School Program Tips
Please follow these guidelines to make your visit to the Museum a success. If there are any changes in your scheduled trip, notify us through the email system at www.ccnha.org/reservations.html. Or call (805) 772-2694, ext. 106 on Thursdays between 3:00 pm and 4:30 pm.

If you are running late the day of your visit, please call the museum at 805-772-2694 (select '0' to skip the menu and speak directly to the front desk). If no one is available, please wait for the prompt and leave a message, including a phone number.

• Introduce students to the vocabulary and educational concepts to be presented in the program (refer to the cover letter for the program).
• Assure that parents prepare the students for coastal weather - jackets and closed shoes appropriate for the mud. This is necessary all year long.
• Divide students into groups of 15. Assign the most reliable students to any groups that will not have a teacher.
• Have at least two chaperones for each 15 students.
• Have a name tag for each student and chaperone.
• Plan alternative activities and additional chaperones for any pre-school children, if they must accompany your group. Our outdoor walks are not appropriate for children in strollers. Our program content is designed for grades 2 and above. We will divide multi-grade groups into smaller groups by grade level.
• Instruct students and chaperones on the museum's behavior code (see below).
• Check your estimated arrival time at the museum. Allow for road construction delays. Please call if you are running late. If you are traveling from the Central Valley, allow time for a rest stop before arrival.
• Please have students leave cell phones, cameras, iPods, and other electronic devices at home (one camera is sufficient for group photos, which should be limited).
• Bring anti-bacterial wipes or waterless soap for younger students.
• 5 -6 picnic tables are available at the Museum. Larger groups may wish to move to another park for lunch. To reserve picnic space in the day use area of Morro Bay State Park without charge, call the kiosk at the park 48 hours before your trip: (805) 772-7434.

• Buses may drop students off at the far end of the upper Museum parking lot. Then park either at the Marina parking lot below the Museum (not at the Bayside Cafe), or in the gravel parking lot at the bottom of the north Museum driveway, adjacent to the golf course. The driver may return to the upper parking lot at the end of the tour for pick-up.
• Reiterate the behavior code before leaving the bus.
• Assure that students are organized in their groups of 15 as they leave the bus.
• Meet the docents at the front door of the bus. Introduce the lead teacher.
• If there is any special information you would like emphasized, please notify one of the docents.
• If students will visit the Nature Store at the end of the program, please plan only 15 at a time; space is very limited. Ask chaperones to assist with students waiting outside.

• Listen when a docent or someone else is talking.
• Stay on the trails. Walk; don't run.
• Be careful not to disturb things when you pick up rocks, plants and animals, including those in tide pools. Put things back approximately where you found them.
• Leave everything as it was before you came.
• Use indoor voices inside the Museum.

• Listen when a docent or someone else is talking.
• Position yourself among the students and help maintain a good environment for learning.
• Limit cell phone use to emergencies.
• Require students who are having trouble following the behavior code to stand quietly beside you until the group moves to the next destination.