Recap of Coral Reef Ed-Ventures 2017

The team has safely arrived back to Smith College! Sadly, we have come to the end of Coral Reef Ed-Ventures 2017. We all had an amazing experience in San Pedro, and will carry our memories with us forever.

Luckily, we have videos and projects produced by our students which showcase all of their hard work and creativity.

One of the main projects from our Youth Camp was a book about a parrotfish named Pedro who traveled through the different marine ecosystems in Belize. The students wrote and illustrated the entire book and titled it “Pedro’s Coral Reef Adventures”. The link to access the story link is provided below:

Book cover

https://www.storyjumper.com/book/index/42671306/Pedro-s-Coral-Reef-Adventures

Another project was a film that recapped both camps: R.E.E.F. Program and Youth Camp. The film first shows R.E.E.F. Program and includes the interviews that were conducted by our R.E.E.F. students as well as their field trips to the mangroves and the reef. The second part of the film shows Youth Camp and a couple of activities that the students participated in. The access the film the link is provided below:

Thank you to everyone who supported and participated in our program. We are incredibly grateful for the wonderful experience we all shared. Till next year!

-Sabrina Cordero & The Coral Ed Team

Youth Camp – Week One

We have just finished our first week of Youth Camp and it’s been a week filled with fun activities and amazing campers! Our Youth Camp focuses on marine protected areas as well as the theme of “Who’s Reef is it?”

MONDAY

We started Youth Camp by welcoming many new and a couple of returning campers. We introduced our overarching theme and ran a beach clean-up! The kids loved collecting trash off the beach and working as a team. We also introduced our camp project which will be a story written and illustrated by our campers about a main character (Pedro the Parrotfish) who travels throughout the marine protected areas of Belize.

Kenny, Matthew, and Terrance working together.

Miss Emily and the campers cleaning up the beach.

Miss Jasmine and her group after clean up.

Miguel, Kayden, Jarvin, and Jillian smiling with their trash.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TUESDAY

Miss Dana and Miss Sabrina focused the lesson on protection. Miss Dana shared the story of “A House for Hermit Crab” by Eric Carle and the campers created their own shells. Then, Miss Sabrina introduced the different protected areas in the Hol Chan Marine Reserve and played a game of Catch the Fish!

Jillian decorating her shell.

Jayden posing like a hermit crab.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WEDNESDAY

Miss Jasmine ran a lesson on mangroves. She held an activity using bins and foam paper that showed the importance of the mangrove ecosystem. She also taught the campers an original mangrove song (written by Jasmine and Emily) and they sang the song as they walked over to the mangroves.

The original Mangrove Song written by Miss Jasmine and Miss Emily.

THURSDAY

Miss Emily taught the campers about seagrass. She focused on two types of seagrass: manatee grass and turtle grass. Then, she led a fishing game where the campers realized how seagrass protects fish and other marine animals.

The campers playing the seagrass game. The left bin represents an ocean without seagrass and the right shows an ocean with seagrass. The campers are fishing for paperclips (the fish).

The STARRS introducing the mural.

Evan holding manatee grass and turtle grass.

FRIDAY

Miss Sabrina ended the first week of camp by teaching them about the shallow sea and the coral reef. She led an edible polyp activity to teach the campers about coral polyp anatomy and physiology. Then they played a game of Feed the Coral where their hands were polyps and they caught food (goldfish crackers and Swedish fish) to mimic how coral feed. Afterward, the campers learned about different reef creatures and their roles in the reef and they played a matching card game.

Elaine, Matthew, and Mia working on their edible polyps.

Matthew, Mia, Jonathan, and Marcos happy and excited about their edible polyps!

Dylan and RJ with their polyps.

The first week of Youth Camp flew by and we are so excited to see what next week will bring including graduation and the glass bottom boat trip!

-Sabrina Cordero & The Coral Ed Team