Indoor Program

Outdoor Program

Puppetry Program
 

Indoor Program

The California Mini-Corps Indoor Migrant Teacher Assistant Program came into being in 1967. Fourteen (14) college students were recruited and participated in a two week preservice training course at Chico State College. The fourteen corpsmen lived and worked in Gridley. Today Mini-Corps students continue to implement their talents with migrant children. A sense of dedication and commitment is still required of the corps of young people. These students are to provide extracurricular activities at the school and migrant camp centers that make the school's education meaningful to migrant children and their families. Some Mini-Corps students are assigned to live in the migrant labor centers where they work with the migrant community. Most importantly, they are role models that, hopefully, raise the aspirations of migrant students. These young people possess the enthusiasm and devotion to provide services above and beyond what is expected of them.
 

From the modest beginning of fourteen Mini-Corps young people, the program has grown to include 500 teacher assistants trained on college sites to provide services to migrant children and their families in at least thirty-two (32) counties in the state.

The California Mini-Corps main objectives remain:

1. To provide direct categorical services to migrant children which match or exceed performance standards prescribed in the California Master Plan.

2. To increase the number of professionals who are sensitive and committed to the needs of migrant children.

Summer of 1996 will mark the twenty-ninth summer during which the California Mini-Corps college students will service the needs of thousands of migrant students. California Mini-Corps students are involved in:

• regular classroom assignments
• special projects which are sponsored by the Migrant Ed. region
• coordination/organization of after-school activities
• home visitations
• parent education
• parent-teacher conferences
• curriculum development
• ongoing teacher training

A significant percentage of participants in the California Mini-Corps Program have gone on to become successful educators who are sensitive to the needs of migrant children and their communities.

For More Information on Indoor Summer Program

Juana Zamora, Associate Director
510 Bercut Drive, Suite Q
Sacramento, CA 95811
Phone: (916) 446-4603
Email: jzamora@bcoe,org

Christine Alcocer - Executive Assistant
510 Bercut Drive, Suite Q
Sacramento, CA 95811
Phone: (916) 446-4603
Email: calcocer@bcoe.org

Outdoor Education

2011 Outdoor Education Program Video

 

2013 Outdoor Education Camp Matrix (tentative)

2013 Camp Site Map (tentative)

 

Concordant to California Mini-Corps Program objectives, the Outdoor Education program is a component of the Mini-Corps summer program. The objectives of this program are:

1. To provide migrant students the opportunity to experience education outside of the classroom, where students are able to construct meaning that leads to thinking, sharing, exploring, questioning, and developing their own understanding of lessons provided by the instructors.

2. To teach migrant children science concepts in a natural setting that will foster students' understanding of their life-sustaining relationship with planet earth, and emphasize the commonalties and connections among human beings and ecology, plant life, earth science, physical science, etc.

3. To teach migrant children a respect for nature, thus developing an understanding of how nature works and how human beings affect the environment. By teaching migrant students respect for nature, strategies will be introduced that will further develop their thinking concerning their personal expectations, goal setting, and general leadership skills.

4. To provide Mini-Corps students an opportunity to work in an educational environment where they can further develop their instructional skills.

Mini-Corps teacher assistants serve as bilingual lead instructors and advisors to the migrant students. They receive training that prepares them to work with the migrant students who are actively engaged in learning about the natural world when they are at camp. The Mini-Corps teacher assistants learn to apply the five senses to the learning of science in an outdoor setting, exposing the migrant students to "live science," to enjoy and respect nature. The students are also introduced to active learning via readings, listening and discourse that allow them to make new associations from one week at camp. The migrant students are able to use scientific investigation in their everyday learning activities. Science in the Outdoor Education program is enjoyable and full of learning opportunities. Migrant students are also provided with diverse learning activities such as ropes courses, overnighters, survival wilderness leadership development, nature walks and hikes.

Puppetry Program

The California Mini-Corps Puppetry program objectives are:

1. To provide direct categorical services to migrant children and their families.

2. To increase the number of professional educators who are especially trained, experienced and committed to work with migrant children.

The primary purpose of the Puppetry program is to:

Provide a substance abuse awareness program that will inform migrant students and their parents of the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse, and reinforce the say "no" to drugs approach at school, home, social activities and in their work environment, enhancing the importance of a healthy body and healthy self-esteem.

There has been a great deal of national attention and effort applied toward drugs and alcohol abuse studies and their impact on all segments of our society. Very little, however, has been directed toward the children of migrants who follow the crops in our state or nationwide. Due to the mobility pattern of this segment of our population, these migrant students are forgotten by our society and therefore receive only a limited education in this critical area. The migrant students need access to resources and opportunities that will help them receive assistance, preventative strategies and information regarding the drug and alcohol abuse problem.

Mini-Corps Puppetry students are trained in presentation techniques wherein puppets serve as the vehicle for creative instruction in personal, mental health and self-esteem. The puppets will engage the migrant students and their families in verbal experiences through effective puppet presentations, story boards, creative expression, and multicultural experiences in the primary language of the students and in English. Through developed bilingual curriculum that is replicable, migrant students and their families are provided with problem solving and critical thinking strategies that will enable them to select options that can be utilized to counter the threat of drug and alcohol abuse in their families and communities.

Thirty Mini-Corps Puppetry students are trained to provide puppet presentations statewide, with teams assigned to migrant camps and to areas where summer schools are being conducted. The students work with preschool to high school students in cooperation with the 18 migrant education regions. The Puppeteers assist the migrant community by responding to a concern that is impacting the migrant community and today's society in general.

For More Information on Outdoor Education and Puppetry Programs

Veronica Aguila, Ed.D. - Associate Director
510 Bercut Drive, Suite Q
Sacramento, CA 95811
Phone: (916) 446-4603 ext. 115
Email: vaguila@bcoe.org

Jose Pantoja - Program Secretary
Phone: (916) 446-4603 ext. 122
Email: jpantoja@bcoe.org

Cecilia Torres - Program Secretary
Phone: (916) 446-4603 ext. 112
Email: ctorres@bcoe.org