News Release
May 6, 2015
For Immediate Release
Contact: Lauren Manary
[email protected]
415-933-9975
Camp Discovery promotes safe and fun educational environment for all ages

LEESVILLE, La-- Camp Discovery has returned for its second year to give students yet another fun and exciting educational experience and the deadline to register is rapidly approaching.


Camp Discovery offers two different camps: one for students in grades 1-4 and another for grades 5-12. The camps were formulated as a result of parent and teacher input from last year's Education Symposium.


Curriculum Supervisor Debbie Clark has helped with the coordination of the program. She said last year, the camp's inaugural year, was a great success and Vernon Parish School District hopes to make this one even better.


"All of those that participated last year didn't want it to end," she said. "The parents were asking to have it one more week and the kids didn't want to go home. It's really exciting and hands-on and it's a lot of those fun things that sometimes in the classroom, we run out of time for."


The focus this year is "Discovering the world around us" for the younger group and will seek to engage students with varied and unique educational opportunities. First through 4th grade students will rotate through four mini-classes per day and will engage in science, math, music, technology and engineering while at Camp Discovery. Students will engage in "Making Music Your Own" class, and will learn the history of percussion instruments. They will also get the chance to design and create their own instruments and learn about music makers that occur in nature.


During the "Gardening Gurus" segment, students will learn about the plant life cycle while having a little fun in the dirt. Kids will get to plant their very own garden and learn about what a plant needs to thrive. "Growing with Numbers" will let students use math to explore math manipulatives while "going green." Lastly students will participate in "A Shift in the Wind" and will learn about how wind affects us and get the chance to construct a windmill.


Grades 5-12 students will focus their learning around this year's theme: "Survival of the Fittest -- Minds!" and will tackle science, technology, math, fine art and engineering. Students will participate in "Hunger-Games"- inspired courses including "May the Science Odds Be Ever in Your Favor". For the science course, students will engage in hands-on science activities and use rigorous empirical standards during their study.


The math course, entitled "May the Math Odds Be Ever in Your Favor", will test students to use their skills to "survive" and will learn data analysis, probability, geometry, statistics and proportional reasoning to make it through. The course will include real-world applications of the new concepts and will use rigorous national math practices.


Older students will also have time dedicated to fine art and learning about survival as depicted in sculpture, paintings, architecture and more. The course will use math and science concepts in conjunction with the art to continue students' quest to survive.


Both grade levels offer an a.m. and p.m. session. Each session is limited to 15 students per grade level per session. The cost per student is $50 session and can be made out to the school at which their session is held. Students must register by May 18.


Sessions for the younger group will be held June 8- June 12 at South Polk Elementary. The morning session will be held from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m., and the afternoon session will be held from 12:30-3:30 p.m.


Sessions for the older group will be held June 1-5 at Pickering Elementary. The morning session will be held from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. and the afternoon session will be held 1-4 p.m.

 

For photos from last year, see our Facebook photo album here and here.


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Fort Polk Progress is a regional community organization that takes a proactive stance toward Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) by maintaining relationships and partnering with decision makers in Congress, at the Pentagon and at the state level, ensuring that the most up to date information concerning Fort Polk and the surrounding communities is used in decisions concerning the base. In addition, Fort Polk Progress actively markets the base to the military as the most cost effective place to provide soldiers with the best training possible and strives to help ensure the best possible quality of life for soldiers, civilians and their families. Most recently, Fort Polk Progress has spear-headed an Education Initiative, which acknowledges exceptional educational achievements in the region and pursues continued excellence in education for military families throughout the region. 

 

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