Ponds
Kindergarten curriculum is focused on Ponds
The NGSS-aligned MARE curriculum was developed thanks to a generous grant from the California Coastal Commission
Field Trips and Speakers
Jump to field trip listings.
Speakers and Assemblies — Ponds
Scan for your region in the activities below.
Ane Carla Rovetta
A storyteller, science illustrator, field biologist, and teacher of cultural uses of plants and nature crafts. Tells and dramatizes tales of ocean, plant, and animals in the "old" days.
Extraordinary assembly presentations last 45-60 minutes. Ane works with individual classes as well.
Contact Name: Ane Carla Rovetta
Phone: 707-762-5239
Fax: 707-762-4535
Region(s): California-Central, California-Northern, California-Southern, Monterey
Animania
Hand-on science gets cold, wet and salty with Animania's marine science program! This exciting program series features both an in-class presentaion and a tidepool experience at the touch tanks.
Phone: (858) 693-9200
Region(s): California-Southern
Banana Slug String Band
Environmental education through music, poetry, drama, and movement with hands-on science. Ask for the Slug's Marine Science Program. Based on the Slug's award winning Slugs at Sea and the MARE curriculum, this program focuses on the marine habitats of the West Coast. Favorite Slug's songs such as the Water Cycle Boogie are featured. All performances are developmentally appropriate for the age group. Family nights and special events are also available.
Contact Name: Doug Greenfield & Larry Graff
Phone: (831) 429-9806
Fax: (831) 475-5552
Contact Email: dougdirt@bananaslugstringband.com or airylarry@bananaslugstringband.com
Region(s): California-Central, California-Northern, California-Southern, Monterey
Bureau of Land Management Watershed Education
The Bureau of Land Management provides site field trips and classroom speakers. The educational focus is on the culture and history of the lands and overall sterwardship. Watershed education and botany are also topics of discussion.
Contact Name: Clara Sander
Phone: 707-825-2500
Contact Email: csandergander@hotmail.com
Region(s): California-Central, California-Northern
Claire the Loon Music
Ocean Commotion is a forty minute concert/sing-along for children K-6 performed by Alan Spector and Debra Knox. The theme of this assembly is appreciating aquatic environments and the living things found there. They sing about the pleasure one can derive from the water, swimming and enjoying the wonders of the sea. There is also the message that we can seriously damage the planet's ecosystems with pollution and overuse. The kids will sing, dance, and laugh at some of the silly parts of the show, but they will come away from the performance with respect for the Earth and its aquatic environments. Each school that books OCEAN COMMOTION will receive a CD of the songs from the show along with the complete lyrics!
Contact Name: Alan Spector, Director
Phone: (510) 558-8120
Contact Email: alan965@comcast.net
Region(s): California-Central, California-Northern
Environmental Educational Experiences
Jim Peckarsky will illustrate personal encounters with animals through slides and videos and will demonstrate the importance of keeping the world's ecosystems in balance.
K-12: A Fascinating Look into the World of Whales
3-12: Encounters with Marine Animals; Endangered Animals: What Can Be Done?; Baby Harp Seals; Common Loons; Swimming with the Manatee; Pollotion: Are there Solutions?; Galapagos; Animal Adaptations; Arthropods; Molluscs; Inner Workings of Plants; Worms; Bald Eagles; Timber Wolf; Mountain Lions.
60-90 minute assembly program or classroom presentation. Pre- and post-materials available on endangered animals, whales, pollution, and some general information.
Contact Name: Jim Peckarsky
Phone: (858) 273-0567
Region(s): California-Southern
Lawrence Hall of Science
The Lawrence Hall of Science Programs for Schools & Community Groups offer several programs for school sites and at the Hall. Assemblies: Dazzling science-on-stage presentations that involve your enthusiastic audience. Perfect for large groups. Workshops: Every student becomes a scientist, immersed in innovative, hands-on science and math activities. Choose from dozens of workshops for all grades in earth science, life science, math, computers, and physical science. Festivals: Involve the whole school community in science and math learning. Great for your open house or school fair. Science Discovery Theatre: Live performances that deliver important science and math concepts with fun, humor, songs, stories, and audience involvement. Multi-session Courses: Choose a course with the content you want as well as the dates, times, and number of sessions.
Phone: (510) 642-1700
Region(s): California-Central, California-Northern
Living Science Foundation
Want a touch tank for your school? The Living Science Foundation brings live animals to your school or classroom. With over 20 years of service and experience LSF has grown to be an organization nationally recognized as an innovator and a leader in science out-reach education. Over these many years they have helped to inspire and educate over 2 million children, one by one.
