Class Trips
In early February the eighth grade class, accompanied by four faculty chaperones, spends a week at the Yosemite Institute. This annual program consists of two days above the snowline at the Crane Flat facility on the Tioga Pass road, and then two days in the Yosemite Valley at Curry Village. Guided hikes and journal exercises focus on the geology, flora, fauna and the cultural history of the area. Typically the Institute leaders are so impressed with the knowledge and maturity of our students that they offer them the more advanced programs. The individual personal growth and the class bonding which occur make this outdoor education program an invaluable part of the school curriculum.
In late April the seventh grade class, also accompanied by four faculty chaperones, spends a week participating in a Headlands Institute program in Marin County. The week consists of a night at the Headlands Center, two nights camping and backpacking in the Headlands, and a wrap-up night back at the Center. On the backpacking days, the students work cooperatively to prepare their meals, and carry all the tents and equipment necessary for their stay away from the Center. As in Yosemite, the hikes and journal exercises focus on the natural and cultural history of the Headlands. The cooperative nature of this trip, particularly pitching tents and working together to prepare meals brings the students closer together as a class; many students consider this trip to be the highlight of their All Saints’ education.
Other trips take place throughout the year for all grade levels, first through eighth, including (but by no means limited to) art history trips to San Francisco for the seventh and eighth grades, a trip to the Rosicrucian Museum in San Jose for sixth grade, trips to Pacific House, the Monterey County Courthouse and the Bialek Habitat Garden in the fifth grade, visits to Mission San Juan Bautista and Carmel Mission in the third and fourth grades, a trip to the Regional Waste Management District in the second grade, and a visit to the Japanese Cultural Center during the first grade’s study of Japan.
All field trips are designed to enhance classroom learning through direct experience; and they often take place as the culmination of a unit of study in the related area, which may have included research, report writing and extensive reading as well as classroom exercises.