For Educators
Bring your class.
A field trip a principal can approve on sight — every hall mapped to the standards, every cost on the table, every chaperone briefed.
Two Ways To Visit
Self-guided or educator-led.
Self-guided
$8 / student
Move through the three cars at your own pace, any open day. A printed route map and the Educator’s Guide come with every booking.
- 10-student minimum
- 1 free chaperone per 5 students
- Reserved 90-minute arrival window
Educator-led
$12 / student
A 45-minute facilitated session in the hall of your choice, led by a Canopy educator and built around your grade band’s standards.
- 10-student minimum
- 1 free chaperone per 5 students
- Choose your focus hall
The Educator's Guide
What the day teaches.
Each hall is built around published learning standards — so the trip is curriculum, not a day off. Canopy aligns to the Illinois Learning Standards for Science (NGSS-based) and supports Common Core literacy and math practices.
Grades K–5 · Physical Science & Engineering
Students Define a problem, build a working solution from gears and circuits, test it, and improve the design.
Math: measurement & data · Literacy: writing a procedure
Grades K–6 · Life Science
Students Map an ecosystem from ocean floor to canopy and explain the role each organism plays in the cycle.
Literacy: informational text · Art: field observation
Grades 1–8 · Earth & Space Science
Students Observe patterns in the day, night, and seasons, then model why those patterns repeat.
Math: patterns & data · History of science
Plan The Day
The logistics, handled.
01
Arrival
Buses unload at the Lake Shore Drive entrance. Your group is greeted at a reserved 90-minute window so the cars are never crowded.
02
Lunch
A reserved lunchroom seats up to 90. Bring bagged lunches or pre-order from the Station Café; coat and bag storage included.
03
Before & after
Every booking includes pre-visit warm-ups and post-visit extension activities, keyed to the same standards as the halls.
04
Chaperones
One adult per five students enters free. Chaperones get a one-page guide with the day’s questions for each car.
The Discovery Access Fund
Cost is never the reason a class can't come.
Title I schools and any school where 60% or more of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals can apply for a fully funded field trip — admission and bus transportation included. Sixty percent of the children who come to Canopy arrive on a field trip; this is how we keep that door open.