For more information about our Camps, please email Meagan Maricle.

Fall and Spring Sunship Earth

Sunship Earth gives 4th-6th graders a new respect for all living things, as we explore the world we live in.

Teachers are invited to accompany their students as they get in touch with the natural world, gaining an understanding of how nature works, and learning to respect its plants and animals. The Sunship Earth Program delivers a strong message of environmental responsibility, encouraging each participant to make a commitment to live more lightly on this planet. Sunship has been offered at The Center since 1983. Your classes can visit The Center's Sunship Earth Camp overnight for 3 days and 2 nights, or be a part of our 3-day non-overnight Sunship program.

Sunship Earth - Getting To Know Your Place In Space:

The program is based on the philosophy that in order for students to be enlightened stewards of

our earth, they must first understand how the earth naturally operates. Sunship Earth is the most comprehensive earth education program available today. It is a highly participatory experience. At the core of the program are 15 concept activities, focusing on the ecological concepts of energy flow, cycles, diversity, community, interrelationships, change, and adaptation. Each activity has props, costumes, and a prepared lesson which the staff helps students to complete. In the course of three days, the students are immersed in the natural world as they investigate The Center's 78 acres of woodlands, fields, wetlands, and streams.

Sunship Earth Components Your Students Will Enjoy:

1. 1.• Night watching by candlelight
   

2. 2.• Creek walking
   

3. 3.• Finding a personal "Magic Spot" to visit each day
   

4. 4.• Observing and being quietly immersed in nature
   

5. 5.• Keeping a journal to record observations and feelings about Sunship Earth.
   

6. 6.• A Journey-Home Campfire and story
   

7. 7.• Exploring the Children's Farm
   

8. 8.• Warm Cabins and great food!
   

9. 9.• A pre-trip visit to the students' classroom by the Sunship Director
   

10. 10.• Post-trip classroom activity suggestions
    

As Chicago's Clissold School teacher, Jane Bushwaller, always says when she brings her class to Sunship Earth, "the great thing about fifth graders is that they really believe they can make a difference in the world. And of course they can!"

If you visit The Center, you'll see kids with muddy knees from crawling through the woods as bugs, or with wet shoes from carrying buckets of water up the hill as clouds. You'll know that you’re looking at some of our Sunship's most newly trained passengers. You'll see six colored beads and seven white beads on strings around their necks. Ask them to tell you about the seven secrets of life which connect the yellow sun, the light blue sky, the dark blue waters, the brown soil, the green plants, and the red animals of the Sunship. You'll be glad you asked. You’re sure to feel that the earth's future is brighter in the hands of these bright eyed young people.

We invite you to explore this meaningful learning experience with your students. Come and let us help you "Expand Your Nature" at The Center...

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