Wednesday, April 24, 2013 at 11:43AM
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“My daughter loved the camp. She asked me if the camp ran all week and when I told her it did she asked if she could go on the weekend, too. She really liked the games and being outside in the creek. She has wanted to be a marine biologist since she could talk so she knows quite a bit about fish and she loves salmon days so she knows quite a bit about the salmon life cycle. She learned about watersheds and enjoyed that. She also loved feeding the trout. She wants to attend again next year. The crafts were really great. Overall I would give the camp a 10 and I will recommend it to friends. Thanks for a great week!”
No organization could ask for a more glowing recommendation than this one. We work hard to make sure that our summer camps are fun and educational but it really makes us feel good when we hear it directly from parents. We know the kids are having fun and learning to appreciate our amazing salmon. The real test of quality comes from parents who hear directly from their children about what they are learning, the games and activities that occupied their day and their eager response to the program.
Whether your child is 3 and just learning about the natural world around them or whether they are 11 and are thinking more globally about human impact on our environment, our summer camp program provides the opportunity to explore, be creative and think holistically. Playing outdoors in the summer sun is a time honored tradition of childhood. Why not expose your child to the wonders of our amazing salmon and the role they play in expanding our understanding of our watershed, at the same time?
CLICK HERE to sign up for Summer Camp!
Monday, April 15, 2013 at 02:26PM
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We recently ran across an article by Michael Ungar, Ph.D. who is a family therapist, a researcher at Dalhousie University, and the author of “The WE Generation: Raising Socially Responsible Kids.”
Dr. Ungar says that Summer camps are perfect places to help children optimize their psychosocial development and where they get the experiences they need to bolster their range of coping strategies. There are the simple challenges of learning to do new things. But there are also the more complex challenges of getting along with a new group of peers, learning how to ask for help from others, or taking manageable amount of risks without a parent following after you.
He goes on to point out seven things a camp should have to help children develop coping strategies:
1. New relationships, not just with peers, but with trusted adults other than their parents.
2. A powerful identity that makes the child feel confident in front of others
3. Help children feel in control of their lives.
4. Kids get what they need to develop physically.
5. Make sure that all children are treated fairly.
6. Camps offer kids a chance to feel like they belong.
7. Camps can offer children a better sense of their culture.
Summer Salmon Day Camps at the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery are by design small groups of children. Activities focus on the salmon life cycle and taking care of the environment so that salmon can thrive. Because the group is small (eight to twelve children) we are able to design activities to be flexible and focus on the interests of the specific group of campers in any given week. There is more opportunity to meet the needs of each individual child. And a small group allows children to get to know everyone, forge new friendships, and provides opportunity for campers to test out their interests and strengths.
In addition to interacting with a group of children their own age, campers also interact with Celina Steiger, the FISH Education Coordinator who is also our Camp Director, and with our adult summer staff counselor and teenage camp helpers who also work with the children throughout the week. Children learn how salmon are important to our cultural heritage here in the Northwest and have the opportunity to talk about their own history and culture. And children are active outdoors as they explore the hatchery and Issaquah Creek, play games and act out the salmon lifecycle.
To learn more about our Salmon Summer Camps: CLICK HERE and you’ll be redirected to the page to sign up.
To read more of the article by Dr. Ungar, CLICK HERE to be redirected to his website.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013 at 04:18PM
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This will be FISH’s 11th year offering day camps that teach about salmon, habitat and watershed stewardship. The position is a temporary contract position from June 20th through August 10th. The teacher will work with our education coordinator to deliver high quality, hands-on day camps centered on salmon, ecology and watersheds of the Northwest. Click here for a complete job description. Application deadline is May 10, 2013.
This year there are 3 weeks of camp for 6-8 year olds and one week for 9-11 year olds at the hatchery, one week for 7-11 year olds at Baxter Barn in Fall City, and a half-day camp for preschoolers aged 3-5 at the hatchery. Camp for 6-11 year olds is called “Salmon Science Camp” and the preschool camp is known as “Little Fry Camp”. Go to our camp program page for more details about our summer salmon camps.
