Teacher-guided Field Trips

NPS/Robert Cromwell

Bring your students on a 1–2 hour field trip to the visitor center in Ventura Harbor or on full day field trip to a park island. Funding is not available. Reservations are required and should be made well in advance.

Group size

The maximum capacity for our visitor center field trips is 65 students per group. If you have more than 65 students, your group will need to be split and visit on two separate days.

Chaperone guidelines and responsibilities

Chaperones are key players in your day at the park. Make them aware of these expectations before the trip:

• Guide the learning process and help focus students on the activity or speaker.
• Assist with safety. It will be one of your primary duties as a chaperone.
• Provide guidance to students for lunch and clean-up.
• Help set boundaries and provide leadership.
• Do not bring siblings who are not part of the class. Your full attention is needed to help monitor the students assigned to you that day.
• Most importantly… go with the flow, adapt, and have fun! The students pick up on how you react… if you are having fun, they will too!

 

Students participate in an observation activity.

NPS/Robert Cromwell

Suggested Visitor Center Activities

The following activities typically take 1.5 hours to complete. Students will rotate through the exhibit space, garden, and observation tower. Short, optional activities for you and your adult chaperones to lead will be available in each location. A preview of these activities will be shared with you ahead of time to help you and your chaperones prepare.

Welcome and orientation

All students receive a 10-minute welcome and orientation from park staff in the amphitheater.

For students in pre-kindergarten to grade 1

Divide into groups of up to eight students and one adult and rotate through seven-minute activities:

• Explore visitor center exhibits and complete a seashell matching activity.
• Choose a head, body, and legs or tail to create a happy animal.
• Admire the view from the observation tower.
• Match outlines to leaves in the native plant garden.
• Describe today's weather at the flagpole.
• Move like animals in different habitats in the amphitheater.

For students in grades 2–5

Watch the park film A Treasure in the Sea, then divide into groups of up to sixteen students and two adults and use a park-provided activity book to rotate through the visitor center, observation tower, island models, and native plant garden.

For students in grades 6–12

Depending on learning objectives, explore exhibits in the visitor center, observation tower, and native plant garden, and choose from the following activities:

• Tidepool Talk with a ranger (15 min)—Life in the kelp forests and intertidal zone.
• Treasure in the Sea video (25 min)—Introduction to the park’s nature and history.
• The Rainbow Bridge video (5 min)—Creation of the Chumash people as told by Julie Tumamait-Stenslie
• Restoring Balance: Santa Cruz Island video (20 min)—Restoration of island foxes and bald eagles on Santa Cruz Island
• Restoring Balance: Anacapa Island video (30 min)—Restoration of nesting seabirds on Anacapa Island
• Achieving Balance: Anacapa Island video (20 min)—Ten years of habitat recovery on Anacapa Island

 

How to Schedule

Reservations can be made up to 4 months in advance. Please complete the form below to request a date for your field trip:

Important Note: List "Teacher-guided Visitor Center Visit" as the program title.

You will receive an email in response to your field trip reservation within two weeks. If you do not receive this within two weeks, email us at [e-mail].

NPS Form 10-1750 (Rev. 04/2021)
National Park Service

OMB Control No. 1024-0228
Expiration Date 11/30/2025

Learning Accommodations

Does anyone in your group need any accommodations?

Yes No

If yes, describe the accommodation need.

Next Step

School / Organization Contact Information

School / Organization Name (required)

Name of Requester/Contact Person (required)

Title / Position (required)

Contact Email Address (required)

Contact Phone Number (required)
123-456-7890 extension if any

Contact Mailing Address Country

I have a US mailing address

I have a mailing address outside the US

International Mailing Address (required)
Please include building number and street, city, state/province country and Postal Code

Mailing Address (required)

City (required)

State (required)

Alabama Alaska American Samoa Arizona Arkansas Armed Forces - Americas Armed Forces - Europe Armed Forces - Pacific California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Guam Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Northern Mariana Islands Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Puerto Rico Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virgin Islands Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

ZIP (required)
Five digit ZIP code [99999]

Next Step

Group Details - Park Visit/ Field Trip

Name of Primary Contact Visiting if Different Than Above (optional)

Title / Position of Primary Contact if Different Than Above (optional)

Email Address of Primary Contact if Different Than Above (optional)

Phone Number of Primary Contact if Different Than Above (optional)
Format: 123-456-7890

Program Name or Subject Requested/Self-Guided

Grade Level(s) of Students (required)

Number of Staff / Chaperones (required)

Number of Students (required)

Preferred Date of Visit (required)
format mmddyyyy

My preferred date has been confirmed by the park (required)

Yes No

Preferred Program Start Time (required)

Alternative Date(s) (required)
Enter one or more dates .

