Stella the Owl, Temple University's live mascot, lives at the Elmwood Park Zoo and students were able to ask her handler questions as they roamed around the zoo.
The zoo also provided a lunch for the children.
"One experience like this can change many things down the line for a lot of these students. Whether it's STEM, biology, anything working with animals, this experience is definitely going to stay with them," said Christopher Davis, spokesman for the school district.
This is the first time many of the children have been to the zoo.
"Many children are able to connect with animals, even more than they can connect to other students or adults. So making that connection with the live animals, it brings that sense of wonder and that sense of empathy so the students will have that when they walk out," said the zoo's director of education, Laura Houston.
Houston says the experience may spark an interest in animals and their well-being.
"If they grow up to be zoologists or veterinarians, anything like that, fantastic. If not, they can just grow up loving animals and help us save this planet," she added.