Residential Outdoor Education

Hands on Learning, team-building challenges, community service, and adventurous fun all within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area!  Welcome to our Outdoor Education Program.

Since 1990, YMCA Point Bonita has given students in grades K-12 the opportunity to experience learning in a holistic way. Living cooperatively at our coastal residential campus for two to five days, students and their teachers are guided by our outstanding naturalists on all-day hikes through the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Every program is tailored to the students and teachers we serve, each curriculum designed to re-enforce classroom learning.

We bring science to life!

Through pond studies, tide-pooling, animal sightings, plant walks, geology talks, and ecologically demonstrative games, the Outdoor Education Program transforms state science standards into real life experience. As students touch a sea anemone, look at magnified bugs, watch a bee pollinate a flower, hear the call of a red-wing blackbird, sample herbs in our organic garden, they are drawn into the miraculous nature of life. As theory becomes reality, they begin to care about our world.

We create community!

In addition to living, learning, and playing in the outdoors together, students are guided by our naturalists through team-building challenges that teach them vital communication and conflict resolution skills. Set up as physical and intellectual "puzzles" for students to solve, challenges teach students to listen as well as speak, to build off of each others' ideas in an atmosphere of respect, and to realize that "success" is a larger concept than "completion."

 

We care for our land!  

Community service projects protect the health of our National Park and empower students to make positive changes in their lives. As volunteer stewards of the land, students participate in beach clean-ups and habitat restoration projects in cooperation with the National Park Service. They experience first-hand how every contribution makes a difference.

 

We create environmental stewards!

By weaving a thread of choice and impact throughout each aspect of the Outdoor Education Program , we empower students to become 
Ambassadors of the Environment when they return home to their own communities.


To make a reservation for the Outdoor Education Program, contact Rochelle Tolbert at (415) 331-9622 x 686.

 

 

Outdoor Education Program Topics

Nature's classroom continuously offers spontaneous opportunities for learning! In addition to addressing each teacher's preferred topics, our naturalists embrace the moment, tuning in to students' interests and needs. Weather, season, length of stay, safety, and other factors also determine which opportunities are available. For more information contact Jesse Wernick, Program Director and Head Naturalist, or Kyyio Cecil-Raditz, Lead Naturalist.

Program Topics

Animal Adaptations and Lore

Examine local land animals and their tools for survival. Ecological relationships, such as predator/prey interactions, are explored through discussions, games, and comparative anatomy, as well as native stories and legends.

Birds

Identify and appreciate the diversity of land and shorebirds that live in and migrate through the Marin Headlands every year! A major flyway for raptors, the Headlands is the perfect place to spot hawks and falcons. Rodeo lagoon and beach provide a rich stopover for shorebirds like pelicans, terns, and nesting cormorants. Migration routes, feeding and nesting habits, and niches are discussed.

Community and Group Building

Groups develop and build leadership and group communication skills through our series of physical and intellectual challenges. Conflict resolution strategies, cooperative decision making, group problem-solving, and trust in and respect for others are emphasized. Because these skills are integral to our educational philosophy, this topic is always present during the program, but may receive variable emphasis.

Cultural History

Across the centuries, a variety of different cultural groups have lived, worked, and survived in the Marin Headlands. Explore how native Miwok peoples, Portugese dairy farmers, Spanish vaqueros, the US Army, the National Park Service, and various nonprofit groups have met their needs and affected the land.

Earth Science

Learn about the physical interactions between land, water, fire, and air that have shaped this unique location. Fascinating natural geologic displays provide a backdrop for engaging demonstrations of planetary processes. This program topic includes elements of meteorology, oceanography, geology, geography, and hydrology.

Environmental Issues

Understand how each one of us personally affects the world around us. Issues such as pollution, global warming, endangered species, and resource management may be discussed. Focus is on students' ability to make positive changes in their communities.

Habitats & Ecosystems

Students examine and compare local animals, plants, and physical features that define particular areas. We focus on the interdependence and relationships between these elements, such as food webs and plant succession.

Lighthouse History

Travel through a dark tunnel and across a small suspension bridge to the 150-year old Point Bonita Lighthouse! Discuss the history and significance of lighthouses in the San Francisco Bay Area and how they guided settlers and boats into the bay. 

Marine Biology

Discover and examine the plants and invertebrate animals living along local shores, and their tools for survival. Compare sandy beach and rocky inter-tidal habitats. Students can participate in the Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association's LiMPETS progam, monitoring Pacific Mole crabs on Rodeo Beach! 

Marine Mammals

Learn about behaviors and adaptations of local species, such as harbor seals and gray whales, as you search for them just off of our shores! Understand how our ocean's abundant springtime productivity supports sea lions, elephant seals, dolphis, porpoise, and over 11 species of whales just 25 miles offshore at the Farallon Islands!

