Students stay in heated cabins at Northwest Outdoor Science School. Each cabin is led by our volunteer Student Leaders. By living and learning together, students develop new friendships, strengthen old ones, and learn how to get along with a wide variety of people. They discover new talents and put aside old fears. They learn how human actions have a very real impact on their community – no matter how large or small.

Classroom Teachers create Cabin Groups prior to students arrival to site.

Goals/Objectives:

• Students will be curious about their surroundings as they develop (or deepen) a meaningful personal relationship with the natural world through immersive, hands-on experiences. 

• Students will feel safe, cared for, and excited about being in nature. 

• Students will use scientific thinking (scientific method, planning investigations, problem solving, asking questions, etc.), scientific language (argumentation, language of uncertainty, etc.), and scientific practices (NGSS), throughout their time at Outdoor School, helping them to develop identity and agency as a scientific learner and thinker. 

• Students will want to return to Outdoor School as a Student Leader and see Outdoor Education or other outdoor fields as a possible career path. 

• Students learn about who/what lives at Outdoor School (place specific) and the interrelationship between the living and nonliving parts of the ecosystem.

• Students learn about and understand human/nature interdependence including collective responsibility/action and Indigenous ways of knowing about and caring for the land

Driving Questions:

• How do the organisms who live in this area survive in their environment?

  • Who lives here? 

  • How are the organisms who live here interacting with each other and the nonliving parts of the ecosystem?

Every day of outdoor school ends with a fun campfire program. For an hour before bedtime, everyone comes together to sing songs, entertain each other with skits and chants, and hear folk tales. Many students who are shy and quiet at home blossom when performing on stage during campfire, much to the delight of their peers and teachers! Campfire is yet another chance for students to grow at outdoor school.

Student leaders are trained by our staff in positive leadership and team-building skills, child management and teaching techniques, field study curriculum, and Northwest Outdoor Science School procedures. They create a fun, wholesome environment for students by engaging them in games, songs, skits and other activities. They role model appropriate behavior for students, and help lead them in performing assigned duties, such as cleaning their cabin or the dining hall. Student leaders also teach many of the field study activities in which students participate.

Each day, every cabin group of students is assigned one or two camp niches, which are small jobs that small groups do together. With a staff member facilitating each niche, cabin groups help pitch in to do their part to keep the community of the outdoor school site running smoothly.  Niches include setting tables in the dining hall before meals, cleaning up the dining hall after meals, composting and recycling, bathroom cleanup, flag ceremony color guard, and more. Niches are short and easy and the staff make them fun!

Every site has a registered nurse or a licensed practical nurse on staff. Outdoor school nurses are in charge of all things related to health, medicines, safety and first-aid. Additionally, all of our staff members are certified in first-aid, CPR, bloodborne pathogens and severe allergic reactions. 

Nurses keep the medical and health history forms that students are required to submit in order to participate in our program.  The nurse will communicate with care givers when a student gets sick or injured during outdoor school and they will communicate with care givers for students who have complex medical needs ahead of their arrival week. Every outdoor school site is stocked with typical over-the-counter medications

Meals at outdoor school offer an excellent opportunity to build community. We use meal times to build interpersonal bonds and community while modeling good table manners and dining etiquette. Meal times are a wonderful opportunity for students to meet new people and make new friends. Our food is nutritional and tasty, as our cooks prepare it from scratch. Indeed, when asked what their favorite part of Northwest Outdoor School School is, many students exclaim, “The food!”

Pre-arranged accomodations can be made for students with allergies and dietary restrictions. 

While learning is the focus of Outdoor School, everybody needs a time to just unwind and have fun. Recreation is that time!  Every afternoon, students get an hour to participate with staff and Student Leaders in other fun outdoor adventures, such as hiking, fort building, bird watching, beach combing, nature crafts, storytelling time, arts and drawing, field games, and more.