School Overnight Program
Discover how our multi-day School Overnight Program on Bainbridge Island extends learning beyond the classroom, engaging students in critical thinking, scientific investigations, and actions that build awareness of and concern for the wellbeing of people and our planet.
Your safety and the safety of your students is of the utmost importance to us. In accordance with state and federal guidelines, IslandWood has developed COVID-19 policies and guidelines to ensure that you have a safe and healthy experience on our campus.
Our School Overnight Program has three main goals:
1. Provide a Foundation of Stewardship
We engage learners in critical thinking, investigations, and actions that build awareness of and concern for the wellbeing of people and our planet. The program’s content is strongly aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for Ecosystems and Washington State’s Integrated Environmental and Sustainability Learning Standards (ESE).
2. Ensure Equitable Access and Culturally Responsive Instruction for All Students
We are committed to ensuring equitable access and culturally responsive instruction. We do this by:
- Allocating resources to ensure at least 50% of the students we serve come from low-income households
- Offering differentiated programming that meets the needs of each school
- Preparing our graduate student instructors with best practices in justice-oriented experiential education
- Integrating art, garden, and food education to engage all students
- Facilitating opportunities for students to work across boundaries to identify and solve small systems issues and practice critical social skills
3. Develop Meaningful and Sustainable Relationships with Schools and Communities
In addition to providing support for classroom teachers, we also intentionally partner with student’s communities. We meet directly with parents at our School Orientations and host Community Engagement Forums to listen to, learn from, consult, and develop strategies to better engage each unique community.
We are working with and within our communities to better understand how the various aspects of culture influence attendance, retention, curriculum, policy, and instruction and to:
- Extend the experience into the classroom before and after
- Shift the values and narrative of the program to incorporate multiple cultures
- Identify and transparently address barriers to attendance
- Celebrate common ground as well as differences
- Understand the systemic sources of differences and intentionally design learning experiences for students to engage across boundaries
- Partner with community-led organizations
- Communicate regularly and effectively with families
- Learn about and incorporate students’ home culture in the design of the experiences
- Shift away from the deficit modeling so prevalent in the field
Learn more about our approach to culturally responsive teaching here.
“This trip is always incredible and gives the kids so much that they can’t always explain with words but that you can see in their actions.”
– Evergreen Academy Teacher
PLAN YOUR VISIT
Communication and preparation are keys to a successful trip. Here are some resources and information packets to get you started.
VIDEOS
Here are some videos we’ve made about our School Overnight Program and its impact. Take a look!
Kids who love and appreciate nature are more likely to protect it. Check out what students from Enterprise Elementary and Green Gables Elementary schools said they love about nature and IslandWood in this video!
In this video, educators share why their schools choose to come to IslandWood so early in the year, and what it creates for them when they get back to their classrooms.
Teamwork and problem-solving skills are an essential part of any IslandWood educational program, because we believe to care for our communities and the planet, we need to be able to work together! Check out this video of Catharine Blaine K-8 working to completing a challenge on our Teams Course as part of their School Overnight Program, experience. They did such a great job figuring it out!
Soil to Snack is a lesson for students participating in our School Overnight Program, delivered in partnership by our Garden and Kitchen teams. The program’s objective is that through harvesting ingredients from the garden and preparing a snack from those ingredients, students learn about the origins of their food and the context of larger food systems. They also see for themselves that cooking can be fun! Check it out here →
STORIES
December 3, 2024
The Trailhead: Spending a Week with the IslandWood School Overnight Program
IslandWood Board Member, David Wu, recently spent a week with IslandWood...
September 27, 2024
BACK TO SCHOOL WITH THE SCHOOL OVERNIGHT PROGRAM
The week of September 16th saw the return of our School Overnight Progra...
September 11, 2024
APPRECIATION TAPS, AKA “TAP-PRECIATIONS”
IslandWood Staff Instructor Talia Schmitt, shares how she leads an appre...
OUR IMPACT
LEARNING THAT LASTS
Three out of four students continue to demonstrate SOP program outcomes–teamwork, engagement with science, pro-environmental behaviors, embracing safe adventure, and engagement with their community–three months after their stay at IslandWood.
SUPPORTING CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION
Three months after participating in the School overnight Program, teachers report a 70%+ increase in teaching pro-environmental behaviors; teaching outdoors; facilitating investigations; and incorporating stewardship projects.
ACCESS FOR ALL
50% of participating schools are from low-income and marginalized communities. Donor support ensures the program is financially possible for as many students as possible.
4,000+ 4th – 6th GRADERS
The School Overnight Program typically welcomes 4,000+ students from all over the Puget Sound region to our Bainbridge campus each year.
SAFETY
IslandWood has been awarded the Washington State Outdoor School Seal of Assurance for providing evidence of the safety of our policies and procedures to minimize risk for students and staff, ensuring the safest possible overnight experience.
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