Outdoor Learning Programs
at Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School
Brookland Campus
Please review this information carefully, then scroll down to begin registration for spring outdoor learning programs for your child's class:
Urban Adventure Squad/Urban Learning and Teaching Center (Urban Adventure Squad, or UAS) is a Washington, DC-based, 501(c)(3) nonprofit education organization that supports schools and school communities with outdoors-focused, hands-on learning programs that use the city as the classroom. Though we've been exploring the city with students since 2013, we transitioned to fully masked, small group programs in September 2020. Since then, we've offered 2- and 3-hour, fully outdoor programs on weekdays after school and on days when schools are closed for federal holidays, parent-teacher conferences, and school breaks.
UAS and Stokes School have partnered for out-of-school time programs since 2015, with Stokes School providing space on campus for Urban Adventure Squad's programs during school breaks and summer weeks. Stokes School has also been a grant partner with UAS for the 2018 and 2019 Community Stormwater Solutions grants from the D.C. Department of Energy and Environment, and we are on our second year of providing programs for scholars at the East End campus, thanks to funding from the Mayor's Office of Out-of-School Time Grants and Youth Outcomes. We are very excited to continue our partnership in spring 2021 by providing enriching outdoor learning programs during the school day for 1st-5th grade students on the Brookland campus. These programs are free to Stokes families.
These are fully masked, small-group, outdoor programs. Each Urban Adventure Squad educator will lead a group of 6-7 students per program. We're offering a series of four programs for grades 1-5, rotating Spanish and French classes each week. Please see below to view the schedule of programs and to register.
You can read about our safety protocol on our COVID-19 Precautions and Protocol webpage.
WHAT WILL MY CHILD BE DOING EACH DAY?
Every Urban Adventure Squad program will include hiking, playing, exploring, and creating in the green spaces of Brookland. At UAS, we use the city as a classroom; UAS educators lead students in outdoor learning adventures identifying local native trees and calculating their age, engineering working water wheels modeled after the historic mills that used to stand along Rock Creek, finding numbers in nature with the Fibonacci sequence, engaging in mindfulness projects like creating labyrinths in nature, building dams to learn about beavers and their role as a keystone species in our city, learning about D.C.'s raptors, including an owl pellet dissection, and exploring wilderness survival skills like orienteering, shelter building, and knot tying.
At Urban Adventure Squad, we believe strongly that outdoor learning is an essential part of a child’s healthy physical, social, mental, and emotional growth. Squad members, who come from over 80 schools in the Washington area, explore the natural world, build confidence in themselves, make new friends, discover new passions, become environmental advocates, and connect with their communities. See examples of what we've been doing in our weekday programs during SY20-21 by visiting our Outdoor Programs webpage or by checking us out on instagram, facebook, and twitter @ UrbanAdvSquad.
Urban Adventure Squad/Urban Learning and Teaching Center (Urban Adventure Squad, or UAS) is a Washington, DC-based, 501(c)(3) nonprofit education organization that supports schools and school communities with outdoors-focused, hands-on learning programs that use the city as the classroom. Though we've been exploring the city with students since 2013, we transitioned to fully masked, small group programs in September 2020. Since then, we've offered 2- and 3-hour, fully outdoor programs on weekdays after school and on days when schools are closed for federal holidays, parent-teacher conferences, and school breaks.
UAS and Stokes School have partnered for out-of-school time programs since 2015, with Stokes School providing space on campus for Urban Adventure Squad's programs during school breaks and summer weeks. Stokes School has also been a grant partner with UAS for the 2018 and 2019 Community Stormwater Solutions grants from the D.C. Department of Energy and Environment, and we are on our second year of providing programs for scholars at the East End campus, thanks to funding from the Mayor's Office of Out-of-School Time Grants and Youth Outcomes. We are very excited to continue our partnership in spring 2021 by providing enriching outdoor learning programs during the school day for 1st-5th grade students on the Brookland campus. These programs are free to Stokes families.
