Sixth Graders Enjoy Four Days at Outdoor School

French International sixth graders spent October 6-9 at OMSI’s Hancock Field Station in Fossil, Oregon. Outdoor school is a unique opportunity for our sixth graders who come from different elementary schools and language backgrounds. It’s a chance for them to bond as a class and create a sense of belonging and community. Students also learn valuable life skills. 

After enduring a long but fun bus ride with a stop for lunch, students finally arrived, eager to learn their cabin assignments and field study groups. They had some time to unpack and settle in before the first kitchen party and dinner.

Kitchen parties are when cabins set all the tables in the dining hall and prepare for mealtime. They also help the camp staff clean up after the meal. Each cabin took a turn, and the students were super excited about their opportunity to learn life skills such as helping each other, cleaning, and hosting meals. 

In addition to community building, Outdoor School focuses on science education. At camp, students learned how fossils and different types of rocks are formed. A highlight for many students was hiking to a large fossilized banana leaf. While touching the approximately 40-million-year-old specimen, they learned that Central Oregon used to have a semi-tropical climate, unlike its current arid one.

Each evening, there was a different scheduled enrichment activity. On the first night, students had an astronomy lesson and looked at the October Super Moon through a telescope. They even saw Saturn's rings and learned mythology about the constellations. The following evening was a night hike where students learned about the desert after sunset and looked for scorpions. 

Campfire each night was a highlight for the sixth graders. The group sang songs and enjoyed time together. 

One of the OMSI staff members shared with French International staff that, because of how engaged and inquisitive our students are, she was able to go deeper with her curriculum and felt invigorated and refreshed after working with our students. French International staff really felt a synergy with this year's group, too! 

On the way back to Portland, the group made a pit stop at the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center for lunch and a visit. It was another great year at Outdoor School, and our sixth graders have formed connections with each other, helping build an inclusive community in Middle School.