The humanities and science strands of our project theme work are too complex to be fully explored in a classroom. So, we use the rich resources of the Bay Area—and beyond!—to help our students fully understand and grapple with the concepts. It’s not an escape from the classroom. Rather, it’s an extension of it!
We strive to create fieldwork experiences in the community that offer students the opportunity to connect to the current semester’s theme of study. For instance, in the theme “Wayfinders,” our first and second graders studied Polynesian culture for a semester, learning how to work together as a small team and problem solve along the way. Their experiences included:
An immersive experience with a local Polynesian group called Ha’i Ola Hula. The students learned about ancient Polynesian Culture, life in the Polynesian triangle, and some traditional hula dances.
A visit to the planetarium to research waves, winds, and stars so they could understand ancient Polynesian navigation techniques.
Actually paddling small out-rigger canoes at a lake with Pu Pu O Hawaii.
A visit to the San Francisco Maritime Park to see the Hokule'a canoe as it made a stop while on tour around the Pacific.
Learning survival skills at a park: building a shelter, finding edible plants, making a bow drill set, and then making a fire without matches.
A Celebration of Learning that included proudly showing off the shelters they had built at school and their navigational maps.
Middle schoolers have the same immersive day-long fieldwork, but add to it week-long studies aligned with that semester’s curriculum, opening up further depth and complexity in their studies. They talk to elected representatives in Washington DC as part of their Living with Tension theme, and decipher original revolutionary period documents in Washington, D.C. during the Revolutions! Theme. One year, they even learned to tag and track endangered tortoises while camping in Joshua Tree during the National Parks theme.
For most students, this is their first time traveling without their parents–and a uniquely memorable experience that builds a sense of autonomy and responsibility. They practice real-life skills, such as planning transportation routes to a meeting at the U.S. Capitol. They learn that kindness, attentiveness and enthusiasm can lead to deep conversations with experts, a better appreciation of each other (and, often, extra snacks on the airplane!). These first-hand opportunities allow our middle schoolers to experience life as a researcher, scientist, or documentarian, helping our middle schoolers develop into confident young adults.
