Field Trips: Our Community
City of Santa Rosa Fire Department: Public Education
Public tours are offered at the Santa Rosa Fire Department Headquarters Station located on Sonoma Avenue. Tours are 30-45 minutes long. Safety education resources on the Department’s Public Education web page include coloring pages, a home safety checklist, tips for home drills, and links to other online resources.
Environmental Discovery Center
The Environmental Discovery Center, located at Spring Lake, teaches students about local natural resources, and encourages conservation. Standards-based programs for students in grades 1-6 focus on the natural resources in our county, and what local agencies, businesses and individuals are doing to encourage responsible enjoyment and environmental stewardship of these resources. The two and a half hour programs have students rotate through four stations that include interactive museum exhibits and staff-led outdoor lessons. Groups can reserve the picnic area for lunch.
Pacific Coast Air Museum
The Pacific Coast Air Museum provides an aviation education program for schools and is open for climb-aboards, field trips and special presentations. History will come to life when students get up close and personal with the historic aircraft.
Slide Ranch
This working farm on the Marin coast offers students the chance to learn more about agriculture and where our food comes from, appreciate farming and farmland, enjoy a natural setting, and understand more about conservation of natural resources. Curriculum and activities are customized for each group and are founded upon respect for animals, plants, the earth, and each other. Groups can milk a goat, meet sheep, visit the chicken coop to collect eggs, feed the chickens, observe the turkeys or ducks, discover worms in the worm compost, watch bees at work in the observation bee hive, visit the organic garden, plant seeds to take home, sift compost, harvest, muck out the chicken coop, dig a garden bed, make bread and cheese, card and spin sheep wool, make recycled paper, weave baskets, or create mobiles from found objects on the beach. In addition to experiencing farm life, school groups can also explore miles of coastal trails and tide pools. Overnight programs include two days of farm and wilderness exploration, farm chores, a campfire, and night-hike. Participants sleep in tents at a rustic campsite.
Sonoma County Harvest Fair
The annual Harvest Fair celebrates the bountiful agriculture of our county. The three day fair offers special discounts and activities for school groups on Friday. Students can take a hay ride, tour the poultry and waterfowl hall, take part in special activities, learn about local crops and livestock, try a scavenger hunt, taste free milk samples, watch a blacksmith at work, join the Grape Stomp, enjoy musicians and other performers, see cows milked, and more!
Sonoma County Public Library
All of the regional branches of the county’s public library system offer special services for group library visits. Group visits can include an orientation to the library, introduction of resources and reference materials, story time, a book talk, or time for browsing and checkout. Library card applications can be obtained in advance so that students without library cards can receive one on the visit. The library’s website offers a wide range of information literacy and book selection resources including recommended reading lists, sections for kids and for teens, full text newspaper and magazine databases, web resources listed by subject, community resources, and more.
Sonoma State University
A campus tour is a great way to introduce high school students to college life. Tours through Student Outreach Sonoma provide prospective students with valuable information about Sonoma State University and campus life. Tours are given at regularly scheduled times by student tour guides.