Wolf Camp Results

By:

Outdoor Education

Program

 This year, Montecito Union sixth graders attended Wolf Camp, an outdoor camp that engages students in outdoor activities that included environmental education, team problem solving, stewardship, and personal reflection.

 Sixth grade teachers prepared the students for the environmental education program before students actually attended camp.  They took part in an ecology science unit, where they learned about food chains, food webs, abiotic and biotic features of the environment.  Over the course of the school year students also engaged in science units covering earth resources, erosion and deposition on earth, plate tectonics and oceanography.

During camp students were engaged in science activities that can be best done outside.  They went on a plant hike in the chaparral to learn about native plants and special adaptations these plants have.  Students participated in a geology hike where they discovered fossils, thereby learning the earth’s history in this environment.  In addition, students participated in a live animal assembly where the presenter brought

native animals rescued from the environment and spoke to students about the animals, as well as the danger of trying to capture and keep wild animals as domestic pets.  Students constructed a solar oven and used it to bake cookies and they dissected owl pellets to help them understand the eating habits of birds of prey.

 Students were grouped in hiking teams.  While engaging in team problem solving challenges, they learned successful strategies to work in a team.  These activities were set up outside and included the use of a “ropes course,” as well as “low ropes activities. Following the environmental camp experience, students returned to school and reflected together and in writing about their camp experience.