Contact Name: Tim Joslyn
Phone: (650) 726-1923
Fax: (650) 726-1994
Contact Email: timjoslyn@mac.com
Region(s): California-Central, California-Northern, Monterey
Madeleine Dunphy
Swim with the Sharks. Lurk with the Lions. Mingle with the Monkeys.
Award-winning children’s book author, Madeleine Dunphy, will guide your classes through some of the world’s most fascinating ecosystems, from the tropical rain forest to the arctic tundra. Her interactive presentations challenge, inform, and entertain. Best of all, they involve students in the web of life. Madeleine’s books have won awards from the National Science Teachers Association, Children’s Book Council, and the International Reading Association, among others. She is a curriculum designer with a Masters Degree in Education who has taught at the California Academy of Sciences, Lawrence Hall of Science and dozens of elementary schools. To research her books, Madeleine traveled as far as the Amazon rain forest, African savanna and Great Barrier Reef.
Contact Name: Madeleine Dunphy
Phone: (510) 428-1945
Contact Email: mdunphy@mdunphy.com
Region(s): California-Central, California-Northern, Monterey
Field Trips — Ponds
Scan for your region in the activities below.
Bay Area Discovery Museum
The museum conducts a variety of ocean-related field trips, and maintains interactive exhibits related to the bay and general Bay Area science and culture.
Phone: (415) 487-4398
Region(s): California-Central
Crab Cove
Crab Cove is a marine reserve at Crown Memorial State Beach. This is an excellent place to observe sandy beach processes as well as intertidal plants and animals. Pond programs are also available with a focus on local plants and birds. The southern end of the beach is a saltwater marsh with a large variety of shorebirds and waterfowl including the endangered Clapper Rail. Call for a reservation form. Application deadlines for mail-in lottery of first Monday in May for summer prgorams, first Monday in Auygust for autumn programs, and first Monday is December for spring programs.
Contact Email: ccove@ebparks.org
Phone: (510) 521-6887
Fax: (510) 521-0376
Region(s): California-Central, California-Northern
Exploratorium
This science exploration hall contains approximately 600 interactive science exhibits and several marine tanks that demonstrate processes and concepts from all areas of science. Exhibit "Explainers," individualized programs, and teacher training workshops are available.
Phone: (415) 563-7337
Region(s): California-Central, California-Northern
Lawrence Hall of Science
The Lawrence Hall of Science Programs for Schools & Community Groups offer several programs for school sites and at the Hall. Assemblies: Dazzling science-on-stage presentations that involve your enthusiastic audience. Perfect for large groups. Workshops: Every student becomes a scientist, immersed in innovative, hands-on science and math activities. Choose from dozens of workshops for all grades in earth science, life science, math, computers, and physical science. Festivals: Involve the whole school community in science and math learning. Great for your open house or school fair. Science Discovery Theatre: Live performances that deliver important science and math concepts with fun, humor, songs, stories, and audience involvement. Multi-session Courses: Choose a course with the content you want as well as the dates, times, and number of sessions.
Phone: (510) 642-1700
Region(s): California-Central, California-Northern
Oakland Museum
The museum contains a nautral science hall that expores the varied ecosystems of California, including marine habitats. A variety of hands-on and interdisciplinary classes are available for grades K-12.
Phone: (510) 238-3818
Region(s): California-Central
Ponds Alive!
Come to LHS for some close encounters with creatures that live in ponds. Fish, frogs, turtles, salamanders, and crayfish are just some of the animals you'll meet and investigate in this workshop. Using nets, explore our outdoor pond where smaller forms of life, such as dragonfly nymphs, snails, and water boatmen, make their home.
Phone: 510-642-5134
Region(s): California-Central, California-Northern
Steinhart Aquarium (California Academy of Sciences)
The Steinhart, which opened in September 1923, is the oldest, still-operating grand municipal aquarium in America. The aquarium's collection includes species found at no other institution in the world, as well as species that are extinct in the wild.
Phone: (415) 321-8000
Region(s): California-Central, California-Northern
Tilden Nature Area
Explore the wet and wonderful world of the Tilden Nature Area’s ponds—insects, amphibians, and more… All tours are guided by naturalists.
Contact Name: The Nature Center
Phone: 510-525-2233
Region(s): California-Central, California-Northern