These are fully masked, small-group, outdoor programs. Each Urban Adventure Squad educator will lead a group of 6-7 students per program. We're offering a series of four programs for grades 1-5, rotating Spanish and French classes each week. Please see below to view the schedule of programs and to register.
You can read about our safety protocol on our COVID-19 Precautions and Protocol webpage.
WHAT WILL MY CHILD BE DOING EACH DAY?
Every Urban Adventure Squad program will include hiking, playing, exploring, and creating in the green spaces of Brookland. At UAS, we use the city as a classroom; UAS educators lead students in outdoor learning adventures identifying local native trees and calculating their age, engineering working water wheels modeled after the historic mills that used to stand along Rock Creek, finding numbers in nature with the Fibonacci sequence, engaging in mindfulness projects like creating labyrinths in nature, building dams to learn about beavers and their role as a keystone species in our city, learning about D.C.'s raptors, including an owl pellet dissection, and exploring wilderness survival skills like orienteering, shelter building, and knot tying.
At Urban Adventure Squad, we believe strongly that outdoor learning is an essential part of a child’s healthy physical, social, mental, and emotional growth. Squad members, who come from over 80 schools in the Washington area, explore the natural world, build confidence in themselves, make new friends, discover new passions, become environmental advocates, and connect with their communities. See examples of what we've been doing in our weekday programs during SY20-21 by visiting our Outdoor Programs webpage or by checking us out on instagram, facebook, and twitter @ UrbanAdvSquad.
SCHEDULE OF PROGRAMS FOR SPANISH CLASSES
TUESDAY 4/27, 5/11, 5/25, 6/8
4th grade Spanish 9:00-10:30am
3rd grade Spanish 11:00am-12:30pm
2nd grade Spanish 1:30-3:00pm
THURSDAY 4/29, 5/13, 5/27, 6/10
5th grade Spanish 9:00-10:30am
1st grade Spanish 11:00am-12:00pm
SCHEDULE OF PROGRAMS FOR FRENCH CLASSES
TUESDAY 5/4, 5/18, 6/1, 6/15
4th grade French 9:00-10:30am
3rd grade French 11:00am-12:30pm
2nd grade French 1:30-3:00pm
THURSDAY 5/6, 5/20, 6/3, 6/17
5th grade French 9:00-10:30am
1st grade French 11:00am-12:00pm
HOW TO REGISTER
Registration is now open, and remains open until the day before the last session in each series of programs. This means families can register right away and their scholar can join for all four sessions, or families can register after the series have begun.
1. CREATE AN ACCOUNT
If you are new to UAS, you will register by creating a new account in our registration system, which is powered by UltraCamp.
Please note: Now that we're in a new calendar year, our registration system asks for your student's grade "in fall of 2021." When asked for your child's grade in fall of 2021, you would (for example) select 4th grade for your current 3rd grade student. This will let the system (and us) know they are currently in 3rd grade. UltraCamp will automatically graduate them in June to 4th grade.
2. CLICK "MAKE A RESERVATION"
3. SCROLL DOWN AND SELECT YOUR STUDENT'S SERIES OF OUTDOOR LEARNING PROGRAMS, BASED ON GRADE LEVEL AND LANGUAGE
4. COMPLETE THE REGISTRATION PROCESS, INCLUDING ALL EMERGENCY CONTACT INFO, ALLERGY INFO, ETC.
NO BATHROOM ACCESS. Due to COVID restrictions, students in our programs will have no access to Stokes School bathrooms. Please be sure your child uses the bathroom before joining us for a 60- or 90-minute program. We will not stop at public restrooms during our adventures.
WEATHER CANCELLATIONS. Urban Adventure Squad programs remain ON if there is light rain. If there is relentless rain or lightning throughout all or part of the day, we may have to cancel some or all of our programs and offer a hands-on, interactive Zoom-based program as an alternative. In the event of a weather delay or cancellation, you will be notified via email by Urban Adventure Squad. When you register for programs, you'll provide a Primary Contact email address--that is the email address through which you'll receive UAS communications. Please be sure to always check your spam folders.
