Rock Fund Program

Please review the important information below and prepare up to five preferred visit dates before beginning your application.

The Rock Fund Programs are facilitated in-person programs that are open to all Kinder–5th grade classes from San Francisco schools, whether public, private, or parochial. Please see below for grade specific program options.

We especially encourage SPED/inclusion classes, newcomer classes, and classes taught in a language other than English to join us. Let us know your needs, and we will do our best to customize our programs for your students.

• While we can only offer one educator-facilitated Rock Fund Field Trip per class in any given school year, you are welcome to submit as many self-guided field trip applications to visit the Academy in addition to participating in the Rock Fund Program.
   
• You may also register for any of the free broadcasts offered on our Distance Learning website!

If you have any questions, email us at therockprogram@calacademy.org.

• Homes for Fish | Monday–Thursday, 10:15 a.m. *Offered November–February *
  What makes the California Academy’s coral reef a good home for fish? Students will explore through close-up observations of aquarium animals, creative play, rhyme and song.
   
• Nature Collections | Monday–Thursday, 10:15 and 11:30 a.m.
  What is a scientific collection and how are the items within it selected? Students begin in the outdoor classroom with a visit from an animal character that likes to collect things. Then, students take on the roles of explorers and curators that find and arrange their own nature collection. Finally, students closely examine a collection made by a scientist. Please note that this program is held outdoors. 

• Scientific Sketching | Monday and Tuesday, 10:15 and 11:30 a.m. *Offered September–October and March–May*
  Scientific sketching is not about making a pretty picture. It’s a tool scientists use to look closely and communicate information. In this outdoor program, students will have a chance to strengthen their observation skills, view specimens, and create their own scientific sketch of a natural item.
   

• Sharks | Monday and Tuesday, 10:15 and 11:30 a.m. *Offered November–February*
  What makes sharks so fin-credible?! In this program, students look at specimens, learn to move like sharks, and use models to understand the importance of sharks' unique body parts.
   

• Sun, Moon and Stars (planetarium show) | Thursday, 10:30 a.m.
  Explore the difference between day and night, the motion of the Sun and moon, and the patterns of stars in the night sky!

• Rainforest | Monday–Wednesday, 10:15 and 11:10 a.m. *Offered November–February*
  Rainforests are home to a multitude of animals, plants, and—shhh, it's a secret—chocolate! In this program, students look closely at various specimens and tell each other stories with fun props as they explore how rainforest animals help cacao grow. Please note that the rainforest will be closed September 10–11, 2024, January 14–16, 2025, and May 13–14, 2025.
   
• Get Outside! | Tuesday–Thursday, 10:15 and 11:30 a.m. *Offered September–October and March–May*
  How do bugs in Golden Gate Park choose their homes? We will approach this question with "two-eyed seeing," through lenses of Indigenous ways of knowing and science. As habitat scientists, students will use real scientist tools to explore small habitats on Ohlone land (Golden Gate Park). Please note that this program is held outdoors.

• Coral | Wednesday and Thursday, 10:15 and 11:30 a.m.
  Students will explore real coral specimens and role-play with engaging costumes to understand the mutual relationships within coral reef ecosystems. Students will visualize the problems that coral reefs are facing today, and realize we can all help coral reefs stay healthy.
   
• Redwoods | Monday and Tuesday, 10:15 and 11:30 a.m.
  Students will examine various coastal redwoods’ adaptations, gathering evidence to understand what allows them to get so big and live for so long. Please note that this program is held outdoors.

• Engineering our Shorelines | Monday and Tuesday, 10:15 and 11:30 a.m. 
  Students take on the role of engineers who are working with community members from India Basin to design a shoreline that is safe for people and wildlife. Students use table-top wave tanks to investigate ways in which water moves in the Bay and then test out designs to see how well they stand up to flooding.
   
• San Francisco Geology | Wednesday and Thursday, 10:15 and 11:30 a.m.
  Students become geologists and are asked to advise the city of San Francisco on 1 of 3 locations to build a water recycling plant. Teams of 3 use a variety of scientific skills and tools to conduct a series of investigations, gather evidence (e.g., stability and erosion) and then, as experts, argue for or against their specific geological site.

• Community Science | Wednesday and Thursday, 10:15 and 11:30 a.m. *Offered September–October and March–May*
  Join us outside, as we explore a secret trail near the Academy. We call it Quail Hollow! As community scientists, we will make observations and document what we see. We will help a very special bird we hope you’ll love just as much as we do by sharing our findings with a community of fellow scientists. Please note that this program is held outdoors.
   
• California Skulls | Wednesday and Thursday, 10:15 and 11:30 a.m. *Offered November–February*
  Students take an exciting adventure as ecologists to explore the Golden State’s diverse climate regions and biodiversity. Students will examine skulls to find clues about the animals that live in their climate regions and how they are interconnected.
   
• Incoming! (planetarium show) | Tuesday, 10:30 am
  Embark on a journey back in time and across the Solar System, following the paths of asteroids and comets that have collided with Earth—and those that roam far from home. You’ll follow the trek of the Chelyabinsk meteor as it entered the Earth's atmosphere in 2013 and visualize major shifts in the history of the Solar System billions of years in the making.

As part of the Rock Fund Program, we have the ability to pay for buses on behalf of San Francisco Unified School District sites for which transportation is a significant barrier to attending an Academy field trip.

Because of the high cost per bus, and the unknown volume of school buses available in San Francisco on any given day, we ask that teachers from schools near Golden Gate Park save our limited scholarship fund for sites that exist at a distance from the museum.

We encourage nearby schools to consider walking to the park or taking MUNI, which is now free for youth without any tokens or cards! We are happy to mail MUNI tokens to your school site for teachers and adult chaperones.

While visiting the museum on their Rock Fund Program field trip, each student will receive a Science Adventure booklet to take home!

With text available in Spanish, Chinese, and English, this trilingual booklet will guide families in exploring the Academy on a date that works for them, using the free Family Tickets included!

Each spring, the Rock Fund Program hosts several Family Science Nights at the museum, inviting San Francisco elementary students to bring their entire household to the museum for an evening of science fun.

Multiple school sites are invited to each event, often clustered based on similar geography or language needs.

The Rock Fund Program team will be in touch with your school site in late 2024 if your school community is invited to an event in spring 2025 (if not, we'll catch you during the subsequent school year!).