Introducing Adventure Camp!
Summer's here on the coast and we are all geared up for outdoor adventures! We are thrilled to share that our first offsite outdoor classroom is alive with inquiry, art, and play!
This week we launched our first week of Adventure Camp and welcomed new teachers and students to our program. Adventure Camp is a new program geared towards our older students ages five to seven. We are fortunate to have an offsite base camp near the Gualala river our students have come to call home. Nestled in the redwoods with a sunny meadow, campfire learning circle, swings, and more.
A solar-powered A-frame and fully off-grid bathroom pod (both built by Forager parent Nick Foley + the team at Denizen) provide quiet space to rest and creature comforts at base camp, priming kids for adventure and exploration the rest of the time.
Adventure, you say?
The broad theme of Forager School Adventure Camp is exactly that- adventures! The program is 100% outdoors and all activities are driven by student curiosity and interest about the surrounding environment. The Forager School offsite adventure campus is the ideal location for exploring three different/interdependent environments - redwood forest, river, and field/orchard meadow.
Inquiry-based science instruction starts with a phenomenon — something interesting that either a student or teacher finds or notices in our environment. The phenomenon helps drive students to engage in the inquiry process by making observations and asking questions. Most of our observations are made verbally, but students also practice natural journaling in their field note journals to record observations.
Our day starts with a morning meeting where we learn songs and discuss a theme for the day. Each student also gets a chance to be a leader of the day. The leader picks an animal of the day which is the group's name for that day. We use the name to call everyone to come together and encourage leadership/cooperation skills. For example, on Monday we were the Cougars; Friday we transformed into the Werewolves!
This week our broad theme was river ecosystems and we spent a lot of time exploring and observing the creek and the Gualala River. We studied food chains and learned a food chain song. We also went off-site to Gualala Point Park and to the green bridge site, where students found tons of baby toads and tadpoles. In the afternoons we have been incorporating a variety of sensory/expressive art activities and group-bonding games.
What’s next?
Our theme for Week Two will be Beach Exploration, followed by Magic in Week Three.
Beach Exploration: July 22-26
Magic: July 29-August 2
Beach Exploration week will include an exploration of life below the surface to uncover the hidden sea treasures and excitement in the low tide and specimens scattered about our sandy shores. We will continue to introduce this through an inquiry-based curriculum wherein students actively help shape the adventures to come by sharing in the excitement of learning about the natural world around them.
We also hope to try cooking in a solar oven experimenting with the abundance of blackberries ripening at base camp. There will be a ceramic sculpture-making session as well - so many more adventures await!
Forager Adventure teachers supply all the necessary tools/materials and students learn to embrace their innate sense of adventure as a team.
Sound interesting?
It’s not too late to join! We have a limited number of available spaces left for Weeks Two and Three. If this learning experience sounds like the right fit for your child, please fill out an interest form and we will get right back to you with more information! You can also email admissions@forager.school.