School Programs Choices

Download "Busy Sea Otters" Aquarium Exploration Booklet

California Science Standards
Kindergarten: 2a, 2c, 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d, 4e
Grade 1: 2a, 2b, 4a, 4b, 4d
Grade 2: 1a, 1b, 2a, 2d, 4c, 4d

California Science Standards
Kindergarten: 1a, 2a, 2c, 3c, 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d, 4e
Grade 1: 2a, 2b, 2c, 4a, 4b, 4d, 4e
Grade 2: 2a, 2b

Sharks: The Real Story

You may have heard about our white shark visitors, but do you know the real story? Begin your journey in the auditorium with an Aquarium educator who will give you the "inside scoop" and share some behind-the-scenes footage of the Aquarium's work with white sharks.

During this 25-minute introduction, we'll also look at the world's great diversity of sharks, compare other sharks to white sharks and learn about different sharks we exhibit here at the Aquarium. Are they frightening—or fascinating? From here, your group heads into the Aquarium to discover real-life sharks and make some observations using an Aquarium-provided Exploration Booklet filled with activities designed to promote interesting conversations and focused observation at exhibits. By the time you leave, you'll be able to share a shark's "real story" with everyone back home.

Learn more in our Monterey Bay Habitats exhibit section.

Freaky Fish

What really makes a fish a fish? From tails to scales, join us in the auditorium to explore the awesome adaptations fish have to survive in their underwater world! Understand the characteristics that all fish share, while learning about the two major groups of fish we exhibit at the Aquarium. Through incredible underwater photography, during this 25-minute introduction, we'll focus on the truly bizarre, "freaky" fish whose unique adaptations allow them to survive in some of the most challenging habitats in the world.

Then it is time for students to explore the Aquarium with their chaperones using an Aquarium-provided Exploration Booklet filled with activities designed to promote interesting conversations and focused observation at exhibits. You will see (with a fish-eye view) the roles and adaptations that make fish such fascinating and fantastic creatures!

Download "Freaky Fish" Aquarium Exploration Booklet

Find more Classroom & Learning Resources.

Dive into the Deep

If aliens exist, do they only live in outer space? Join us on a virtual dive to the bottom of the Monterey Canyon, where we'll reveal the bizarre creatures that live in the darkness of the deep. During a 25-minute introduction in the auditorium, we'll use amazing images and video footage to "dive" into the cold, dark waters of the Monterey Canyon. Using the latest technologies from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), we'll peer into the largest, most mysterious, habitat on earth. Together, we'll discover the unique adaptations deep sea animals have for surviving the extremes of the depths, and learn about the connection between ourselves and what lies beneath the deep sea. Students and chaperones then head to the exhibits to compare the adaptations of nearshore organisms to those living in much deeper water using an Aquarium-provided Exploration Booklet filled with activities designed to promote interesting conversations and focused observation at exhibits. You can also visit our Mission to the Deep exhibition and complete a deep sea mission of your own.

Learn more in our Mission to the Deep exhibit section.

Kelp Forest Communities

Pigs in pipes, three-story tall animal apartment buildings, and fish that transform from males into females—what is going on at the Monterey Bay Aquarium? Students find out during a 25-minute introduction in the auditorium, as they take a visual dive into a three-dimensional underwater work of art found both in Monterey Bay and in the Aquarium—the KELP FOREST! The complex physical setting of the kelp forest, including the communities of crazy creatures that live within it, will be explored, and students will learn how Aquarium staff members face the challenge of maintaining a live kelp forest on display.

Students will then explore with their chaperones and view the kelp forest through the eyes of a diver at our innovative live kelp exhibits. An Exploration Booklet filled with activities designed to promote interesting conversations and focused observation at exhibits will be provided to students. Visit the Aquarium's newest exhibit, the newly redesigned Splash Zone, and participate in interactive activities while observing the beautiful animals that make the kelp forest their home!

Download "Kelp Forest Communities" Aquarium Exploration Booklet

Learn more in our Kelp Forest and Sea Otter exhibit sections.

Sea Otters: Your Connection to Conservation

Of all ocean animals, sea otters are a perennial favorite. But a foray beyond the fur reveals an animal facing complex challenges. Southern sea otters once ranged from Baja California to the Pacific Northwest, but today they're found only on California's Central Coast and at a fraction of their historic numbers. The population grows slowly, when it grows at all. What's behind this mystery? Do we suspect disease, parasites or coastal pollution?

Join an Aquarium educator in the auditorium for a 25-minute introduction to the research being conducted by the Aquarium's Sea Otter Research and Conservation (SORAC) program. Learn how the Aquarium's studies of wild and exhibit otters help us all to better understand the complex issues facing sea otter populations.

Your group then heads to the Aquarium's exhibits to get a close look at both sea otters and freshwater otters. There you'll observe these charismatic animals for yourselves and gain an understanding as to why these animals are some of our greatest ambassadors for ocean conservation.

Waddle with the penguins in the rugged rocky shore. Hide with the leopard sharks in the enchanted kelp forest. Explore with the fish in the coral reef kingdom. An Aquarium educator will lead your group through activities in the Splash Zone exhibit before opening hours. Students are introduced to the unique animals of the coral reef, rocky shore or kelp forest habitats and discuss how the animals survive in these ocean homes.

Creature Camouflage

Group Size

You can bring a home school group of up to 120 students or participate as an individual family. One adult chaperone will receive complimentary admission for each K-12 student.

SOLD OUT

Home School Days

October 19, October 26, November 2, November 9 and November 16, 2009
Our next Home School Days will be in the fall of 2010.

Home School Day activities will be scheduled at various times and places in the Aquarium throughout the day. As with other education groups, home school groups and families are eligible to participate in only one free field trip each school year.

Special note: Home school groups are welcome to participate in our Discovery Lab or Ocean Explorers School Programs. Please note that Discovery Lab and Ocean Explorers School Programs are highly structured, can accommodate a maximum of three consecutive grade levels in a single program, and are subject to program capacity minimums and maximums. In Discovery Lab and Ocean Explorers School Programs one chaperone receives complimentary admission for every four K-12 students, while in Home School Days one adult chaperone receives complimentary admission for each K-12 student.