle. Students roll a die at multiple water locations to determine what happens to their droplet of water. At each station, students will receive a bead to attach to a bracelet that tells them about their water journey. At the end of the activity students will count and graph the beads to learn where most of our water resides.

Not part of a large Chelan PUD school event
WA State Standards Inspiration
- K-LS1-1 Describe what plants and animals need to survive
- 1-LS1-2 Use media to determine behaviors to help offspring survive
- 3-LS2-1 Some animals form groups to help members survive
- 3-LS4-3 Some animals survive well and others less well in a particular habitat
- 1.NBT.A.1 Count to 120
Salmon, Indoors, Lesson, Art, Math

Salmon Illustration is an indoor lesson where students will identify and draw the three types of salmon that use the Rocky Reach fish ladder. Students will chat in small groups about the unique traits of each salmon, note 6 different fins, and draw an illustration of the salmon. Finally, they will try their hands at a fish counting activity like the jobs of our fish counters.

Not part of a large Chelan PUD school event
WA State Standards Inspiration
- K-PS2-1 Investigate the strengths of pushes and pulls on object motion
- 3-PS2-3 Determine effect of magnetic interactions between two objects
- 4-PS3-2 Energy can be transferred by electric currents
- 2.MD.A.1 Measure the height of an object using yardsticks
Electricity, Indoors, Lesson, Energy

The Energy Transfer Presentation is a high energy lesson about how you cannot create or destroy energy. After a 15-minute presentation about how the PUD uses the power of the Columbia River to turn turbines, which spins a disc of magnets that generates an electric current, students are allowed to rotate through 4 different magnet and circle energy stations.

4^th grade River of Power event
WA State Standards Inspiration
- K-LS1-1 Describe what plants and animals need to survive
- 1-LS1-2 Use media to determine behaviors to help offspring survive
- 3-LS4-3 Some animals survive well and others less well in a particular habitat
- VA:Pr6.1.3 Explain how different cultures illustrate stories through art
Salmon, Indoors, Lesson, Art, Biology

Gyotaku Fish Painting is an ancient Japanese art to copy fish likeness by painting directly on the fish and transferring the image to a piece of paper. Students will first learn about external salmon anatomy and the similarities between humans and fish before taking their turn painting on realistic (rubber) fish.

3^rd grade Salmon Festival event
WA State Standards Inspiration
- K-LS1-1 Describe what plants and animals need to survive
- 2-PS1-2 Some materials are better suited for specific purposes
- 4-PS3-2 Energy can be transferred by electric currents
Electricity, Fish, Indoors, Exploration, Energy, Biology

The Rocky Reach Discovery Center Exploration station allows students to self-explore the 4 levels of interactive exhibits onsite. Students can view a small model of the dam with light-up sections, play a sternwheeler videogame, generate electricity, watch fish climb the salmon ladder, and more!

4^th grade River of Power event
WA State Standards Inspiration
- K-LS1-1 Describe what plants and animals need to survive
- 1-LS1-2 Use media to determine behaviors to help offspring survive
- 3-LS2-1 Some animals form groups to help members survive
- 3-LS4-3 Some animals survive well and others less well in a particular habitat
Fish, Indoors, Exploration, Biology

Smell Your Way Home in the Rocky Reach Discovery Center is a seek and find adventure where students take on the role of salmon trying to find their spawning grounds. Each student receives a scent map that corresponds to hidden scratch and sniff stickers hidden around the Discovery Center. While students explore the interactive exhibits they try to identify their specific path home.

Not part of a large Chelan PUD school event
WA State Standards Inspiration
- 4-PS3-1 The speed of an object relates to its’ energy
- 4-PS3-2 Energy can be transferred by electric currents
- 4-ESS3-1 Energy is derived from natural resources
- 5-PS3-1 Energy in food was once energy from the sun
Electricity, Indoors, Exploration, Energy

Energy All Around in the Rocky Reach Discovery Center is a seek and find adventure where students try and find examples of different energy types hidden around the Discovery Center. Each student receives an Energy Bingo Card that they can check off as they find the energy types while they explore the interactive exhibits in the Discovery Center.
Not part of a large Chelan PUD school event
WA State Standards Inspiration
- K-LS1-1 Describe what plants and animals need to survive
- 2-PS1-2 Some materials are better suited for specific purposes
- 3-LS4-3 Some animals survive well and others less well in a particular habitat
- 4-PS3-2 Energy can be transferred by electric currents
Electricity, Fish, Outdoors, Lesson, Energy, Biology

The Rocky Reach Dam Tour takes students across the dam to learn about fish migration and power generation. Students will first hear about fish ladder and juvenile bypass system as they cross the forebay before heading down into the dam. There, students will see the massive powerhouse and learn how we generate electricity with electromagnets. Students will have the opportunity to generate their own electricity and then will go to a special viewing area to see the spillway.