Anticipated Arrival Time (required)

Anticipated Departure Time (required)

Mode of Transportation (required)

Disclaimer:

A park representative will follow-up to confirm group details once this request has been received and reviewed.

Next Step

Academic Fee Waiver

Visitors 16 years of age or older (including students, chaperones, and teachers) must pay an entrance fee at this site. Academic institutions (including schools) may apply for an academic fee waiver to cover the cost of these visitors. The number of teachers/chaperones that are covered with a waiver varies depending on the size of the group.

Would you like to request an academic fee waiver for your group?

Yes. I need to complete the fee waiver application. No I do not need a fee waiver.

For this section, all of the criteria fields and the acknowledgement checkbox are required for the waiver.

Certification

Academic fee waivers are not granted automatically. Applicant groups must show they qualify for the waiver. There are three criteria the group must meet to qualify for an academic fee waiver: eligibility, relevance of park resources or facilities to academic program, and academic purpose. Details of these qualifications are listed below. If your institution and purpose meet these criteria, submit this form.

Criterion One - Eligibility

Describe and/or attach current official recognition or accreditation as an educational institution by a federal, state, or local government or other documentation attesting to educational status, such as an accreditation letter, educational tax-exempt letter.

Attach Supporting Document for Eligibility (if needed). Acceptable document types: are Adobe PDF, Microsoft Word, and Google Doc

Criterion Two - Educational Purpose

Verify how this visit supports a specific curriculum for which academic credit is offered. For example, attach a course syllabus/description, course catalog, lesson plan, letter detailing the educational purpose, etc., and/or describe.

Attach Supporting Document for Educational Purpose (if needed). Acceptable document types: are Adobe PDF, Microsoft Word and Google Doc

Criterion Three - Relevance of Park Resources or Facilities

Identify the pertinent park resources and/or facilities and detail how they are relevant to support the educational purpose of the visit (attach letter or describe).

Attach Supporting Document for Relevance (if needed). Acceptable document types: are Adobe PDF, Microsoft Word and Google Doc

Authorized School / Organization Contact Name (required)

Title / Position

Acknowledgement (required)

The Recreation Fee Authority (16 USC 6802 Sections 3 a and b) allows for fee waivers only for bona fide educational and/or scientific institutions that are using the park for educational purposes. I hereby certify that the above detailed trip meets these requirements and therefore request that fees be waived.

Current official documentation of recognition of affiliation as an educational institution by a Federal, State or local government entity, or other evidence attesting to educational status is attached (e.g. accreditation letter, educational tax-exempt letter). It is insufficient to merely state or imply this on official letterhead.

By checking this box I acknowledge that I have read the Acknowledgement.

Date of Acknowledgement (required)
format mmddyyyy

Submit my Education Reservation Request

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NPS Form 10-1750 (Rev. 04/2021)
National Park Service

OMB Control No. 1024-0228
Expiration Date 11/31/2025

Notices

Privacy Act Statement

Authority: Public Law 114-289 National Park Service Centennial Act and 54 U.S.C. 100701 Protection, interpretation, and research in System.

Purpose: To administer education programs for education audiences including but not limited to school groups, scouting groups, extracurricular groups, and home school groups.

Routine Uses: To effectively manage requests for education received by the NPS, the Education Reservation Request Form is used to collect basic education reservation information to facilitate operational aspects of scheduling groups for park education programs, including in-park education programs, ranger in classroom programs, and/or online distance learning programs.

Disclosure: Voluntary, however, failure to provide the requested information may impede the ability to grant your education reservation request.

Paperwork Reduction Act Statement

We are collecting this information subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501) to provide park managers and educators the information needed to schedule and conduct education program activities. All applicable parts of the form must be completed in order for your request to be considered. You are not required to respond to this or any other Federal agency-sponsored information collection unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. OMB has approved this collection of information and assigned control number 1024-0288.

Estimated Burden Statement

Public reporting for this collection of information is estimated to average 5 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to the Information Collection Clearance Officer, National Park Service, 1201 Oakridge Drive, Fort Collins, CO 80525. Do not send your completed form to this address.