Field Trips | Elementary School
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, some field trips may be suspended for the 2022-2023 school year.
"Education is a natural process carried out by the child and is not acquired by listening to words, but by experiences in the environment." - Maria Montessori
Students of all ages experience opportunities outside of the classroom as a means of not only broadening the mind and spirit, but as an opportunity to practice grace and courtesy in the larger world. Teachers guide students in trip planning and encourage them to take initiatives to extend what is learned in the classroom to a real-world setting. Travel experiences, whether local or abroad, are carefully planned and designed for the developmental needs of the learner at each age group.
Lower Elementary (LE) | Grades 1-3
Grade 3 Overnight
In May of the third year of Lower Elementary, students experience their first overnight trip in a small, manageable, age-appropriate way. This one-night trip begins with a full day field trip to Blue Jay Point Park. Later, students travel by bus to our Brier Creek campus where they spend the night together with Faculty chaperones in our Middle School building. Students help plan this fun opportunity for time together with their classmates enjoying games, a movie, dinner and a camping-like sleeping experience. This 3rd year overnight is a first step towards preparing students for the future overnight trips they will experience in Upper Elementary.
Upper Elementary (UE) | Grades 4-6
Betsy-Jeff Penn Center
At the beginning of each school year, Upper Elementary (UE) students participate in a three-day community retreat at the Betsy Jeff Penn Center 4-H Center in Reidsville, N.C., for the purpose of building community and trust. Sixth year students step out of their comfort zone and are empowered when they complete the Center's high ropes course and climb of the “Pamper Pole."
Upper Elementary Spring Environmental Trips
As part of the curriculum, UE students engage in ecological studies addressing the full scale of life, from tiny bacteria to processes that span the entire planet. They are taught that every living thing has a meaningful function in a larger system and students are encouraged to make their own unique contribution to the world. To deepen their understanding of the interconnectedness of the world around them, UE students participate in a three-day, environmental trip trip each spring. The focus of the trips rotates each year as students travel to for either mountain, river, or ocean study experience in North Carolina. Trips UE environmental trips have included the Don-Lee Center, Sound to Sea, and Earthshine.
Sixth grade - New York City Odyssey Trip
Sixth year students plan all aspects of this five-day trip to New York City. They choose a fundamental need to explore in relationship to a site in New York City, research the site, contact appropriate personnel at the site to plan an interview or tour, and lead their peers to the site using public transportation or walking. The entire experience empowers students and allows them to gain perspective on themselves and their place in the world.