Students and families at ZCLC participate in field trips that are both educational and fun. For the past three years, the Santa Maria Trails & Parks Association has sponsored trips to the Aquarium of the Pacific, Malibu Lagoon and the Children's Nature Festival. The Heartfelt Foundation hosted our students at its Annual Back-to-School Project, which provided a fun-filled day of food & activities as well as free backpacks and school supplies. Advanced movie screenings of Robots and The Polar Express were sponsored by the Dartmouth Club of Los Angeles and Don & Bonnie Burgess, respectively.
Environmental Summer of Science
This summer Zeitgeist received a third wonderful donation from Santa Maria Parks & Trails to continue our Environmental Summer of Science Program. His included field trips, science experiments, research projects, and art integration. Students continued their scientific education learning more about Mother Earth and her variety of creatures big and small, their habitats, the impact of global warming, the human body and astronomy.
2009 field trips included a sleep over at Sea World where we slept with the polar bears and walruses in the Wild Arctic Exhibit; The Page Museum, Santa Monica Pier Aquarium, Whale Watching, California Science Center-Body Worlds Exhibit, and the Hollywood Bowl Arts & Culture Program.
Student group projects included, Islands of the World (interactive visual presentation based on environmental research), Extinct Animal Stories (mixing fact and fiction to create imaginative short stories on prehistoric animals).
The past years' trips included Sea World, Star Eco Station, San Diego Zoo, Discovery Science Center, Los Angeles Arboretum and Botanic Garden, California Science Center, Santa Monica Pier Aquarium, and Whale Watching off Long Beach Harbor,Griffith Park Observatory, Museum of Natural History; University of Southern California, where students learned science lab basics with Michael Quick, Ph.D., Professor of Biological Science and Research in College of Letters, Arts & Sciences, and learning about the importance of exercise and proper nutrition with personal trainers, Zeus Benitez and To Beaman Leal.
Environmental Summer of Science meets or exceeds the California Science Standards for third-fifth grade students.
