Camping holds an important place in our curriculum with an invaluable impact on students, teachers, and the class as a whole. Some of the important social and emotional learning occurs during camping trips, starting from brainstorming their meals and ending with cleanup after they return. Camping begins in 2nd grade and extends up through 8th. In the fall, our Upper School goes camping, and on the final night come together for a burger feast and talent show. In the spring, all classes take their own trips, going the number of nights of the grade they’re in.

These trips are intentionally not highly scheduled — students indulge in simple activities such as talking, playing games or music around a campfire, independent walks, or reading. Camping this way presents ideal opportunities for essential life lessons, including the ability to slow down and entertain oneself without devices.

The most essential part of any camping trip revolves around cooking. Students cook (and then clean up!) each meal for each other throughout the trip, and the planning starts many days before their departure. Cooking for a camping trip with a whole class of students and teachers is an enormous task that requires detailed planning, discussion, and forethought, and students are active participants and decision-makers at every level, from brainstorming the meals to choosing which ones they want to cook, to creating shopping lists, and finally doing the cooking while on the trip. Each meal requires a class conversation to ensure that every child and teacher’s dietary needs are met. This process alone is an exercise in empathy, community, and caring.

The actual cooking at the campsite is a group project where small groups of students must work cooperatively to complete each task such as cooking 3 pounds of bacon, cutting a couple of pounds of strawberries, chopping enough potatoes to make home fries for 20 people, and reserving space for gluten free and vegetarian options. If an important food item is left off the shopping list, then problem solving, flexibility, and ingenuity are key to delivering a complete meal to a hungry class.

Each class bonds more closely as they spend more time together and have more shared experiences. They get to know their classmates and teachers on a deeper level, and vise versa; they take responsibility for themselves, their belongings and each other; they learn more about their peers; and they grow socially and emotionally with each passing day.