Grant-funded Programs

Blending social and emotional learning, and Next Generation Science Standards, this two-part program includes a visit to your classroom and a field trip to the Zoo for your class, to inspire empathy for wildlife. Students will learn what animals need to survive, what body parts help with survival, and will be able to commit to at least one empathy-related conservation action. Bus transportation reimbursement is provided.

For over 50 years, the San Diego Zoo has offered a free field trip to all second-grade classes in San Diego County that includes an up-close wildlife encounter and a guided bus tour of the Zoo. This NGSS-aligned program lets students be scientists and discover the variety of plants and animals from habitats here in San Diego and around the world. Students are challenged to make observations, discover patterns, and compare wildlife across habitats.

Students participate in hands-on learning, understanding the broader impact of habitat changes on plants and pollinators due to urbanization and the importance of habitat restoration. In this two-part program, our goal is to empower students, showing them that even small actions can positively impact local habitats.

This three-part program aims to inspire students to be scientists, as they observe and document the various ways wildlife use their senses to navigate and understand their world. Zoo educators, Dr. Zoolittle, and wildlife ambassadors will engage students in hands-on activities in the classroom program, Zoo field trip, and virtual classroom program. Throughout all program components, students will explore how plants and animals experience the world through their senses, and how their sensory structures help them to accomplish many key aspects of survival.

Fifth-grade classes at select districts in San Diego County will become community scientists, as they learn the important role that wildlife rangers play in protecting our local habitats, including our unique biodiversity hotspot right here in San Diego! This two-part program includes a classroom visit and a field trip to a local wildlife refuge. Students will practice scientific skills used by wildlife rangers and conservation specialists—locally and around the world—to protect wildlife.