Jacksonville Children's Exploration Camp

Goals:

• To expose children to enriching activities that enhance their quality of life
• To give opportunities to develop problem solving, creativity, cooperation, leadership
• To assure academic, emotional, physical, creative and spiritual growth to the camper and his/her family during the summer

Guiding Principles:

• All children need enrichment to develop and sustain progress toward a successful life
• All activities are age appropriate and respectful to the diverse population
• Families will be encouraged to celebrate accomplishments, and in so doing, be appreciated and acknowledged as the core contributors to their children’s well being

Components:

• Family connections
• Literacy through creative activity that develops reading, writing, mathematical thinking and scientific investigation
• Cultural enrichment through performing and visual arts
• Leadership through service by mentoring opportunities, canned donation drives, community clean up opportunities and community gardening
• Opportunities for budget course, child development training and being team leaders for younger campers

Objectives:

• Children will be affirmed, challenged and honored. This will allow them to see that their lives hold the same qualities that those in higher economic and social brackets do
• Children will discover their talent now and understand that perseverance will result in   continued development of these talents. Develop an appreciation of who they are.
• Weekly Friday celebration festivals will give families an opportunity to contribute and participate in their children’s life. The celebrations will showcase the experiences demonstrated during the week.

Strategies:

Understanding that everything is composed of some sort of pattern campers will work in the various domains with the thread of finding patterns.

Mathematical/Scientific thinking:

The use of journaling of gardening logs, data collection of observations, collage, multi-media presentations, graphs, and scientific method will be employed

• Creating patterns that can be explained
• Predicting patterns
• Reading patterns

Scientific exploration:

• Patterns in nature
• What stories do these patterns tell
• Predicting by seeing and analyzing patterns

Reading and writing:

The use of story telling, journaling, book-making, word and picture collage, multi-media art, read- aloud and silent sustained reading will be employed

• What pattern do stories have
• Writing imitating a pattern from stories read
• What pattern do words have (nouns, adjectives, verbs, syllable)
• What patterns do sentences have (Capitals, periods, commas, etc.)

Cultural Enrichment:

Camper presentations, rallies, visiting artists, festivals, cooking, eating, celebrations, current events, internet culture, texting, and social cites

• Patterns in music; instrumental and vocal
• Patterns in paintings, wood, print making, games
• Patterns in Dance
• Patterns in architecture
• Patterns in movies

Sports and recreation:

Skill building in basketball, soccer, volleyball, flag football, cooperative games, puzzles, chess, checkers, board games,

• Patterns in the sports games
• Patterns in board games
• Patterns in cooperative games
• Patterns in play

Career Education/ Workforce Development Enrichment:

• Leadership  training; patterns in leadership
• Selection to be a mentor to younger campers will be offered
• Child development books will be read
• Speakers and other organizations’ will be invited to do workshops in financial management
• Conflict resolution activities will be experienced

Service Learning: Through field trips to parks campers will include clean up of park areas

• Collected canned goods will be delivered to BEAM
• Recycling will be on going
• Mentoring opportunities will be afforded
• Visitation with neighboring elderly care facility
• Model For Experiential Learning

Children learn when they are safe

Children learn when they have good relationships with those that council and teach them

Children learn when they are empowered to question and speak about what interests them

Children learn when they are treated with respect

Children learn when they are expected to learn

Children learn when they have enough time to think and plan and experiment

Children learn when they reflect on their experiences through journaling and organized dialogue

Children learn when they can teach through presentation

Children learn when they know more about themselves

Children learn when they sing, dance, build, draw, paint, act, and play