Organic Farming/Gardening

Using our on-site organic garden and explanatory mural, learn about the cultivation of plants from seed to harvest. Students may participate in gardening projects, such as planting, composting, or tasting vegetables and herbs.

Plant Adaptations and Lore

Identify local plants, both native and introduced, and their tools for survival. Groups will discuss traditional and current uses, native lore, historical significance, and habitat degradation. Student may visit the Headlands native plant nursery.

Redwood Ecology

Experience the awe and wonder of this west coat giant, the California state tree! Learn about its unique ecology and the plants, animals, and fungi that thrive in its shadow. Visits to Muir Woods National Monument or Samual P. Tayor State Park can be arranged. Special thanks to Save the Redwoods League for helping us develop and implement this program.

Service Learning

Engage and empower students through group activities and projects that "give something back" to the local environment. Projects include habitat restoration, beach clean up, historic restoration and trail maintenance.

Wetlands & Watersheds

Explore local watersheds, including Rodeo Lagoon and pond, through investigation of animals and plants particular to those areas. Students can participate in "field science" by conducting water quality testing. Discussion of the larger California and San Francisco Bay watersheds and their tributaries expand learning to include home communities.

 

Outdoor Education Program Night Programs

During the Outdoor Education Program , students spend their evenings exploring, learning, and coming together for fun that reinforces daytime activities! Every student gets to experience the Night Hike , a naturalist-led adventure that is often cited as a favorite part of the Outdoor Education Program! On other evenings, teachers choose from the following educational programs.

Night Hike

Experience a nature hike under sparkling stars or the glow of the setting sun! With their naturalists, students safely push their comfort zones as they experience the Marin headlands in a whole new way. Learning opportunities include lessons on nocturnal animals and their adaptations, myths and facts about stars and the moon, and sensory experiences. Every student is given this opportunity!

Creating Community

Have you ever dreamt of "Utopia?!" Explore what it means to create an ideal community, both what is required and what is desired. Can all of our needs and wants be met in a sustainable way? In small groups, students delve into art and their imaginations as they map out their own versions of utopia! After presenting the fine points of their visions for the entire group, students consider the needs of our larger planetary community.

Diving into Oceans

Discover the small yet hardy creatures that thrive and survive in the volatile intertidal zone! Learn about the adaptations and strategies of these specialized creatures that live constantly in extreme conditions. Students "experience" the pull of the tides, the pummeling of the surf, and the delicate balance of the tidepool food web. Afterwards, tour our local tidepools through a photographic journey! This night program is a great introduction to or reinforcement of students' hands-on experience during the day.

Live! from Point Bonita

Get ready to tap into your inner actor/actress! Create a magical skit that demonstrates one of the many adaptations native animals use to survive in their environment. How did the coyote get its howl? Where did the banana slug find its slime? Why does the frog have such long legs? These made-up stories evoke the feel of native legends and tap into students' sense of imagination. Then, it's performance time... Live! from Point Bonita!

Marine Mammals

Learn about the different species, characteristics and adaptations of our local marine mammals through hands-on fun! Discover marine mammal relative sizes, eating strategies, bone structures, and adaptations for movement and keeping warm, as well as the detrimental effects of marine pollution on these robust yet vulnerable creatures. The evening winds down with a slide show journey to the Farallones Islands, a National Marine Sanctuary just 25 miles offshore. Vivid images of whales, seals, sea lions and sharks, coupled with descriptions of each creature's unique abilities, give students an awe-inspiring sense of life beneath the surface.

Town Hall

Through an interactive theatrical performance, reinact the real-life 1960s debate on the proposed development of the Marin Headlands! During a town hall meeting, students experience how competing and conflicting interests affect public policy. Representing various local agencies, companies, and non-profits, students defend and advocate for their "character" position, asking critical questions of students representing other positions. At the end of the night, an in-character vote determines the fate of our National Park!

 

Residential Outdoor Education Rates:

Prices include three meals/day, lodging, meeting space, and instruction for students.

SUMMER & FALL

(July 1 – October 31, 2010)

Stay Student Adult

5 days, 4 nights   $325   $300

4 days, 3 nights $285   $240

3 days, 2 nights $208   $168

2 days, 1 night $136   $90

 

WINTER

(November 1, 2010–February 27, 2011)

Stay Student Adult

5 days, 4 nights $300   $265

4 days, 3 nights $260   $225

3 days, 2 nights $192   $165

2 days, 1 night $125   $86

 

SPRING

(February 28 – June 30, 2011)

Stay Student Adult

5 days, 4 nights $350   $300

4 days, 3 nights $309   $240

3 days, 2 nights $225   $168

2 days, 1 night $147   $90

 

To make a reservation for the Outdoor Education Program,

contact Rochelle Tolbert at (415) 331-9622 extension 686.

We offer scholarships and additional program subsidy whenever possible, depending on funding availability
and school need. Please contact Andrew Boyd-Goodrich to discuss financial assistance possibilities.