Astro Camp Attended by 5th Graders

Ninety fifth graders, nine parents, three teachers, and one elementary school principal said goodbye to family and friends and left on a mission to explore strange new stars, seek out science through new experiments, and to boldly go where every Mountain Avenue fifth grader has gone for eight years.

They were on their way to Astrocamp.

Astrocamp is located in the San Jacinto Mountains near Idyllwild. It was established at the Idyllwild campus in 1990 to provide an opportunity for growth through cooperative adventure activities, said Astrocamp spokesperson Kent Woods.

Many of the instructors are recent college graduates who work at the camp for a year or two saving money to get their master’s degrees, said Jane Rosell, a Mountain Avenue fifth grade teacher.

“This is hands-on science,” said Rosell who has taken students to Astrocamp every year the school has gone.

Divided into six research groups of 15 students each, students learned how electricity was conducted in the Electricity and Magnetism class. They viewed the solar system through powerful telescopes in the Star Gazing class. And they had a blast launching bottle rockets in the Building Rockets class.

Students spent three days at the camp, Nov. 16 through 18, but the memories created last much longer, educational values as well as staying in their dorm-like rooms with classmates.

“They become more responsible,” said Rosell of the students having to set their own alarm clocks and arrive at a designated time for class.

As science class begins again at Mountain Avenue, the fifth graders seem more excited about experiments and learning.

“They learned so much in those three days,” said Rosell.