uaker Valley sixth-grader Faith Cook of Sewickley had never caught a crayfish before, but with her classmates at Little Sewickley Creek, she proudly showed off two big ones she found.

Through a microscope, classmate Emily Dietrich of Sewickley excitedly watched tiny organisms -- Cyclops, Keratella and Daphnia -- moving around in plankton the students collected in a pond.

Sixth-grader Elise Haybron of Glen Osborne was fascinated with a corn snake as it wrapped itself around her arm.

Meeting such creatures as crayfish, Cyclops and the corn snake has become an annual fall ritual for all Quaker Valley Middle School sixth-graders, who take a daylong field trip to the Fern Hollow Nature Reserve in Sewickley Heights.

There they learn about Pennsylvania reptiles, amphibians and mammals from naturalist April Claus, walk to a nearby pond to collect plankton to study under microscopes and take a short bus ride to the New Sewickley Creek to find crayfish, salamanders and other critters in and near the creek, under logs and rocks.

This year's class got its turn last week, with about 30 students and two teachers joining the center's naturalist each day.

"Hopefully, they'll get a connection to what they're doing in the classroom to what is in their own back yard and make a strong connection with nature," said science teacher Maribeth Varganin, who took the students to a nearby pond and helped them study their plankton samples under the microscope.

At Little Sewickley Creek, fellow science teacher Tony Magnelli said, "All the kids of Quaker Valley and our whole school district, everyone lives within a quarter-mile or walking distance of a stream, a river, a pond or a lake.

"We just want to stress the importance of how water is a good indicator of the overall health of the ecosystem."

Salamanders are particularly sensitive to pollution, so the four salamanders found by sixth-grader Devin Moore of Leetsdale and those found by other classmates showed the creek is in good shape.

Ms. Claus said the best find was a brightly colored Northern red salamander a student found last year.

"He still talks about it," said Mr. Magnelli.

For Mr. Magnelli, the best part is when a student yells "omigosh" or even screams and then calls for a teacher to see the discovery.

Jane Konrad, executive director of the Pittsburgh Regional Center for Science Teachers, said there is a national effort to get children back into nature so they can understand more about the world around them.

"It's important that we reconnect children with nature. They have been disconnected from nature. For a long time, we've been focusing more on technology education, use of computers," she said.

Fern Hollow also offers programs to other schools in the Sewickley area. Some other spots -- like Beechwood Farms, the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium and the National Aviary -- are popular with school groups wanting to go beyond just reading about wildlife.

"Instead of just looking at books, you actually get to see it for real," said sixth-grader Noelle Azzam of Sewickley.

The field trip began when Quaker Valley was looking for a hands-on lesson on the local watershed for its sixth-graders. The idea was to build on what they learned in fifth grade by taking RiverQuest, a science boat trip offered by the Carnegie Science Center.

Ms. Varganin and Ms. Claus won a $3,000 state grant through the Pennsylvania Meaningful Watershed School Mini-Grant Program.

The Sewickley Child Health Association chipped in for the first year before the state money arrived. The $3,000 was stretched over three years, making this the final year of the grant.

Fern Hollow and the Quaker Valley sixth-graders have other activities together in the spring.

Ms. Varganin and Ms. Claus devised a plan to plant trees and wildflowers and received a grant for $21,000 from the McKenzie Foundation and $6,500 from the Sewickley Child Health Association for it.

The first effort was last spring, when the sixth-graders planted 11 trees at Fern Hollow and more than 400 plants at the nature center and in the Sewickley Heights Borough Park.

For the next three years, each group of sixth-graders will plant more trees. They also will record and analyze measurements and other data as the trees from each class grow.

A greenhouse will be built at the middle school, where the students will be able to grow wildflowers to be transplanted outside.

"We're trying to get kids to fall back in love with nature here," said Ms. Claus.