The California Academy of Sciences is located at Golden Gate Park
in San Francisco. For field trip reservations call (415) 750-7145. The
Academy of Sciences is open from 10-5 during the months of September through
May. From Memorial Day to Labor Day the hours are from 9-6. The first
Wednesday of every month the admission is free(and it is very crowded).
Admission is $8.50 for adults and $2.00 for children 4 to 11 years of age. Planetarium shows are available, and reservations can be made in advancefor the noon show. Cost for planetarium shows is $2.50 for adults and $1.25 for children. Docent guided tours can be arranged in advance for students in 3rd grade and above. Tours incorporate themes from the California science standards .
Standards:
First grade standard 2 of the life sciences:
Plants and animals meet their needs in different ways. As a basis for
understanding this concept:
a. Students know different plants and animals inhabit different kinds
of environments and have external features that help them thrive in different
kinds of places.
b. Students know both plants and animals need water, animals need food,
and plants need light.
c. Students know animals eat plants or other animals for food and may
also use plants or even other animals for shelter and nesting.
d. Students know how to infer what animals eat from the shapes of their
teeth (e.g., sharp teeth: eats meat; flat teeth: eats plants).
Second grade standard
for social sciences, 2.2: Students demonstrate
map skills by describing the absolute and relative locations of people,
places, and environments.
Second grade life sciences standard 2: Plants and animals have predictable
life cycles. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know that organisms reproduce offspring of their own kind
and that the offspring resemble their parents and one another.
b. Students know the sequential stages of life cycles are different for
different animals, such as butterflies, frogs, and mice.
c. Students know many characteristics of an organism are inherited from
the parents. Some characteristics are caused or influenced by the environment.
d. Students know there is variation among individuals of one kind within
a population.
Third grade life sciences standard 3: Adaptations
in physical structure or behavior may improve an organism's chance for
survival. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know plants and animals have structures that serve different
functions in growth, survival, and reproduction.
b. Students know examples of diverse life forms in different environments,
such as oceans, deserts, tundra, forests, grasslands, and wetlands.
c. Students know living things cause changes in the environment in which
they live: some of these changes are detrimental to the organism or other
organisms, and some are beneficial.
d. Students know when the environment changes, some plants and animals
survive and reproduce; others die or move to new locations.
e. Students know that some kinds of organisms that once lived on Earth
have completely disappeared and that some of those resembled others that
are alive today."
