Camp Campbell Outdoor Science School Teacher & Parent ...

Camp is in the process of completing a 20 million dollar capital improvement plan. Phase one of this planis now complete and includes, the newly built Tree Top Camp (6 cabins with 14 beds in each cabin),Swenson Family Lodge, the Valley Foundation Swimming Hole, and the Maintenance and CCOSSheadquarters. We are working to finish the fundraising required to start phase 2, which will involveimprovements to the Forty-Niner Camp, Health Cottage, and Teacher Accommodations. The facilitiesinclude heated cabins for student housing. Our newest cabins have restroom facilities in the cabin whileour rustic cabins have centralized restroom buildings. The student cabins sleep between 9 to 16 people.Visiting teaching staffs are provided separate housing from the students. It is suggested that teachersbring a fitted sheet for a twin mattress as well as a sleeping bag. Please note that accommodations forboth students and teachers will be shared with participants from other schools. Please come prepared tomake new friends. Teachers will also have a table to work on, closet space, shelves, microwave, and smallrefrigerator available for their convenience. A coffee pot is provided to brew your own coffee; howevercoffee is also available in Swenson Lodge. Lastly, classroom teachers can utilize a wireless internetconnection available in Sommer and Swenson lodges.On site we have many facilities to support the dynamic teaching and learning opportunities at CCOSS. Forexample, the Nature Lab provides opportunities for hands-on discovery activities, while Sommer Lodge isa convenient location for indoor rainy day activities, and Swenson Family Lodge offers meeting rooms forsmall group activities and games. Other programming facilities include Arts & Crafts, Health Cottage,Living Machine, Garden, Main Campfire, Brandy’s field, low ropes elements, and the bouldering wall.The natural resources available for study at YMCA Camp Campbell provide the quality and diversitynecessary for a well-rounded outdoor education curriculum. While the area is dominated by themagnificent and mighty redwoods, there are also other representative ecosystems present such as thelotic, riparian, meadow, mixed evergreen forest and chaparral. The San Lorenzo River is not only thehome for small aquatic invertebrates, crawdads, great blue heron, ducks, and occasional river turtles; it isalso the spawning ground for steelhead trout and silver salmon. Several miles of hiking trails completewith activity areas and vista points, lead students to the homes of raccoon, black-tail deer, gopher snakes,and great horned owl. Of particular interest are t he relics of a bygone day when lumber mills and loggingcrews harvested the redwoods with two-man saws and ox teams. Remnants of the narrow gauge railwayand trestle are still visible.FOODWe eat family style at camp and base our portion sizes on the USDA My Plate recommendations(http://www.choosemyplate.gov). Part of our mission here at YMCA Camp Campbell is to help childrengain lifelong healthy living skills. Our cabin leaders are trained to assist with serving each child andhelping them make healthy choices. Although, we do offer 2nds, we also encourage children to considerhaving a salad, or a piece of fruit and have a glass of water before having a 2 nd serving. Our goal is towork with children to understand the difference between eating because the food is there and eatingbecause their body needs more fuel.Meals are served family style in the Swenson Family Lodge. Menus are prepared by our Food ServiceManager to be nutritionally balanced and satisfying. Fresh fruit and vegetables are served, as well ashome-baked bread. Food is kid friendly with something at each meal for everyone. We serve a fresh saladbar at every lunch and dinner. There is a vegetarian option at every meal, and other dietaryaccommodations can be made as well (e.g., gluten free, and lactose free options). Please refer to theRestricted Dietary Form at the end of the packet for any students with dietary restrictions. Parents ofstudents with Dietary restrictions are able to supply food for their children; food will be kept in arefrigerator and pulled out at each meal. Please do not send food containing any nut products, and8