4^th grade River of Power event
WA State Standards Inspiration
- 2-PS1-2 Some materials are better suited for specific purposes
- 4-PS3-2 Energy can be transferred by electric currents
Electricity, Indoors, Lesson, Energy, Circuits

The Rocky Reach Electrical Safety Tour takes students across the dam to the powerhouse and old museum space to learn about electrical safety. Students will first learn the difference between a conductor and an insulator. Then, students will create a human circuit to show that humans are conductors. Finally, students will feel the electricity flowing through Rocky Reach using magnets and learn about electrical safety using a shocking Hazard Hamlet diorama.

4^th grade NCESD Electrical Safety Presentation (Douglas, Grant, Okanogan)

Elementary School Programs - Field Trip Classics

NGSS Inspiration
- K Pushes and Pulls
- 2 Processes that Shape the Earth
- 3 Forces and Interactions
- 4 Energy
- 5 Engineering Design
The Elementary Hydropower Basics field experience at the Rocky Reach Discovery Center is a great first introduction to the concept of clean, renewable, hydropower. Depending on the season, up to three or four classes can rotate through three to four different stations.

1) Energy Transfer Presentation: A classroom experience in our STEM center where students act out how water turns to electricity and harness the power of magnets.

2) Discovery Center Exploration: Free time to explore our newly renovated hands-on museum.

3) Rocky Reach Dam Tour: A 30-minute tour to view our amazing fish ladder, count some fish, learn about the powerhouse, and more!

4) Salmon Maze: An outdoor activity where students experience the life of a salmon, starting off as alevin dodging predators, and moving to adults in the ocean avoiding fishermen. This activity is limited to the spring and summer seasons.
NGSS Inspiration
- 3-LS3-2 Traits can be influenced by the environment
- 3-LS4-2 Variation among individuals may provide advantages
- 3-LS4-3 Some organisms can survive in an environment well
The Super Salmon Survey field experience at Rocky Reach is a hands-on way to educate your 3^rd grades about the marvels of salmon. Up to three classes can rotate through three different stations.

1) Salmon Identification: A classroom experience in our STEM center where students become wildlife biologists and try to identify fast moving salmon. Students are also tasked with drawing each species of salmon with the possibility of their drawing being featured on the Discovery Center social media.

2) DC Smell Your Way Home: A seek and find exploration of the Discovery Center where students act as a salmon using scratch and sniff stickers to follow a specific hidden path.

3) Rocky Reach Dam Tour: A tour across our dam where students learn about salmon external anatomy and stop to view all the important structures that allow salmon to migrate past the dam!

Secondary School - Field Trip List

CTE Inspiration
- Extended Learning
- Career Exploration
The Careers and Pathways in Hydropower visits focus on exposing middle school students to the range of careers available at the Chelan PUD. A class will participate in two different activities.

1) Career Personality Quiz: Students will learn about hydropower careers by taking a personality quiz in our STEM center. The activity asks students to think about what they enjoy doing and how it might look as a career. Students then learn about several jobs within the PUD that relate to the different personality types explored in the activity.

2) Hard Hat Tour: A tour down inside the actual dam. Students will stop for a quick activity at many locations to learn about different careers. Experiences include counting fish as wildlife biologists, feeling the power of electromagnetic fields as linemen, and trying the heft of a dive helmet as underwater hydromechanics. During the tour, students will also get to venture beneath the powerhouse floor to stand beneath a spinning, 2.5-million-pound generator.

Chelan County Classroom Visit List

NGSS Inspiration
- 1-PS4-1 Vibrating materials can make sound and sound can make objects vibrate
- 1-PS4-2 Objects can be seen only when illuminated
- 1-PS4-3 Determine the effect of places objects in the path of a beam of light
The Lights & Sound classroom visit sees students doing hands on science with tuning forks and flashlights. Students will perform 4 different activities and receive a pair of firework glasses.

1) Tuning Fork Vibrations: Students will feel the movement of sounds. Students will take turns holding or striking tuning forks with rubber mallets and then relating that to the vibrations felt in our necks when we hum.

2) Tuning Fork Speakers: By touching tuning forks to plastic cups, students will transfer the vibrations of the tuning forks. Here students will explore how different materials can produce different sounds when vibrating.

