{At Palomar}

Off-Campus Integrated Learning Experiences (OCILE)

The Off-Campus Integrated Learning Experiences (OCILE) Programs at Old Town, Balboa Park, and Camp Palomar offer integrated learning opportunities for the San Diego Unified School Districts' fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students. OCILE provides students with positive, integrated experiences in unique environments which enhance the students' awareness, acceptance, and appreciation of cultural diversity.

Read a story from the San Diego Union-Tribune on the Off Campus Integrated Learning Experiences program.

Philosophy

The programs at Old Town, Balboa Park, and Palomar offer outstanding educational, personal awareness, and human interaction opportunities for San Diego Unified School District fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade students.

OCILE learning experiences contribute to academic and personal interaction skills needed by students-both in school and later as adults. In keeping with this philosophy, the OCILE Programs:

Provide students with positive, integrated learning experiences in a unique environment; and enhance students' awareness, acceptance, and appreciation of cultural, ethnic and individual contributions and differences through a focus on five race/human relations key concepts-identity, diversity, culture, conflict resolution, and prejudice/discrimination.
Provide students with reading/math/science/social studies experiences relevant to the outdoor setting and real-life situations.
Increase students' awareness and appreciation of the relationship between people and the environment. • Teach ecological and conservation concepts.
Enhance students' physical fitness and aesthetic awareness through physical education, music, and art activities.
Familiarize students with the cultural resources of the community-enabling them to develop a sense of responsibility for public parks, institutions, and facilities.
Provide repeated opportunities to work as a part of a team.
Increase students' understanding of safety and health practices necessary for survival and enjoyment of outdoor and urban environments

Site Locations and Facilities

{Old Town Program} The Old Town Program, serving fourth-grade students, is located on the corner of Conde Street and Congress in Old Town (the lower playing field of the old Fremont School campus).

The Balboa Park Program, serving fifth-grade students, is located on the south end of Roosevelt Middle School campus. Facilities for both Old Town and Balboa Park Programs consist of four to five classrooms, one office unit, a portable rest room, and a lunch area. Facilities for these programs are used primarily for morning {Balboa Park} and large-group activities, as well as a shelter for students during inclement weather. Instruction for most of the day occurs in the state, county, and city parks adjacent to program locations.

The district's Race/Human Relations Outdoor Education Program, serving sixth-grade students, is located in the Palomar Mountain State Park approximately seventy miles from San Diego. The facility has four student dormitories (or cabins), three staff living quarters, one dining hall, two assembly halls with attached craft and nature rooms, one building for conservation tools, a maintenance workshop, and living quarters for the {Palomar} head maintenance worker. As in the other OCILE Programs, most of the instruction occurs in the outdoor living environment of Palomar Mountain. Classrooms are used for some large- and small-group activities and to shelter students during inclement weather.

Staffing

Both the Old Town and Balboa Park Programs are staffed as follows with a program administrator, nurse, certificated teachers, a guidance assistant and race/human relations education assistants. The Palomar Program is staffed with an administrator, registered nurses, certificated teachers, race/human relations education assistants, secretary and teacher(s) from the schools. Through the San Diego County Office of Education, the Palomar Program also has cafeteria workers and maintenance employees. Additionally, each of the three programs has more than 300 site personnel, including classroom teachers and paraprofessionals, participating during the year.

OCILE Program staff are intensively trained in park history, park resources, museum subject matter, natural sciences and/or social science curriculum, art, music, group dynamics, discovery learning, race/human relations, and other appropriate skills. The staff represent an ethnically diverse group balanced to the extent possible as to gender, experience, and age.

Classroom teachers attending the programs assist with instruction and supervision, conduct daily activities with students, and utilize program experiences to prepare materials for classroom instruction upon return to the site.

Curriculum

All OCILE Programs are designed to involve well-integrated groups of students assigned to small working units. A modified team-learning approach is utilized in order to minimize problems relating to different achievement levels and to maximize the opportunity to develop friendships. Get-acquainted activities, games, and discussions focusing on race/human relations are integrated into the program of studies. These experiences provide students with the opportunity to develop a better understanding of themselves and others.

In summary, all activities in the program are designed to support the district's curricular and instructional focus and to foster sensitivity to others and recognition of thoughtfulness, with a strong focus on team building. Responsibility to self, to the team, and to the environment is emphasized.