Click play and be transported to Sky Mountain!
Learning Comes Full Circle at Science Camp Screams of joy ring out in the crisp clean air as snow topples to the ground. It’s early March, and 5th grade students from George McParland Elementary School have just arrived at Sky Mountain Education Center, the recently acquired property of San Joaquin County Office of Education. Located north of Auburn deep in the in the Sierra Nevada mountains, the facility is now the host of Science Camp for schools throughout the county. When the charter buses drop McParland students off at Sky Mountain, their adventure is only just beginning. There are no paved roads up the mountain to base camp, so students are transported in large, open-air trailers pulled by a snowcat. As students and staff hold on to the railings for safety, spirits are high as a buzzing, excited energy fills the snow-encased surroundings. Similar to the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland, the trailer jostles up and down as it treks up the mountainside, each bump causing snow from atop the trailer to fall to the
ground as students cheer and shriek with delight. For most students present, it’s the first time they are seeing snow in person. When SJCOE acquired Sky Mountain, one of the main selling points was the unique environment it offers. While students previously experienced a marine climate at Camp Jones Gulch in the Santa Cruz mountains, Sky Mountain provides unique year-round experiences, including life in the snow during winter and a lake-side environment during summer. By visiting Sky Mountain during different times of year, students are able to further connect to Science Camp’s main goal and purpose: promoting learning both in and outside of the classroom. While it’s exciting to see students experience snow for the first time, and fun to watch them as they scramble around and play while wrapped safely in their snow clothes provided by
SJCOE, their overall experience at Sky Mountain Science Camp serves a much greater need. While on site for their multiple-day visit, students learn all about the environment and ecosystem of the land they are temporarily inhabiting, and what it means to care about the earth that we are responsible for. Students walk away from the visit not only with happy memories of hikes and smores-
filled campfires with friends, but with an awareness of their planet and the environments we occupy. For educators, the experience helps learning come full circle for it reflects the curriculum being taught in the classroom.
“Science camp is a wonderful addition to our curriculum. It provides real life experiences with nature where the students learn about the water cycle, forces of gravity and motion, and the ecosystem – concepts that are all taught in the fifth grade. Since we are the only intermediate grade level to be tested by the state in the area of science, Science Camp is an integral part of our curriculum!” – Fifth Grade Teaching Team, McParland Elementary