Exciting news!  We will now offer homeschool classes on Wednesday and Thursday.  The program will be the same either day; we wanted to make our classes available to more students.

 

 

A new season of our Outdoor Environmental Science Program is in progress. This year we are offering classes for children from 5-12 years old.  Our homeschool classes are now offered to members at a discounted rate of $10/class and will be $15 for non-members. For more information on membership visit our membership page. In addition to the class discount you will receive our monthly newsletter, announcements of special events and volunteer opportunities, and discounts at local nurseries. Your membership donation is also 100% tax-deductible, and also comes with a free annual subscription to Better Homes and Gardens.

 

But most of all, you will know that you are supporting a valuable community asset that will be enjoyed today and for generations to come.

 

Please contact us with any questions at 408-298-7657 or e-mail education@grpg.org.

 

All classes are:

Held on Wednesdays or Thursdays from 1:30pm – 3:00pm

Drop-off classes

$10 per student per class for members, $15 per student per class for non-members

$35 per student per 4 class series for members, $55 per student per 4 class series for non-members

For 5 to 12 year-olds only

 

Sign Up Today!    To add more than one class, select class and number of kids and hit “Sign Up.” Then from the cart page hit “Continue Shopping” to come back here and add more. You can also just sign up for the whole series to save!   # of Kids: Guadalupe Geocachers, Member Price Guadalupe Geocachers, Non-Member Price Garden Science Part II: All About Food!, FULL SERIES, Member Price Garden Science Part II: All About Food!, FULL SERIES, Non-Member Price Journey to the Valley of the Heart’s Delight, Member Price Journey to the Valley of the Heart’s Delight, Non-Member Price Plants, food and fuel, Member Price Plants, food and fuel, Non-Member Price Jr. Urban Foragers!, Member Price Jr. Urban Foragers!, Non-Member Price Back to the Garden, Member Price Back to the Garden, Non-Member Price Scroll down to read class and session descriptions. Which session are you signing up for? (This field is required!) Wednesday Thursday Names – Please indicate the names and ages, separated by a comma, of attendees. (This field is required!)   (This field is required!) I, the undersigned, do hereby give my full consent for the above named person(s) to participate in Guadalupe River Park Conservancy’s Outdoor Environmental Science Program for Homeschool Students. I agree to hold harmless the City of San Jose and the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy and its officers, employees, volunteers and agents. Should any accident occur requiring medical care for my child, I give full consent to the providing of such care by a licensed physician. Further, I hereby grant full permission to any and all foregoing use of photographs, videotape, motion pictures, recordings and any other records of these events for education and public relation purposes. I have also read and understand the cancellation and refund policy should I need to cancel my registration for any class in the Outdoor Environmental Science Program for Homeschool Students. Yes (This field is required!) I am aware that this is a drop-off program. Yes Questions/Comments – Please indicate if your child will attend the Wednesday or Thursday classes here. Use the field below to leave any questions or comments you may have.   If this is your child’s first class at GRPC, please provide the following additional information. Otherwise, please scroll to the bottom and select Sign Up. Emergency contact name and phone number   Allergies, Medications, or Special Needs   Primary care physician name and phone number

 

Exploring Far and Wide: Astronomy, Navigation and Maps

 

Some might say that we think GRPC is the center of the universe….but what is the universe anyway? And where are we in relation to other planets, stars and the sun? Join us for an adventure in astronomy, mapping and navigation!

 

Note: There is no class on May 22^nd/23^rd due to an event taking place on May 22^nd.

 

The Solar System and the Stars Above

May 1^st or May 2^nd

For the first class in this series we’ll use our big open grassy areas of the park to map out the solar system. Students will learn about the rotation of planets around the sun and how gravity is different on each planet, then we’ll do some experiments to see how gravity works on earth! Then we’ll talk about stars and learn some cool stories that people from different cultures have created about the animals they saw in the constellations.

 

Special Astronomy Opportunity

May 4^th 8:00pm

Free!! No need to sign up online.

Rancho Cañada del Oro Open Space

http://www.openspaceauthority.org/index.html

Join the astronomy volunteers from Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority and our own Guadalupe Guide Richard Tejeda for an evening under the stars. Volunteers will have telescopes and families are welcome to bring binoculars to see the beautiful night sky without the light pollution of San Jose. Families are encouraged to dress in layers and bring blankets as it can be pretty chilly out there!

