Kindergarten through fifth graders get the chance to explore the outdoors, art, and science at Camp Galileo, a summer camp held at Green Valley Elementary School. Children in attendance learn through challenges and projects that pertain to a particular theme or period in history.

As the camp progresses, campers learn about topics related to the ocean, medieval history, art and amusement park science, the ‘60s, the moon, Egypt, and adventures in flight. Every day the campers are divided into groups based on age: kindergarteners make up one group, first through second graders make up another, and third through fifth graders make up the oldest group in attendance. Within the various age distinctions, the children are broken up into classes that stay together as they move from subject to subject. On a daily basis every child rotates between three stations of study: the outdoors, the arts, and the sciences.

“The world is a better place when children imagine and create new things,” Chris Goetz, Area Director of Camp Galileo said. “The arts and sciences are getting less attention in schools. Camp Galileo offers children an opportunity to imagine, be creative, and work together.”

Camp Galileo focuses on individual exploration during the art portion of the day, teamwork during the science portion, and communication and collaboration during the outdoor section. This week as the students learned about the ocean, art projects included building a coral reef and seabird illustrations. In science, symbiosis and the physics of traction and friction were studied in relation to aquatic symbiotic relationships and the movement of a polar bear over ice, respectively. Each lesson has a story weaved into the curriculum to engage the students’ interest.

Camp Director Brady Gill and Area Director Chris Goetz both believe in the necessity of making learning fun. Camp begins at 9 AM every morning and is commenced with a huddle with the whole camp during which a skit or song is shared. Then the students proceed to their rotations and each day of camp ends at 3 PM with a closing ceremony. All lead instructors are college graduates and many of them are teachers or people interested in pursuing education as a career path. Team leaders are college students and interns are students in high school. All staff members involved with Camp Galileo have extensive experience with children.

Camp Galileo was founded in 2002 in Palo Alto, California and has grown throughout the Bay Area since then. This is the fourth year that Camp Galileo has been in this area and this is the second year that Camp Galileo has been located at Green Valley Elementary School in Danville. Camp Galileo is open for six one-week sessions in the summer and will be closing at the end of this week.