Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area offers a variety of "Parks as Classrooms" Programs. These programs specifically target the education curriculum designated for the state of California.
The Chumash:
A Changing People,
A Changing Land
Third and Fourth Grades
Students learn how important biodiversity is to a healthy ecosystem. They also learn how the Chumash depended upon the natural resources and lived in the Santa Monica Mountains for thousands of years. more>>
The Chumash: A Cultural Journey
Internet based education...3rd & 4th Grade
Send your students on a virtual, interactive, cultural journey into the past. With music, images, and sounds that revive the past, your students will have a fun and rewarding experience. more>>
Parks as Laboratories:
Studies of Land, Water, and Air
For Middle Schools
EcoHelpers: Restoration Program
for Students
High School
For Community Groups interested in assisting the EcoHelpers Program during the summer.
National Park Labs:
Studies of Wildland Fire Ecology
High School
The 2009 Summer Teachers' Workshop
Continuing Education
July 9-10, 2009
National Park Service and NASA Teacher Workshop: Making the Sun-Earth Connection
Join the National Park Service (NPS) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for an exciting hands-on workshop that offers teachers a variety of ways to explore the Sun-Earth system with their K-8th grade students. Also explore how the sun influences the native plants and reptiles of the Santa Monica Mountains, and learn about the Sun-Earth connections of the Chumash.
July 14, 15, and 16, 2009
Cultural Resources of the Santa Monica Mountains and Southern California
Join the National Park Service for an exciting hands-on workshop that offers teachers a variety of ways to explore the lives and history of local Native People and how the lives of the Native People changed with the arrival of the Spanish and the construction of the missions followed by the development of the Ranchos.