 

The Spectacular Sun!

May 8^th or May 9^th

Learn about the amazing ball of fire that keeps us warm, makes it possible to grow food and also can damage our skin with its ultra violet rays. We’ll have a sun scope that makes it possible to view the sun without hurting our eyes. Then we’ll experiment with sun sensitive paper to make cool designs using the power of the sun!

 

Never Get Lost: Making Sense of Maps

May 15^th or May 16^th

We’ll start out by exploring how people can use the constellations to navigate and move on to learning about maps. Students will have the opportunity to use maps to navigate through the park with our Guadalupe Guides and to create their own maps of certain sections.

 

Guadalupe Geocachers

May 29^th or May 30^th

Using all of the knowledge we’ve acquired in the past month we’ll get to take out the GPS units and working in teams we’ll search for geocaches hidden in the park. Within the caches will be questions we’ll answer to help us find the final cache!

 

 

Garden Science Part II: All About Food!

 

This month we’ll be headed back to the garden!  We’ll revisit the plants that have been growing in our garden beds since March, learn about nutrition, forage for edible weeds in the river park, hunt for ripe fruit in the orchard and have a harvest party the last week!

 

Journey to the Valley of the Heart’s Delight

June 5^th/June 6^th

Did you know Silicon Valley used to be called the Valley of the Heart’s Delight?  The Guadalupe River provides excellent soil for fruit trees and before we became Silicon Valley this area was covered with acres and acres of fruit trees.  We’ll visit our historic orchard, use our knowledge of pollinators to figure out how the flowers turned into fruit and pick fresh fruit!

Plants, food and fuel

June 12^th/13^th

In this class we’ll learn about how people get their energy from the foods we eat.  We’ll also explore the nutritional content of different foods that most people eat.  After we all understand how food provides fuel we’ll go on a nature walk in the park to see if we can see any of our park residents hunting or eating food and compare their food sources.

Jr. Urban Foragers!

June 19^th/20^th

Building on the Native Nature series that many of our students completed earlier in the spring, we’ll learn about edible weeds and go out to search for and harvest those available in our park.  We’ll also talk about agriculture and how our food gets from the farm to the table.

 

Back to the Garden

June 26^th/27^th

This final week we’ll check on our garden beds, remind ourselves what we planted and evaluate their success.  Students will have the chance to hypothesize about why some of our plants grew while others did not.  We’ll complete a fun activity to learn about photosynthesis and end by harvesting and eating the foods we’ve harvested and playing a few popular garden games.  The education coordinator will contact parents with food allergy questions before this class.

 

 

A unique setting… The Guadalupe River Park & Gardens is an education destination like no other. A natural oasis located in the heart of downtown San Jose, the Guadalupe River Park & Gardens features 254 acres of park that include the Heritage Rose Garden, the Historic Orchard, a community garden, and 2.6 miles of trail that runs adjacent to the Guadalupe River. The GRPG provides a natural outdoor laboratory for science experiments and offers a creative and dynamic atmosphere for learning.    A customizable education… The Outdoor Environmental Science Program’s core curriculum covers a wide variety of current environmental science topics. Each class covers a unique theme within the environmental sciences, but your child can sign up for an individual class depending on his or her interests, come to several classes to cover a unit, or attend all the classes to build an interdisciplinary understanding of nature and science.   A learning adventure… The Guadalupe River Park Conservancy’s classes are unique, interactive adventures – children won’t learn science by listening to lectures, but will learn through activity-oriented lessons, science experiments, and scientific observations out in the park. Your child will be challenged, but will move, talk, think and play to learn.A healthier community… More and more studies are indicating that spending time outdoors is vital to children’s academic development and health. Spending time in nature allows children to develop a connection with their surrounding community and become early stewards of the environment.   An ongoing interest… When outdoors, children can see science playing out before their very eyes, develop powerful observational skills, and are exposed to the environmental sciences, an up-and-coming field worldwide. If your child’s interest is kindled by any or all of the OESP class topics, you can find more educational resources about that topic by clicking on the links that follow each class description, so you can be an active partner as your child explores their new favorite environmental science subject. Each link will be available on the 1st of the month in which a class takes place.

Resource Guides from the Past    Food Systems Weather Math In Nature Mother Earth