Global Learners

Day 3: We set our alarms for 5:45am and made it to the beach for an early morning low tide. We found ocher and leather stars, a variety of crabs, sea anemones, chitin and even a sea cucumber. Then we enjoyed a hot breakfast on the beach thanks to our amazing chaperones, before heading up to the Crescent City lighthouse. We enjoyed Thai food for lunch. On our way home we wandered along a botanical trail to see darlingtonia carnivorous plants, and dipped our hands and faces into the Illinois River. A perfect ending to an amazing adventure!

Day 2: We began our day with an amazing tour of the End of Trails museum, learning about Native American culture. Then we headed into the treetops at the Trees of Mystery, with the sky walk and gondola. Perfect weather made for a lovely picnic and walk on the beach! The later afternoon found us petting a shark, watching sea lions and marveling at interesting fish and invertebrates at the Ocean World aquarium. A full day of learning and laughter!

Day 1: We began our class adventure with a stop at It's A Burl in Kerby, where we had the unique opportunity to make our own bench! One of our students even got to participate in carving a wooden face. A huge thank you to the amazing people there! Then we hiked through the redwoods at Stout Grove, marvelling at the beauty and history of this incredible forest. Our evening was spent relaxing around the campfire and enjoying a BBQ. https://itsaburl.com/

Our invertebrate unit took us out into the field with microscopes, where students explored a part of the world they had never seen before. We examined Southern Oregon University’s remarkable collection of invertebrate specimens, visited Wildlife Safari, carved cuttlefish bone, and even painted our chicken coop with vibrant insects and flowers. Along the way, students discovered that sponges are actually animals, that the jellyfish life cycle incudes a polyp stage during which they transform into a stack of disks that are then released as free-swimming juveniles, and that foot long ocean isopods exist (close relatives of our beloved roly-poly bugs, which are themselves crustaceans)! What a fascinating world.

Come to Shop'n Kart to support the Global Learners by purchasing the most delicious student made treats, today until 4pm! Perfect gifts for Valentine's Day. This fundraiser supports their trip to the coast this spring, where they will explore Native American heritage of the region, hiking through the Redwoods, and playing on the beach.

We've had a wonderful start back after our winter break, complete with a massive vertebrate review jeopardy game (which took hours to create but was completely worth it for the combination of learning and fun), beginning on vision boards and goal setting with tiny Japanese daruma dolls, and launching into our invertebrate unit with a visit from Bugs-R-Us Educational Services!

We explored the beautiful culture of Japan with delicate nerikomi (marbled clay) wind bells, ink brush paintings on rice paper, and daruma dolls. Delicious Japanese food and an incredible private tea ceremony at Lithia Park for our group by the members of SOJA (Japanese Association) rounded out our experience of Japan. A huge thank you to them to sharing this authentic tradition with our campers!

Georgia is one of those magical places that are tucked in-between Europe and Asia, and unknown to every camper prior to our week of exploration. We delved into learning about the unique alphabet, the beautiful countryside, and the delicious food. We listened to traditional polyphonic singing while making our ceramics and discussing Georgia's history. And we explored the Caucusus Mountains with a field trip up Mt. Ashland. (More photos of that to come in a separate post!).

Madagascar took us on an epic scavenger hunt as we explored the plants of both the rainforest and semi-desert regions of the country by finding houseplants that are native to the country. These campers will never look at houseplants in the same way again, and they each brought home a little pot with Madagascar's succulents! We learned about interesting insects through metal art (check out the giraffe weevil!), honored the life-giving baobab tree through beautiful collages, and learned traditional basket making techniques with raffia palm that we imported directly from Madagascar! And of course, we cooked a very delicious Malagasy meal.

Our first week of summer camp was nothing short of awesome, with a fun group of campers exploring the Netherlands together. From stained glass tulips and Dutch Post-Impressionist inspired paintings, to mini-clogs and Gouda cheese charcuterie boards, these young people brought all their creativity to camp. Cooking day was a big hit with Stamppot (mashed potatoes with kale) and a Dutch butter almond cake -YUM! A big thank you to The Farm Stand LLC for their farm tour and u-pick blueberries, and Sugar Plum Acres for making our cherry dreams come true - both of these fruit are important in the Netherland's extensive farming culture. Thank you Global Learners for an amazing first week of camp!

Head to Pheasant Field Farm today for awesome homeschool resources, bounce houses, water activities and crafts! And of course stop by our booth to visit us! Runs from 12-4pm, $15 for wristbands, adults are free.