Wilderness Expedition 2012

As you know all grade levels have participated in some form of Wilderness/Team-building event during the week of October 1, 2012.  Depending on the grade level of your child, he/she has and/or will participate in an either 2 day/1 night experience or 3 day/2 night experience.   Below is the breakdown of Wilderness experiences by grade level:

9^th Grade – Students in the 9^th grade participated in a 2 day/1 night experience.   In order to continue to build structures and team-building, the 9^th grade students participated in a Lock-in at the school.  The Lock-in included a day off campus at the Woonasquatucket River participating in Community service and field work.  The students spent the night on our campus and continued their work with initiatives and team building on the 2^nd day.  Our 11^th grade students worked with the 9^th graders to continue their understanding of our school’s norms and Expeditionary Learning’s Design Principles.  9^th graders will participate in an off-campus Wilderness program In the Spring of 2013.

10^th Grade – Students in the 10^th grade also participated in a 2 day/1 night Wilderness trip.  With the support of the Tillinghast Pond Management Area, 10^th graders were able to camp at this location.  Students had an opportunity to participate in Trail work on the site as well as participate in initiatives and work in their field journals. 

11^th Grade – students in the 11^th grade will participate in a 3 day/2 night Wilderness trip.  Students will leave today, Wednesday, October 03, 2012 and hike back to campus along the North-South trail on Friday, October 5.  Students will begin their trip at the North-South trail off of West Baker Pines Road.  They will walk to Arcadia and camp there for the night.  They will have a day hike in Arcadia and spend the night again at their original camp site.  On Friday, they will hike back to the school in time for the noon dismissal.

12^th Grade – Students in the 12^th grade began their Senior Expedition by going to Block Island for their Wilderness trip.  They left on Monday – took the Block Island Ferry to Block Island and have been participating in various explorations.  The seniors participated in a 3 day/2 night Wilderness experience.  Students worked together to learn about Block Island and explore the island through hiking, biking and kayaking….  Students began to develop “nautical” skills as a foundation of the Senior year Expedition.

As you can see, the Wilderness Experiences are scaffolded to help ensure successful experiences for all grade levels.  The younger grade levels participate in less rigorous and shorter experiences while the upper class participate in longer and more extensive experiences. 

Teachers and staff began work on Wilderness in August.  There has been a tremendous amount of thought, organization and planning to assure  our students would have deep experiences, deep learning and at the same time be safe and connect to self – crew and nature ….  Safety is our first concern, fun in learning is our second goal. I hope you have an opportunity to see the incredible field journals teachers created to support the learning of your child.  I hope to send pictures in the weeks to come of our students learning during Wilderness…..  It is a shame there will not be many pictures with the sun shining, but hiking in the rain has its own learning associated with it….

UPDATE!!

11th Grade Parents,