About Camp Leopold +PLUS

Camp Leopold +PLUS is an in-school curriculum designed to bring fun and learning to you! The +PLUS program will operate during the months of December and January of this upcoming school year. Our in-house classes are designed to engage your students with hands-on learning while also providing a fun change of pace in the comfort of their classroom. Many of these classes include a visit from one of our animal ambassadors–either a snake, turtle, or duck–that the students can interact with hands-on!  This is the perfect choice for schools that are not quite ready for a trip to Camp Leopold… we bring a little piece of Leopold to you!!

How To Register 

Step 1: Appoint a lead coordinator to be the point of contact. 

Step 2: Decide on three dates that will best suit your schedule.

Step 3: Choose… Class / Grade level(s) / Schedule

Step 4: Fill out our Google form to register! (Camp Leopold PLUS Registration)

For any questions: contact… Camp Leopold Director, Jami Lisenby (803-305-8927 : campleopold@scwa.org) or our Sales and Marketing Director, Jack Brooks (803-600-8977 : leopoldmarketing@scwa.org)

Camp Leopold PLUS+ Classes

Spineless Wonders

Invertebrates, or spineless wonders, will give students examples of the strange and amazing super powers of the natural world. This class will focus on learning about invertebrates – or spineless animals. We will cover their vast diversity, as well as the various adaptations these organisms possess to make them one of the key components of nearly every ecosystem. 

Science Standards 2021

  • 1-PS4-2. Make observations to support an evidence-based claim that objects in darkness can be seen only when illuminated by light sources
  • 1-LS3-1. Make observations to support an evidence-based claim that most young are like, but not exactly like, their parents. 
  • 3-LS1-1. Develop and use models to describe how organisms change in predictable patterns during their unique and diverse life cycles. 
  • 3-LS3-2. Use evidence to support the explanation that traits can be influenced by the environment.
  • 4-LS1-2. Use a model to describe that animals receive different types of information through their senses, process the information in their brain, and respond to the information in different ways.
  • 5-LS2-1. Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
  • 6-LS1-1. Conduct an investigation to provide evidence that living things are made of cells; either one cell or many different numbers and types of cells.

The Journey South

Earth’s seasons affect every living thing. We plan our day and everything we do around the seasons of the year from the clothes we wear to the food we eat and even where we live. Students will investigate the forces that change our planet from year to year. Studying the conditions that affect our world and the waterfowl that visit Camp Leopold will give every student a better sense of why animals and plants have no choice but to react in amazing ways.

Science Standards 2021

  • 3-LS2-1. Construct an argument that some animals form groups that help members survive.
  • 3-ESS2-1. Represent data in tables and graphical displays of typical weather conditions during a particular season to identify patterns and make predictions.
  • 3-ESS2-2. Obtain and combine information to describe climate patterns in different regions of the world.
  • 4-LS1-1. ​​Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function together in a system to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
  • 5-LS1-1. Support an argument with evidence that plants obtain materials they need for growth mainly from air and water.
  • 5-PS3-1. Use models to describe that energy in animals’ food (used for body repair, growth, motion, and to maintain body warmth) was once energy from the sun.
  • 6-LS1-8. Gather and synthesize information that sensory receptors respond to stimuli by sending messages to the brain for immediate behavior or storage as memories. 
  • 8-LS4-6. Use mathematical representations to support explanations of how natural selection may lead to increases and decreases of specific traits in populations over time.

Human Impact

Camp Leopold is an amazing place to learn how man can restore land to a place where wildlife thrives. Our camp has had a great deal of human impacts. Students will investigate their own lives and discover new techniques to implement back home. During this discussion, students and instructors alike will discuss the main effects that humans have on the natural world, both positive and negative. 

Science Standards 2021

  • 1-LS1-1. Use materials to design a solution to a human problem by mimicking how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs.
  • 2-ESS3-1. Design solutions to address human impacts on natural resources in the local environment.
  • 4-ESS3-1. Obtain and combine information to describe that energy and fuels are derived from natural resources and how their uses affect the environment.
  • 4-ESS3-2. Generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural Earth processes on humans.
  • 5-ESS3-1. Evaluate potential solutions to problems that individual communities face in protecting the Earth’s resources and environment.
  • 7-ESS3-5. Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have impacted global temperatures over the past century.
  • 7-ESS3-4. Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth’s systems
  • 7-ESS3-3. Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.
  • 7-LS2-5. Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.
  • 7-PS1-3. Gather and make sense of information to describe that synthetic materials come from natural resources and impact society.
  • 8-LS4-5. Gather and synthesize information about technologies that have changed the way humans influence the inheritance of desired traits in organisms.

Team Challenge

Building group dynamics and teamwork to reach crazy new goals will be the focus of this class. Students will learn to work together and how to help each other reach new heights. Following this class, teachers will find their students well prepared to work together with their classmates for the remainder of their school year.

Creatures of the Woods

We will hike the outdoors around your school to discover the complex environment of South Carolina. Birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects and furry mammals are part of life in South Carolina and we will study them in their natural habitat. Using pelts, students will observe what kinds of wildlife are frequenting an area. This activity will give students a look into a world seldom seen as well as teach effective ways to observe wildlife in a specific area.

Science Standards 2021

  • 1-LS3-1. Make observations to support an evidence-based claim that most young are like, but not exactly like, their parents.
  • 2-LS2-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to determine what plants need to grow. 
  • 2-LS4-1. Make observations of plants and animals to compare patterns of diversity within different habitats. 
  • 3-LS3-1. Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence that plants and animals have inherited traits that vary within a group of similar organisms. 
  • 3-LS4-1. Analyze and interpret data from fossils to provide evidence of organisms and the environments in which they lived long ago.
  • 3-LS2-1. Construct an argument that some animals form groups that help members survive.
  • 3-LS4-2. Use evidence to construct an explanation for how the variations in traits among individuals of the same species may provide advantages in surviving and producing offspring.
  • 3-LS4-3. Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can thrive, struggle to survive, or fail to survive.
  • 3-LS4-4. Make a claim about the effectiveness of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and affects organisms living there. 
  • 4-LS1-1. ​​Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function together in a system to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
  • 4-LS1-2. Use a model to describe that animals receive different types of information through their senses, process the information in their brain, and respond to the information in different ways.
  • 5-LS2-1. Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
  • 5-PS3-1. Use models to describe that energy in animals’ food (used for body repair, growth, motion, and to maintain body warmth) was once energy from the sun.
  • 6-LS1-1. Conduct an investigation to provide evidence that living things are made of cells; either one cell or many different numbers and types of cells. 
  • 7-LS2-5. Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.
  • 7-LS2-3. Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.
  • 7-LS2-2. Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.
  • 7-LS2-1. Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.
  • 7-LS1-6. Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for the role of photosynthesis in the cycling of matter and flow of energy into and out of organisms.
  • 8-LS4-4. Construct an explanation based on evidence that describes how genetic variations of traits in a population increase some individual’s probability of surviving and reproducing in a specific environment. 

Blood Runs Cold

Reptiles and amphibians are very important to the balance of any ecosystem where they are native. Camp Leopold has many different species. We will study LIVE creepy and crawly creatures, dispelling myths and fears about these wonderful animals.