Slide Ranch Coastal Scrub After School: Spring Session (2 weeks, 4/27-5/6)

2025 Shoreline Highway,Muir Beach CA 94965

27 April, 2021

Description

Slide Ranch's Coastal Scrub School offers afternoon outdoor science education and nature exploration on our farm and coastal wild lands Coastal Scrub After School is a new Slide Ranch program inspired by children's need for nature connection and safe outdoor play in small, cooperative groups. For 50 years Slide Ranch has welcomed Bay Area youth and been a cornerstone of Marin’s environmental conservation and education movement. We recognize that we have an important role to play as stewards of federally protected land, organic farmers and ranchers, and environmental educators. Now more than ever children need to be outdoors, for their mental, emotional and physical health, and we feel fortunate to be able to provide an inspirational place for them to explore and thrive. The Slide Ranch landscape offers a rich variety of ecosystems, from native plants and animals in the coastal scrub to the rocky intertidal zones of the coast, at the edge of the continent! We also represent the edge where the wildlands meet human habitation and agriculture, with a herd of goats and sheep on pasture, bee hives, chickens and ducks, and an organic garden. These environments naturally inspire wonder and curiosity and myriad possibilities for observation and inquiry-based learning. In Coastal Scrub After School, multi-age pods of up to 10 children (5-13 years old) meet at Slide Ranch in the afternoon for 2-week or 4-week sessions, 2-3 afternoons a week (Tuesday-Thursday) from 2:30-4:30. Coastal Scrub School also welcomes Junior Environmental Educators, 14-18 years old, who cultivate their youth leadership and environmental education skills with their Slide Ranch teacher as a mentor. The program fee for Jr Environmental Educators is discounted 50%. Our teaching approach is student-centered, and inquiry and project-based. Students participate in hands-on educational activities: exploring the coastal scrub ecosystem of Slide Ranch trails and marine ecology at our amazing tide pools, interacting with farm animals and learning about their roles on the farm. The curriculum also includes organic gardening projects: sowing seeds, composting, harvesting and cooking. We will focus on exploration skills that hone the senses, encourage making observations, asking questions, and making abstract connections. Each session will feature a unique theme, an array of projects, including cooking, nature-based crafts, and science experiments, as well as a student-led scientific investigation. Our intention is for this curriculum to offer students a renewable, multi-faceted lens to enrich their experience exploring the wonderful and diverse environments of Slide Ranch. Slide Ranch outdoor programs follow very comprehensive COVID-19 risk management protocols and guidelines established by the State, MHHS and GGNRA, being exclusively outdoors, practicing rigorous personal hygiene and sanitation, and wearing face masks whenever we cannot maintain 6 feet of physical distance. Cancellation and Change Policy You will be eligible for a full refund (minus a $50 processing fee) if your cancellation is made at least 4 weeks before the Program start date. Cancellations received with less than 4weeks' notice WILL NOT be eligible for a refund unless a replacement is available to take your spot. If you would like to reschedule your program, a $50 processing fee will be charged and changes will be accommodated only when there is space available.