Curriculum Trips
At Bright Water Waldorf School, the world is the walls of our classrooms and school field trips are a core part of our education.
We believe strongly that some of the best learning happens through direct and embodied experiences. We strive to get our students beyond the desks and outside to engage in experiences that will strengthen understanding, knowledge, and a sense of deep interreationship. Our early grade students take part in annual day trips to neighboring farms, tidal coastlands, and local greenspaces. Beginning in third grade, classes go on multi-day curricular trips. The locations of these trips vary from year-to-year but follow general themes; the descriptions below are from recent years. All classes also engage in local curricular trips throughout the year that correspond to the current topic of study. These day trips may include visiting local museums, attending matinee theater performances, traveling to our state capital, touring local farms, and studying the biodiversity at our local beaches and watersheds.
Class teachers set the curriculum trip schedule in a way that meets the needs of the students, and often rely on parental support to organize around chaperone presence, gear and supply gathering, and meal coordination.
Early Childhood
Starting in Early Childhood, children engage with the natural world every day on campus. Through direct out door experience and localized play, which centers the imagination, children develop an early relationship with the elements and seasons, and what it means to be human in a greater and interconnected world.
An end of the year “First Grade Readiness” hike is a much anticipated adventure that serves as a rites of passage for our young students as they ready to cross the threshold into first grade. Students may go to the Cascade lowlands for a forest hike or to the coastlines of the Salish sea for a tide pool adventure.
Grades 1-5
Each grade takes at least one trip during the school year. These trips into the wilds of our bioregion are designed to meet the children’s developmental level, help them gain self-confidence, and encourage their connection to the natural world and to each other. There are also a variety of local field trips and excursions related to each grade’s curriculum.
In the early grades, trips can include a second grade visit to a working farm and nature education center. Overnight trips begin in third grade with a trip to a fully functional farm where students participate in the farm activities, including milking cows. Grade Four students will gather with our regional AWSNA (Association of Waldorf Schools of North America) schools for a cultural celebration of the Coast Salish tribes, learning the life ways and wisdom from tribal elders. In the fifth grade, students travel to a Waldorf school within our AWSNA region to participate in a Greek Games competition with fifth graders from other Waldorf schools, and also do multiple day outings to explore local botany and the geography of our bioregion.
Middle School
Organized yearly trips for the sixth through eighth grades promote teamwork and deeper self-knowledge through progressively more challenging adventures in nature. Middle school trips continue outdoor education and expand students’ skills and sense of community.
Sixth grade students gather with area Waldorf schools to participate in the World Games, a time that invites learning a new skill or technique that might have been used in another culture to display prowess and collaboration. A favorite day time excursion is to a local bowman who supports the students in making their own bow, and teaches them the art of archery. As part of their geology block, students will take an overnight trip to Mount St. Helens.
In the seventh grade, the students take a more extensive camping trip that includes a connection to their astronomy block often combined with ropes course and team building exercises. There are also a variety of local field trips and excursions related to each grade’s curriculum.
The eighth grade traditionally takes a week-long trip that includes a wilderness experience and a cultural component. The eighth grade trip celebrates the class’ educational journey together through grades 1 – 8. Recent eighth grade trips have included week-long camping, canoeing, and rafting adventures.
