Galileo Rocks

Last week my son attended Camp Galileo located in the Bay Area, CA.  If you've been following the blog, then you know I have been writing a four part review series about the camp.  You can find previous posts here and here.

One unique aspect of Camp Galileo is that each week has a specific theme with the curriculum tailored specifically to that subject.  This years' themes included, Galileo Olympics, Galileo Rocks, Leonardo's Apprentice and Celebrating the Golden Gate.  My son chose to attend the Galileo Rocks camp which focused on the art and science of music.

Above is an art piece my son created using Kandinsky's abstract as inspiration.  My son told me that they pretended they were music conductors while painting and that the lines represent the tone of the music.  He also created a collage inspired by Romare Bearden's The Block.  Unfortunately I didn't get to see this piece because he couldn't find it in the class room when it was time to bring home his artwork.  This is a small thing, but it would have been nice if all the artwork was organized by each child instead of randomly dispersed. 

Evan with Josh (Science Instructor) - The guitars in the photo were made by the campers as part of the science curriculum.  They tested how pitch and tone were affected by string type, tension and placement.

If you read my previous posts, then you might know that the main goal of Camp Galileo is to create innovators through what they call the Innovation Approach.  I was really curious to see how this would play out at camp.  After the first day of camp, I asked my son about one of the science projects.  Evan said casually, "oh yeah, they taught us to test out different ways to make sounds to see what works and what doesn't."   And I don't know why I was a little surprised by his words but I thought, they are teaching him to be an innovator, good!

 

 Besides art and science projects, the campers also participated in outdoor activities and games.  One day the theme was water play. 

 

The camp had the area set up with different water stations for the kids to play.  Pictured above was the water limbo station.  They also had areas where the kids could pour water over their team leaders which appeared to be very popular. All the staff was upbeat and interacting with the children.

 Evan with his Team Leader Kendrice

Speaking of the staff, what an awesome group of people .  Every day when we arrived to sign in we were greeted by an energetic staff.  I noticed after the second day many of them would greet my son by his first name even before he had his name tag on.  At the end of the day, the teachers were still upbeat and friendly.  When I would sign my son out, Kendrice would tell me some of the highlights of Evan's day.  They were always specific to him.  This was something I really appreciated because it told me she was engaged with my child.

Overall, I really liked Camp Galileo.  The staff was great, the curriculum was top notch and most importantly my son liked it.  He liked it so much that he was voluntarily telling me all about it.  He even sang a song he learned at camp to us at the dinner table!  You'll have to trust me on this when I say that is a big deal.  Usually I have to ask lots of questions to get anything out of him.

Look for my post next week when I talk about my daughter's camp adventures with Celebrating the Golden Gate.