Outdoor Education

List of 4 items.

• Toddler and Primary

  The Toddler Cottage and Primary classrooms are both accompanied by large outdoor spaces. These spaces are used as "outdoor classrooms" and for recess time. Many have gardens and fruit trees, water tables, sandboxes, and outdoor enclosures for animals like rabbits. Students are able to observe the changing seasons through their outdoor areas, watching leaves turning colors in the fall and bulbs come up in the spring. Popular activities include working in the garden and creating habitats for the butterflies they raise in the classrooms.

• Kindergarten

  Kindergarten students have a dedicated yard area just off of their classroom. At the end of every year they culminate the Kindergarten experience with a one-night camping trip to somewhere local such as China Camp. This overnight marks the beginning of the trip component of our outdoor education program.

• Elementary

  Homestead Valley, the location of Marin Horizon's main campus, offers ample opportunities for studying the nearby creek or holding impromptu classes among the redwoods of Stolte Grove. First through fifth graders spend four nights at Camp Redwood Glen. Accompanied by professional naturalists, teachers and parent chaperones, children escape the pressures of urban life as they explore different ecosystems, live together in a camping community, and have lots of fun in the process. 

• Middle School

  Middle schoolers go on several overnight excursions throughout the year to locations as close as the Marin Headlands to farther flung locales such as Yosemite National Park and the Santa Cruz mountains. The program emphasizes exploration of the geology and ecology of the region, as well as many opportunities for group bonding. Depending on the location, activities might include hiking, backpacking, or tackling a ropes course. Shared group experiences of this type facilitate class bonding and the deepening of friendships. Evenings often include sensory awareness activities, night hikes, and skits before students settle in to their sleeping bags for the night.