Outdoor Education Week!

This past week, was Outdoor Education Week at Doulos! Robbie went with the 4th and 5th graders to Monabao which is in the mountains of Jarabacoa. And I took my class on a field trip to the river, which runs through Jarabacoa. Both of us had such wild adventures, great laughs with our kids, and fun times with other staff members.
On the Monabao trip, 4th and 5th graders had their first experience with camping. This is a huge deal for these kids, as it is not common in Dominican culture for kids to leave town for a few days of camping and outdoor learning at this age, unless it is with family! In the states, its a bit more common for kids to go to summer camp, or to have similar outdoor learning experiences--I remember going to Laurentian when I was in 4th grade! The group of about 45 (students, teachers, and leaders) drove up the mountain, and then hiked about an hour and a half into the camp site. They slept in sleeping bags in open air cabañas, and ate Dominican style meals cooked in an open-air kitchen. A typical meal for them was: chicken, beans and rice. While the kids were there, they joined a team of their choice. Either they worked on staining wood for the cabañas, building steps for the shower area, and clearing trails, or learning about natural food growth and cooking, or learning about orienteering, which is the class that Rob taught. A couple activities they also took part in were playing night games, cooking over the bonfire, catching wild crabs in the river, and an afternoon hike to a waterfall.

Up we go! Day 1.

Taking a break, about halfway through the hike.

Nothing better than happy 4th and 5th graders cooking s'mores over the fire.

Chef Rob cooked 7 packages of bacon for the kiddos.

Bonding time.

Students hiked an hour and a half to the waterfall, and then went for a swim!

Outdoor Education Week for Kindergartners is a bit different! It isn't a full day, but a half-day learning experience. On Wednesday and Thursday afternoon we took a field trip to the river. I was so blessed to have the help of some parents of kids in my classroom, the art teacher at Doulos, and my teaching assistant! On Wednesday we went to a little park reserve located along the river. Students observed and drew pictures of plants and animals living in their natural habitat. There even happened to be a horse eating grass along the river that the kids enjoyed watching. On Thursday we read a book about plants and animals while sitting near the bank of the river. The book was a flip book about looking carefully for animals that might be hidden in their environment--and some kids spotted storks, and butterflies from where they were sitting...some real life application! We also used the big grassy field for students to pretend they were different plants and animals, and peaceful and violent ways of treating these plants and animals. They got into it and it was a fun to watch them pretend they were trees getting chopped down, or animals getting fed! Friday we were hoping to visit the pond on Doulos' campus to observe the fish and turtles, and to look at some of the flowers and plants on campus as well, but with an all school assembly also planned in the afternoon, we will have save our activities for next week!

Walking to the river!

Students at work observing plants!

Plant observations!

Conferencing!

Group shot with half the class!

Group shot with the other half of the class!

We had wonderful experiences this week getting to know students better. We are exhausted and hoping for a relaxing weekend! Thanks for your support and reading our blog! We love you!