Chaparral students are first visitors

On Monday, 88 fifth-grade students from Chaparral Elementary School in Calabasas were the first class to attend a new weeklong outdoor educational camp at King Gillette Ranch in the heart of the Santa Monica Mountains.

Over a period of eight weeks, every fifth-grader in Las Virgenes Unified School District will attend the program, which is taught by Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority naturalists assisted by counselors from Calabasas and Agoura High Schools.

The Outdoor Education Program combines residential outdoor education with a handson, environmental science-based curriculum. Courses taught during the fiveday, four-night camp include ecology, indigenous culture, watersheds, astronomy, natural systems, adaptation and weather. Students will also participate in campfires, wilderness survival, night hikes, team building exercises and leadership development.

The MRCA has operated residential outdoor education programs for public schools for more than 10 years. Other outdoor education camps are at Temescal Gateway Park in Pacific Palisades and Camp Max Strauss in Verdugo Hills.