Volcan Mountain Foundation

2.5 hours

 

This fun adventure cultivates a sense of wonder and connection with nature through guided student exploration and hands-on awareness activities that help to build their sense of place in nature.

 

While participating in awareness activities, storytelling, and guided exploration, students will hike through riparian and woodland habitats and explore animal adaptations as they compare and test their own senses with those of animals that live on Volcan Mountain. Students will make a sound map in their own special place and go on a sensory scavenger hunt. They will challenge their observation skills on a trail and play a game to learn about camouflage and predator-prey relationships.

 

3.0 hours

 

What makes trees different than other plants? Do trees eat, drink, and breathe? Explore the terrific world of trees on Volcan Mountain where you will be surrounded by a wide variety of trees that are only found only in the highest elevations of San Diego. Students will investigate, compare, and learn the adaptations of these magnificent mountain tree species.

 

Students will walk through a riparian habitat and hear the story of Old Grandmother Oak. They will use their senses and learn the difference between deciduous and evergreen trees. Students will compare different leaf types, bark, and seeds to determine their different characteristics. Visit a “tree cemetery” where the FBI (decomposers) helps acorns to grow and learn about the great circle of life. Finally, each student will receive and decorate their own tree cookie to take home with them.

 

3.0 hours

 

Explore the wildlife of Volcan Mountain and learn about the amazing adaptations animals have to survive and thrive in their habitats.

 

Students will hike through riparian and woodland habitats to explore animal adaptations as they compare and test their own senses with those of animals that live on Volcan Mountain’s pristine wilderness habitats. Students will learn the basic needs every animal has to find food, water, shelter, and space. Using animal skulls, tracks, and other signs of wildlife, students will learn about predator-prey relationships and the food chain. Play a predator-prey camouflage game and build a debris hut to make a survival shelter.

 

Citizen Science for Budding Birders (Grade 5)

2.5 hours

 

Introduce the wonderful world of birding to your students in this exciting hands-on introduction to bird watching. This field trip teaches young “budding birders” about bird adaptations and techniques to observe birds in the wild. Data recorded by student observations will provide critical scientific information about the birds on Volcan Mountain.

 

Students will learn through stories and games exactly what makes a bird a bird and the amazing adaptations birds have to help them survive and thrive in their habitats. They will play a migration game and “eat like a bird” in the Bird Beaks game. Then the students will borrow our binoculars and go bird watching with our guides to spy on all the feathered friends they can find and identify. Students will be empowered to continue to use their new scientific skills at school, home, or elsewhere. All recorded bird observations will be uploaded to the eBird citizen-science project at Cornell Lab of Ornithology — one of the world’s largest citizen-science databases.

 

Wilderness Skills and Primitive Fire Making (Grade 4-5)

4.0 hours

 

This outdoor adventure is all hands-on! Learn the wilderness skills of the native Kumeyaay people and how they lived off the land for thousands of years using their natural resources.

 

Participate in three hands-on primitive wilderness skills including; Yucca rope making, building a debris shelter, and grinding red clay and seeds to learn how resources were prepared for survival. The day culminates with the whole group learning to make fire by friction using a bow and spindle. Fire building techniques are demonstrated with an emphasis on fire safety. Each student will take home a finished Yucca rope they make.

 

Watershed Investigators (Grade 4-5)

2.5 hours

 

It’s a fact that everyone lives in a watershed. But what is a watershed and which one do you live in? Is the water clean? How can you tell? Practice your detective skills and investigate how water travels through watersheds or “waterhoods” of diverse plants, animals, and people on its way from Volcan Mountain to the ocean.

 

Students will begin their quest with a visit to the Volcan Mountain Nature Center to participate in a hands-on interactive demonstration of how watersheds function by creating a "rainstorm" over a 3D relief map of Volcan Mountain. Discover why the native Kumeyaay people called this ancient place, “Where the water comes from.” In addition, students will learn how pollution affects the watershed by conducting chemical tests of the water in the stream to determine its ability to support life. After lunch, investigators will explore the riparian Watershed Trail.

 

Headwaters of Hahachepang on Volcan Mountain (Grade 5)

4.0 hours

 

This field trip includes everything from the Watershed Investigators experience, however, instead of hiking the shorter Watershed trail, students will go on an exciting adventure to the summit of the 1.5-mile Sky Island Trail. Discover why the native Kumeyaay named Volcan Mountain, “Hahachepang” meaning, “Where the water comes from.” Learn how water travels through watersheds or “waterhoods” of diverse plants, animals, and people on its way from the mountains to the ocean.

 

Students will create a “rainstorm” on our 3D map of Volcan Mountain and conduct scientific investigations to determine water quality. Afterward, students will travel to the ancient headwaters at Ironside Spring to see where the San Dieguito River begins. After lunch, they will hike up the Sky Island Trail which culminates in a spectacular view of the San Dieguito River watershed. On a clear day it is possible to see the ocean ― the final destination of the water that originates on Volcan Mountain!