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Shortly after a new school year began this fall, the Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalists group started classes of its own, breaking in 21 new faces during its annual training for new volunteers.

Four days a week through December and every weekday after that, the group leads pupils and their teachers in close encounters with the canyon. That takes people willing to work outdoors in all types of weather and with countless curious kids.

"All of us enjoy the canyon, and we're here because we love the canyon and working with people," said Phil Bentley, president of the Volunteer Naturalists.

It takes about 80 of SCVN's 150 members to staff their Children's Field Trip Program, in which elementary students come to the park during the school year for hands-on experience with the life and history of the canyon. For many, a walk in this park is something completely new.

"Lots of kids have never seen this before; they don't know a prickly pear from a saguaro," said Susan Burdick, vice president of children's programs for SCVN. "They come and it's a whole new world for them, a completely new experience. They don't take it for granted."

That's where the new recruits come in. They commit to volunteering 50 hours a year in the children's programs one morning a week during the school year after successfully completing 15 weeks of training.

"The biggest part is how to deal with the subject and with the children," Bentley said.

The volunteers must know about the plants, animals, geology and even the prehistoric peoples such as the Hohokam Indians who once made the area their home.

The volunteers learn their craft in much the same way they will teach 8,000-10,000 kids about the canyon. They explore a new aspect each week by using kits that form the basis of the lessons, venturing along the trails, looking under rocks, gathering leaves, panning for garnets, gently capturing bugs and taking tests.

"I love to see the kids get involved and make discoveries," said trainee Linda Pejchar, a retired teacher crouching on a thin thread of Sabino Creek, intently looking for an aquatic creek critter (the day's subject is water insects) to scoop up with a tiny net. "This lets them be the discoverers."