Ten-year-old Stanley Reinhart had never seen snow before in his life. Two weeks ago during the fifth-grade science camp at Blue Sky Meadow, he had his chance — along with 105 other students from Alta Vista Elementary School.
“My hands got numb really fast,” said Reinhart. “It was better than I expected. It was fluffy, white and really cool and looked like powdered sugar.”
The snow melted and went through 10-year-old Beck Hokanson’s gloves. “They weren’t waterproof — they were water resistant,” Hokanson explained. Reinhart had to borrow different gloves because he wasn’t expecting the snow and his gloves got soaked through as well. According to Reinhart it snowed one to two inches, or about mid calf.
The snow offered the naturalists at Blue Sky Meadow many alternative classes to expand the beach kid’s outdoor knowledge.
no images were found
“We saw a bobcat,” said Rinehart, “and learned how to figure out which animals made different tracks. We even learned about a den for coyotes.”
The students spent Monday until Friday two and a half hours away in Big Bear City learning about nature, ecology and how their actions impact the world around them. In addition to daily classes and activities both indoors and out, the kids were taught how to recycle and how to compost their food during meal times. For some, the experience of a five-day camp is not just about learning about nature, it’s a new adventure away from their home for the first time. Some kids found the change more difficult than others. To help the transition, many parents also accompanied the students as volunteer chaperones.
“It was cool because it was a lot of the kids’ first time away from home by themselves,” said Steve Hokanson, a parent chaperone. “A lot of the kids were homesick. By the end of the week they totally forgot about it and had fun.”
Ten-year-old Michael Moroso found it difficult to be away from home for the first time, but after talking to one of the staff members at the camp, he ended up sticking it out and didn’t want to leave the final day.
“We had kids crying on the bus when we got home,” said Jamie Siler, a 5th–grade teacher and the Alta Vista camp coordinator. “I asked them why they were crying and they said they didn’t want to go home and wanted to stay at camp.”
Cheyenne Weeks loved the experience. “I needed a break –I didn’t want to come home,” she said. “We saw so many cool things at camp. One night we went outside and saw the stars — they were really clear. It was like when I once went to Kansas.”
Moroso and Weeks along with other students learned how to find Orion’s Belt and also learned which star on the Big Dipper is the North Star.
“We even saw Jupiter and got to eat Lifesavers in the dark and see them spark in our mouths,” said Weeks. “We also learned not to eat juniper berries. They are really bad. They are for coyotes, not people.”
Other elementary schools in the district participate in science camps, but this was the first year for Alta Vista.
“We were able to do this though the support of our principal [Susan Wildes],” said Siler. “We did a lot of fundraising that helped the price of $335 go down to $275.” The school also received donations from private companies and were able to give scholarships to over 10% of the class and a full scholarship for four students.
“It is a fantastic opportunity to get hands-on learning,” said Siler. “We have so many opportunities for them to read books and do classroom work but the amount of opportunities they get at the hands-on learning school is immense.”
“I thought it was a lot more fun [than being in the classroom] because you actually got to picture the animals instead of just seeing pictures of them,” 10-year-old Jonathan Song said.
Stephanie Kohler, an Alta Vista parent who joined the kids at camp, participated in a similar event when she was in elementary school. “It was one of my best memories,” Kohler said. “Learning from the outdoors is definitely different than books. They had so much fun I don’t even think they realized that they were learning.”
“It felt like just a whole day,” said her son, 11-year-old Zane Kohler. “It went by really fast.”
After the successful first year, Wildes and Siler hope to start a tradition and bring many more Redondo Beach 5th graders to the mountains to learn about the environment and become better citizens.
“I hope they took away a love of nature and their natural surroundings,” said Stephanie Kohler “because it’s really important to learn that they need to protect the environment. They are tomorrow’s citizens. I hope they learned that the choices they make now and the future will affect the earth.”ER
