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Camp Internet Briefing - Expedition
Six
This is the week to get those weather kits up and operating and send us at least one - preferably one a day - weather reports. We will post the information online so the classrooms can see one another's findings.
We should at a minimum be able to see one another's temperatures at 12 noon. It does not need to be placed permanently, and can come back indoors with you if need be. Should any rain show up, be sure to set it out side to get a measurement.
If you can check out a copy of Henry Danas Two Years Before the Mast, please read the class the chapter when his ship visited Santa Barbara. It has a very good description of the dreaded Southeaster weather condition, and is an excellent resource for understanding what life was like on the early sailing ships that came around the tip of South Africa to gather and trade supplies in what was then a Mexican territory.
We are coordinating a Trail Guide with the National Weather Service, who have a regional headquarters with amazing weather sensing and reporting equipment in Oxnard. The Weather Service is a division of NOAA - the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration overseen by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce. The National Marine Sanctuary, who provided last weeks Trail Guide, geographer Ben Waltenberger, are also under NOAA. We will announce by the listserv when they can make a Trail Guide available, and will put links to their K-12 resource on the web this week.
Site News and Site Visits
We welcome the class of Ann Webb at Mary Buren School in Guadalupe as a new Camp Outpost thanks to a scholarship from the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary and the USDA Rural Utilities Service.
We have 5 visits to classrooms planned for next week, and encourage the other classrooms to make an arrangement for a visit in the coming months.
If you have found it difficult to set time aside to get more fully involved in the Camp, these visits can be an opportunity to have assistance directing class attention to the program, and help give the students an update on the science areas we are working on this year.
Sustainable Sea Expedition
The National Geographic Expedition coming to the Channel this year is a very exciting educational opportunity for the Camp to be involved in. Top notch scientists, amazing research vessels and submersibles, and community outreach activities are planned. The dates for the expedition have moved, and are on the current Camp Calendar. At this time, it is planned to be working out of Santa Barbara May 25-June 5th. This opens up the weeks we had set aside for their activities to other camp activities. We are now working on using the weeks of April 19-30th as a time to focus on making progress on the Virtual Science and History Fair online presentations.
Virtual Science and History Fair
To make this special education and exhibition experience a success, we will be working closely with you to gather materials and synthesize a wide variety of data. At this time, we are suggesting each class Adopt a Channel Island. There are eight islands to choose from, and each has a wealth of information available about its history and sciences already posted on the Camp web, with more to come. If you would like to follow this theme ( it is not required ), then work with your class to select the island you will focus on. In this way, you can have students begin gathering resources off the web in the coming weeks. For example, one team can gather Native American history, another the geology and geography, another the history of the explorers who visited the island or named it, and so on. By the end of this effort, you will have a well rounded, in depth look at one specific island. Then when other classes see your work posted on the web site, it will compliment the projects they have done on another island. Please let us know at camp@rain.org which island you are selecting to adopt for this project. By the time the April 19-30 focus period for building the virtual exhibits comes around, the students will be prepared to not only incorporate the Camp web materials they have found, but also enter into new research projects that we can develop with you for them to pursue.
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