Recent Field Trips
Sacramento
Selected students travelled to Sacramento for a 3-day trip. Students enjoyed a road trip up to our state’s capitol where they toured and visited the capitol building, Sacramento & California History Museum, California State Railroad Museum, Old Town Sacramento and Shops and the Car Museum. During this annual trip, staff continued to work with students on generalizing their social skills, purchasing meals, staying overnight with a friend, touring museums in a group and discussing all aspects of your day with a peer and accompanying adults. For many of our students this is the first time they had been away from their parents overnight. The successful completion of this trip is a significant accomplishment for students with ASD.
San Diego
Selected students enjoyed a road trip to San Diego where they toured and visited: San Diego History Center, San Diego Harbor, USS Midway Aircraft Carrier and the San Diego Air & Space Museum., and spent the night in San Diego. This trip was chosen for students who were not ready to spend three days away from home, but who were ready to experience a first trip away from family. The social skills experienced on this trip were equally as impactful as those from the longer trip. The successful completion of this trip was a gold star experience for the students who attended this extended trip. Both trips sent photographs of their experiences back to school while they are traveling, to share their learning and fun with their fellow classmates, staff and their families.
Buddhist Temple
As a culminating activity for a unit on understanding and respecting the beliefs and backgrounds of others, our advanced social skills class took a field trip to the Hsi Lai Buddhist Temple in Hacienda Heights. The largest Buddhist temple in North America, Hsi Lai provided the opportunity for our students to try unfamiliar cuisine, observe traditions practiced by a religion different from their own, as well as study the gorgeous Chinese-inspired architecture that fills the massive grounds of the hilltop temple. Upon reflection, students acknowledged that, while they still value their own beliefs, the act of learning about and exposure to another world perspective can be an exciting experience.
