Commonly Asked Questions
Have any questions? Here's a list of some common ones!
A: Call the Cabrillo Aquarium at 310-548-7562 between 8am through 5pm, Monday through Friday. Our receptionists will be able to reserve a date for you and answer any general questions you might have about Ocean Outreach.
A: For safety as well as efficiency reasons we prefer to have a maximum of 30 students in each class. Too many students in the classroom can shorten hands on time during specimen examination and can interfere with the presentation. Remember, California has class size reduction for a reason, would you prefer to have 20 students or would you rather teach 40 in your personal classroom?
A: In our touchtank we have animals that travel well which include; ochre stars, knobby stars, bat stars, purple and red sea urchins, sea snails, mussels, crabs, and sea cucumbers. We also have a live moon jellyfish in a jar that we can bring along. We encourage the students to carefully touch the animals we bring along with one finger and not to pick them up or poke them. Unfortunately we cannot bring animals such as octopus or fish because of their oxygen and tank requirements and because they do not travel well to offsite locations. The safety and welfare of our animals are a high priority in our program.
A: We will require an undisturbed INDOOR area to work in where the children will be able to come to us. Usually an empty classroom or auditorium will fulfill these needs. In this area we will need a large chalkboard or dry erase board and at least 3 six foot tables. If we are showing slides the room will also need to be able to be darkened.
A: We will need an area to park our van on your school grounds in close proximity to the area we will be teaching in. We will also need a 10 foot by 10 foot area next to the van to set up our touchtank and canopy. The van should be close enough to a power source so that we can run an extension cord to it. Live animals will be set up in this parking area next to the van (under a canopy that we will be bringing). This area should be somewhere where we will not disturb the other classes, and where children at recess can not disturb our presentation. (Check out our Touchtank Set Up page)
A: Usually we can custom create a class for your students, however this must be discussed with the Outreach Manager before you reserve the date.
A: Our calendars are on a fiscal year schedule which run from July of one year through June of the next year. We typically open our calendars for the new fiscal year in May (usually the first Monday in May but call ahead just to be sure). Our reservation dates typically fill up quickly as we have many schools who have us revisit year after year. However our program is constantly expanding and you should have no trouble reserving a date providing you call early.
A: You may pay by school purchase order, personal check, or school check. We prefer payment two weeks before the reserved date.
A: The first thing you should do is reserve a date, as our calendars tend to fill up quickly. Once you reserve the date, the information we will need to finish up your confirmation includes:
1. Topic of presentation
2. Date of visit
3. Start and end times for classes: The earliest we can generally start is about 9am and we can stay until the classes are done for the day. Please feel free to schedule in any recess or lunch breaks necessary. Remember we can only do 4 classes a day.
4. Grade level of each class
5. Number of students in each class
6. School address and telephone number
7. Nearby cross streets
A: Sit back and relax! Once you have reserved a date and given the class information to our receptionists, they will enter it into the computer and mail you a confirmation. A month before the class begins we will mail you a previsit guide. The Outreach Manager should contact you one week before the confirmed date to double check on class times, answer any last minute questions, and see if you have any special concerns. On the date of our visit, our instructors will arrive approximately 1/2 hour before the start time and we will take it from there.