Island Explorers

BRINGING AVALON STUDENTS TO THE WILDLANDS OF CATALINA

Avalon fourth graders observe as Conservancy biologists conduct a health workup on an endemic Catalina Island fox before releasing it back into the wild.

To promote outdoor engagement and learning within the community, Catalina Island Conservancy is excited to reimagine our existing field trip program with Avalon School as Island Explorers. There are about 240 children in grades kindergarten through fifth grade on Catalina who will benefit from this free program.

“Many of these students don’t always have access to Catalina’s wildlands unless they go with us,” said Sr. Education Specialist Cressita Bowman, who leads the program. “We get to explore the Island in a new way and talk about subjects they haven’t explored before, giving us unique memories of a special place on Catalina and experiencing its beauty and nature.”

From kindergarten through fifth grade, Avalon School students will venture into the wildlands with Conservancy education team members for hands-on exploration, traveling to a different part of the Island each year aligned with grade level curriculum. In line with state standards’ emphasis on learning about their home state of California, fourth graders will participate in four explorations aligned with their school curriculum. This laddered design allows for a gradual learning experience with the focus of each grade’s lesson and field excursion building year over year. The Conservancy has created a bilingual Exploration Summary in English and Spanish to go home after each field trip to encourage families to talk about what their child experienced and do related home-based activities. Each classroom will also receive a Classroom Journey Kit of learning materials, including things like scientific tools, specimens and books, that they can use to amplify the grade level topic throughout the year. Exploration Packs will be created that students can check out from their teachers for use at home to further the learning.

"The main goal for me is to help the students appreciate the uniqueness of the Island they get to grow up on and be inspired to become stewards of the land,” added Bowman. “It is great to watch them learn and advocate to protect the things that exist here and nowhere else.”

The Island Explorers program was specifically designed to promote the home-school-community learning connection which ultimately contributes to science learning success for children. We are grateful to the National Recreation Foundation for a grant that has enabled the Conservancy to take an already successful experience of getting kids out in nature and make it an even deeper adventure that broadens learning through home, school and community.