3) The Dark Box: This is a demonstration to show students that objects need to be lit to be visible. A dark box hides a surprise when students shine a light directly into the box.

4) Colorful Walls: Finally, this activity shows that different objects affect beams of light in different ways. Students will hypothesize how light will change traveling through 4 different materials. Once they have made their predictions we will shine lights through large versions of their materials to test. Afterwards, students will receive a pair of firework diffraction glasses to see how white light contains all the colors of the rainbow.
NGSS and Art Inspirations
- 3-LS3-2 Traits can be influenced by the environment
- 3-LS4-2 Variation among individuals may provide advantages
- VA:Pr6.1.3 Explain how different cultures illustrate stories through art
The Gyotaku Fish Painting classroom visit offers students the chance to paint fish and learn about salmon external anatomy. Students will take part in 3 different activities.

1) Salmon External Anatomy: Students get to sing and dance along with an educator to learn about 6 different fins salmon use to survive in the wild. Then the class will compare human and salmon anatomy.

2) Gyotaku Fish Print: Based on a 200-year-old Japanese technique, students learn about the art of fish painting and create their own masterpiece using rubber fish and washable paint.

3) Salmon Anatomy Worksheet: While one half of the class is painting, the second half try to complete a salmon anatomy worksheet. Students are asked to place different internal and external anatomies in relation to human anatomy. Students are asked to illustrate an imaginary silly fish once they complete the worksheet.
CTE Inspiration
- Renewable Energy Careers
- Career Exploration
- Educational Pathways
The Career Pathways Presentation is a glimpse into many careers present within the Chelan PUD. The presentation will be split into two sections with either or both available to classrooms.

1) Career Presentation: An educator will present hydropower careers along with the educational pathways required for the jobs. Students will get to examine transmission lines, generators, dive helmets, count salmon, and more.

2) Personality Quiz: Students will discuss careers they imagine when thinking about the PUD and then take a personality quiz to highlight their interests. They will then explore how the different personality types relate to Chelan County PUD jobs.

Rocky Reach Dam & Discovery Center Tours

NGSS Inspiration
- K-LS1-1 Describe what plants and animals need to survive
- 2-PS1-2 Some materials are better suited for specific purposes
- 3-LS4-3 Some animals survive well and others less well in a particular habitat
- 4-PS3-2 Energy can be transferred by electric currents
Rocky Reach Public Tours are available to anyone who is interested at the Discovery Center. Tours happen daily at 11 am, 1 pm, and 3 pm.

1) Rocky Reach Public: This tour takes participants across the dam to learn about fish migration and power generation. Individuals will first hear about fish ladder and juvenile bypass system as they cross the forebay before heading down into the dam. There, the group will see the massive powerhouse and learn how we generate electricity with electromagnets. Finally, everyone will have the opportunity to generate their own electricity and then will go to a special viewing area to see the spillway.
CTE Inspiration
- Extended Learning
- Career Exploration
The Adult Hard Hat Tour is available to anyone 12 years or older who is interested in hydropower and the history of the Chelan PUD. Groups of up to 10 individuals can participate in the tour. For security, please call the Discovery Center to schedule your hard hat tour 10 days in advance.

1) Hard Hat Tour: These tours travel further into the dam than the public tour, where eager learners will learn the history of the dam and original museum, explore under the powerhouse floor, and climb the spillway stairs.
NGSS Inspiration
- K-LS1-1 Describe what plants and animals need to survive
- 2-PS1-2 Some materials are better suited for specific purposes
- 3-LS4-3 Some animals survive well and others less well in a particular habitat
- 4-PS3-2 Energy can be transferred by electric currents
During inclement weather or due to mobility issues, Rocky Reach Public Tours may not be available. For those still interested in learning the history of the Chelan County PUD and how we manage fish migration and energy production, an indoor, guided exploration of the Discover Center is offered.

1) Discovery Center Guided: This experience walks participants through the Discovery Center stopping at 3 locations to explain the history of Rocky Reach, how we convert the power of the Columbia River into electricity, and how we manage fish across a range of migration seasons. At the light-up model of Rocky Reach we explore the dams’ unique shape, history of construction, power generation, and PUD benefits. On the second floor of the Discovery Center, we stop at the model generation unit to explain how 480-ton rotating discs can change movement into electricity. Finally, on the bottom floor guests will experience the magic of running salmon, learn which species use our salmon ladder, and understand what we do to protect these magnificent animals.

Field Trips and Class Visits

Hard Hat Tour

Schedule Your Class Visit

Salmon, Biology, Energy, and Art!

¡Atención!