Program and Mission

Oregon's economy and employment are based on its bountiful natural resources: timber, recreational opportunities, agricultural products, water, wildlife, and minerals. The extent to which Oregon's youngsters learn to understand and wisely use their natural resources today will largely determine their economic security in the future. Outdoor school teaches children about the natural sciences so they can use that information as adults to become knowledgeable citizens and voters. If a child can understand the natural process, then he or she can understand those factors that affect the natural process. Outdoor School teaches the natural process... 

how nature works!

At Outdoor School each sixth-grade class has a piece of land, called a "study plot," as its classroom. Each study plot (often several acres in size) provides access to a stream or lake, varieties of trees and shrubs, and an assortment of birds and animals. Since students are not limited by conventional classroom walls, they can see, hear, feel, and smell the realities of nature around them.

A staff of highly qualified Field instructors are present at each Outdoor School site to help students interpret the discoveries they make. These instructors help teachers point out the relationships between natural systems. With other Outdoor School staff members, the instructors lead small groups of students in learning by discovery. With careful guidance by classroom teachers and Outdoor School staff, students find answers to their own questions through heightened powers of observation and reasoning. The sixth-graders begin to see and understand how the elements of nature exist in complex dependency. They see how humans can influence natural relationships. Wise use of resources assumes new meaning and importance as the students see how conservation affect them personally.

At Outdoor School the emphasis is on education with each child studying in the field for six hours each day. To provide some break from the field study, there is an hour-long recreation period each afternoon. Activities not readily available at regular school are featured, such as hiking, nature crafts, bait casting, archery, and use of outdoor-oriented tools. Closing the activities of each day is an evening campfire program which includes student involvement in skits, songs, legends, and stories. There are also times during the day for sharing, letter-writing, and quiet reflection. An Outdoor School day is a fully scheduled, highly involved day which usually begins at 7:00 a.m. and ends at 9:00 p.m. for children!

Outdoor School provides students with the opportunity to live with children from a diversity of social, economic, and ethnic backgrounds. A "living group" at Outdoor school consists of eight or ten children representing four or five schools from throughout Multnomah County and beyond. Each group of boys or girls is housed in a separate cabin under the leadership of a carefully selected and trained high school-age counselor. Mutual friendship and sensitivity soon develop within the living group.

​​The entire student and adult population of each Outdoor School site eat daily meals in a central dining hall where experienced cooks prepare the balanced meals that make Outdoor School famous! Using a family style of dining, students readily conform to high standards of meal etiquette and decorum. After each meal, students give weather reports or announce cabin inspection results, and join in group singing.

​​For several weeks before going to Outdoor School, the classroom teacher integrates the study of natural sciences into the regular curriculum. This infusion of the natural sciences into the total curriculum helps students gain the background to maximize their week of study at the Outdoor School site. Preparation materials are provided for study prior to the Outdoor School experience, and a follow-up study guide assists the students in linking the Outdoor School curriculum to their home environment.
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Teachers and students develop a new appreciation for each other during the Outdoor School week as they share new discoveries, ideas, and experiences. After returning from Outdoor School, many sixth-grade classes plan programs to share their information with parents and friends. Outdoor School is an excellent vehicle for reinforcing and enriching regular classroom instruction and curriculum. Through the week-long experience children gain a comprehensive knowledge in natural science, respect for other people, as well as pride in their state and its natural resources.

​Each student is responsible for his or her own bed, cabin neatness, and personal cleanliness. Additionally, each living group is scheduled during the week to participate in the necessary tasks that keep the site operational during an Outdoor School session. At some point during the week, each child may set a table, serve food, clean tables, carry firewood, forecast the day's weather, and raise or lower the flag.

Students at Outdoor School are busy from dawn to beyond dusk on field studies, structured recreations, cabin activities, meals and more. Here is a sample typical daily schedule used at Outdoor School. Actual schedules may vary, but this will give you an idea of what a typical day at Outdoor School looks like.