♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ (playing guitar and singing) Narrator: Singing camp songs, making snowmen and hiking through the wilderness are an important part of childhood for so many.
But for these kids who are growing up in inner city Los Angeles, it's truly the experience of a lifetime.
Kareli: A lot of them have never been away, have never been to the mountains, and for sure have never seen snow fall and have never touched snow.
So, this is a really neat experience for many of our students.
Nestled high in the San Gabriel Mountains, about 90 minutes outside of Los Angeles, is the small town of Wrightwood, where the L.A. County Outdoor Science School has been hosting inner city students since 1960, providing them with an educational experience they'd likely not get anywhere else.
Shaun: You know, in a classroom, you dont have phenomena much in there.
Its a pretty sterile place and you bring something interesting in for kids to look at, and here theres phenomena everywhere.
Narrator: Phenomena like animal prints they don't recognize.
Naturalist: Do you think that's one big claw?
-No.
-No?
Trees and shrubs that have been growing for decades.
Naturalist: So, the sunlight affects the vegetation.
So, we have a lot more trees around here, right?
Narrator: And on this particular day, with this particular class, something they didn't expect- snow!
Leonelys: I have not seen snow before.
This is my first time.
I dont really go traveling that much... and I feel very excited cuz its new to me.
Narrator: For these students, there's a lot that's new in this five-day outdoor adventure, including being away from home.
That's another lesson they don't learn in the classroom.
Shaun: Theres a lot of social emotional learning that happens for kids.
They learn how to do things that maybe their parents might do for them at home and they have to remember to get their jacket and things like that.
Keiley: Here, its actually really fun because its like a break from the phone and stuff, but in the classroom we would usually just use our computers.
And at my house, I would go on my phone sometimes.
Naturalist: If you can hear me say, “snow day!
” Students: Snow day!
Narrator: The other ‘phenomena students experience at the L.A. County Outdoor Science School; a week without technology.
They're not allowed to bring it and they certainly won't find it up in these mountains.
Shaun: I think that its really important for their development to have that exploration of things in the real physical world that they dont get when they are on screens.
It doesnt happen.
-That's very nice.
-Ok... Kareli: They are stress free.
Um, I feel like the classroom sometimes can-- we have an idea of what the classroom setting should look like or act-- how were supposed to act.
They seem very free out here and they seem very happy and theyre just not worried.
They... they seem to be learning a lot differently than they would be in a classroom.
Leonelys: I feel like it's going by really quickly and Id like to spend a bit more time here.
Naturalist: All right, its in the name.
Its in the name.
Student: Rattles?
It rattles?
Naturalist: It rattles!
Why do rattle snakes rattle?
With eight specialists and a lead teacher, most with degrees in science, every experience, every crunchy step in the snow, every journey up a mountain is an opportunity for kids to learn.
Leonelys: The coolest thing Ive learned or seen is that when I went all the way up the mountain, I saw the beach from there and it was very cool.
Benjamin: That Blue Jays change color by the sky.
Alexis: What I think about this, in my opinion, is it's amazing.
Christina: What's the most amazing part of it?
Alexis: The weather, the food... and the cabin leaders.
♪♪♪ Narrator: While all makes for a memorable experience in the great outdoors, education specialists and this fifth grade teacher say it's a week that changes perspectives, and provides lessons that will last long after they return to their classroom.
Shaun: For these kids, they get this opportunity to be kids in a... in a meaningful way, I think.
They learn that they can handle a new experience and that that's a pretty important life lesson to be able to handle new experiences.
Kareli: Now, when we, you know, open up our science books, everything's going to seem so real to them.
It's just going to be a different experience.
They're going to be different students going back into the classroom next week ♪♪♪ Narrator: From the mighty San Gabriel Mountains to the blue Pacific -- the L.A. County Office of Education offers students another hands-on way to explore nature.
Its called the Marine Science Floating Lab.
Students embark on a three-hour cruise through the Long Beach or Los Angeles Harbor, undertaking marine science learning activities like collecting sediment samples from the sea floor; catching, examining, and releasing fish, sea mammals, and invertebrates; and even checking seawater to assess its whether its free from pollution.
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