WHAT TO BRING.
Children must wear a properly fitting mask to our programs--this means it fits the contours of their face and covers the mouth and nose securely. Please send your child with a water bottle so they can stay hydrated during our adventures.
We recommend children dress comfortably for that day's weather and wear shoes that are good for walking. Remember that these are fully outdoor programs, so rain jackets and rain boots are great for rainy days and hats and water bottles are wonderful for warm and sunny days.
UAS educators are well stocked with supplies to keep Squad members safe, dry, and cool thanks to our wonderful Squad community, who purchases these supplies from our Amazon wish list and donates other items. This means we have things like disposable ponchos, disposable kid-sized medical masks, and extra socks available.
All travel will be done on foot. We are not taking Metrobus or Metrorail.
TUESDAY 4/27, 5/11, 5/25, 6/8
4th grade Spanish 9:00-10:30am
3rd grade Spanish 11:00am-12:30pm
2nd grade Spanish 1:30-3:00pm
THURSDAY 4/29, 5/13, 5/27, 6/10
5th grade Spanish 9:00-10:30am
1st grade Spanish 11:00am-12:00pm
SCHEDULE OF PROGRAMS FOR FRENCH CLASSES
TUESDAY 5/4, 5/18, 6/1, 6/15
4th grade French 9:00-10:30am
3rd grade French 11:00am-12:30pm
2nd grade French 1:30-3:00pm
THURSDAY 5/6, 5/20, 6/3, 6/17
5th grade French 9:00-10:30am
1st grade French 11:00am-12:00pm
HOW TO REGISTER
Registration is now open, and remains open until the day before the last session in each series of programs. This means families can register right away and their scholar can join for all four sessions, or families can register after the series have begun.
1. CREATE AN ACCOUNT
If you are new to UAS, you will register by creating a new account in our registration system, which is powered by UltraCamp.
Please note: Now that we're in a new calendar year, our registration system asks for your student's grade "in fall of 2021." When asked for your child's grade in fall of 2021, you would (for example) select 4th grade for your current 3rd grade student. This will let the system (and us) know they are currently in 3rd grade. UltraCamp will automatically graduate them in June to 4th grade.
2. CLICK "MAKE A RESERVATION"
3. SCROLL DOWN AND SELECT YOUR STUDENT'S SERIES OF OUTDOOR LEARNING PROGRAMS, BASED ON GRADE LEVEL AND LANGUAGE
4. COMPLETE THE REGISTRATION PROCESS, INCLUDING ALL EMERGENCY CONTACT INFO, ALLERGY INFO, ETC.
NO BATHROOM ACCESS. Due to COVID restrictions, students in our programs will have no access to Stokes School bathrooms. Please be sure your child uses the bathroom before joining us for a 60- or 90-minute program. We will not stop at public restrooms during our adventures.
WEATHER CANCELLATIONS. Urban Adventure Squad programs remain ON if there is light rain. If there is relentless rain or lightning throughout all or part of the day, we may have to cancel some or all of our programs and offer a hands-on, interactive Zoom-based program as an alternative. In the event of a weather delay or cancellation, you will be notified via email by Urban Adventure Squad. When you register for programs, you'll provide a Primary Contact email address--that is the email address through which you'll receive UAS communications. Please be sure to always check your spam folders.
WHAT TO BRING.
Children must wear a properly fitting mask to our programs--this means it fits the contours of their face and covers the mouth and nose securely. Please send your child with a water bottle so they can stay hydrated during our adventures.
We recommend children dress comfortably for that day's weather and wear shoes that are good for walking. Remember that these are fully outdoor programs, so rain jackets and rain boots are great for rainy days and hats and water bottles are wonderful for warm and sunny days.
UAS educators are well stocked with supplies to keep Squad members safe, dry, and cool thanks to our wonderful Squad community, who purchases these supplies from our Amazon wish list and donates other items. This means we have things like disposable ponchos, disposable kid-sized medical masks, and extra socks available.
All travel will be done on foot. We are not taking Metrobus or Metrorail.