The goals of camp are to:
• Engage campers in fun, hands-on activities to help them discover more about the Issaquah Creek watershed and its salmon, as well as watersheds and salmon in general, and connections to other parts of the surrounding ecosystem.
• Introduce campers to the purpose and function of salmon hatcheries.
• Encourage campers to use critical thinking about how their actions, and those of others in their community, affect watershed, and therefore, salmon health; introduce solutions to some watershed problems, encouraging positive behavior.
• Get campers interested and curious about science by using scientific tools and practicing hands-on experiments and observations; give them opportunities to see people in action in scientific fields of work/study (such as hatchery employees).
• Encourage campers to problem solve and work cooperatively to accomplish goals.
• Help campers understand salmons’ place in a wider historical and social context and their importance within the local and northwest communities.
TO APPLY: Send resume, letter of interest and two references to Celina@issaquahfish.org, or mail to Celina Steiger, 125 W. Sunset Way, Issaquah, WA 98027
Thursday, February 14, 2013 at 03:44PM
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We’re all geared up for Summer Camp. It may be cold and rainy outside now, but summer fun is right around the corner. Summer camp with FISH has proved to be a very popular summer program with campers returning year after year. One parent said, “My kids loved camp! They came home each day with a story and very happy. We will be back next year!” Celina Steiger, our Education Coordinator is the Camp Director, and along with summer staff and young camp helpers, has designed a program that helps children discover the wonders of our amazing salmon and the waters they live in. Days are filled with active games, songs, stories and exploration of salmon habitat.
Campers enrolled in Little Fry Camp discover the answers to “Where do salmon live?” and “Who lives near the salmon?”. For ages 3 to 5, camp is July 15 through 19 from 9:30 in the morning to 12:30.
For youth ages 6 to 8 there is Salmon Science Camp where they have fun learning about our amazing salmon, the waters they live in, and the animals and challenges they encounter. Our most popular camp, there are three sessions available: June 24-28, July 22-26 & August 5-9. The Salmon Science Camp for youth ages 9 to 11 is July 29-Aug 2.
A special three day camp at Baxter Barn in Fall City is planned for July 1 – 3. Baxter Barn is a historical farm dedicated to sustainability and conservation. Campers explore this historic working farm with a focus on being salmon friendly. Campers ages 7 – 11 are welcome at Baxter Barn Salmon Camp.
To learn more about these camps and register online visit the camp page on this website.
Friday, January 25, 2013 at 02:32PM
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Precipitation falls on the ridgelines,
cloaks the forest in mist,
transpires or drips, soaks soils, saturates the surface,
trickles tiny rivulets toward crooked creviced
creeks sprung from tumbled-tree canyons near
where springs surprise mountain sides
and infant waterfalls tickle moss-bearded rock faces and
bouldered-brooks babble, babbling on
toward larger streams, tributaries,
one confluence after another, sister and brother,
gaining in volume, cascading
barriers, swirling in eddies, slipping into side channels,
pooling in puddles and ponds and in lakes that fill up
until outlets spill their fill
to rejoin streams that rush now to rivers, flushing
lush valleys meandering fluted floodplains in search of
gravity’s laziest choices, sleeping,
seeping underground, deep down
through soils to substrate to bedrock-bottom where
apartments of groundwater accumulate
in aquifers, in seeps, in pumps and keeps
while above ground,
sloughs slow, wetlands percolate and cleanse,
marshes march to the side of the great river,
broad and brazen, stampeding now,
dropping through rapids, a massive
mainstem, an opera of arias opening to its estuary,
a symphony, all symphonies, theme and variation,
freshwater, saltwater mixing in the ebb and in the flood,
the turbulent tides turn, churn fecundity, all yearning
at last abandoned into the far and full
pull of the always ocean, where,
any given moment,
vapor lifts towards the sun again,
leaving its salt in the biblical sea where
congregations of condensation lift up to sing
new ministries of adventure,
to blow again with the winds again
towards the ridgelines where raindrops again whisper
like faithful friends, fateful friends, fresh ideas.
Peter Donaldson, peterdonaldson50@gmail.com
Copyright © 2013 FISH — Friends of Issaquah Salmon Hatchery. All rights Reserved.
