This school year, myself and other special education teachers have a goal to raise enough funds to take our amazing students to the Fresno Zoo. We would like to provide an amazing experience for approximately 40 autistic students. Our goal for this field trip is to provide them with an amazing learning experience.

It is one thing to read and discuss about different animals, creatures, and the environment they live in, but getting up close and personal with these living organisms brings the learning experience to a whole new and exciting level. Autistic students thrive with hands on learning experiences and going to the Fresno Zoo will give our students and amazing hands on experience they will never forget. A neat fact about autistic students is that they have the capability to internalize new information and remember this information for years to come. One of our goals for our students is to have them learn as much as they can about each animal species we visit. We plan on teaching the students about each species we visit by observation, reading facts about the animal or creature, and asking purposeful questions to help the students internalize the information. The opportunity to have such an experience will motivate our students to learn more about the wonderful creatures that roam our planet. Along with academic learning, we would also want our students to grow socially from this experience.

Acquiring proper social skills is one task that is a challenge for individuals that are autistic. As a result, basic social skills that most people automatically acquire need to be taught to autistic students. An example of a skill that is needed to be taught is proper communication (voice modulation, tact, personal space etc.) Another important objective that we have in going to the Fresno Zoo would be having our students apply the social skills taught to them in an actual experience they would have with a total stranger. For instance, we want our students to practice a communication skill that they learned when they interact with others at the Zoo. This trip would not only be important for our autistic students to practice social skills, but it would also be important in providing them with a learning experience for vocational skills.

In given the opportunity to go to the Fresno Zoo, our students will be introduced to a new profession or vocational skill such as a Zookeeper. As special education teachers, we always try to help our students find something that highly interests them and try to make it applicable to them in a real life situation. A lot of our students may not be aware of certain professions such as a Zookeeper and by teaching and explaining to them the skills and tasks of such a profession along with observing what a Zookeeper does, we hope to inspire our students to develop a life goal of having such a profession or any other type of exciting profession.

I hope that you can help contribute to our goal. Thank you for your time.

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