Full Circle

Our flagship school-based program, Full Circle is an outdoor-based character development and community-building program.

Meeting weekly over a two-month period, Full Circle combines field trips to local parks with classroom and neighborhood activities that explore the connections and parallels between nature, human ecology and personal behavior. Using the relationships in nature as a model of healthy community interaction, students form collaborative groups that work together through a series of teambuilding and discovery activities, allowing them to explore these principles of interconnection on a social level.

By helping each child develop an understanding of their personal impact upon a community — be it the natural world or their urban environment — and a sense of responsibility for that impact, we are helping them make an important step toward becoming a socially conscious individual. In fact, it is this focus on character development, communication skills and conflict resolution that sets Full Circle apart from traditional "outdoor" programs.

Full Circle Program Activities

Week 1
Program Introduction
With an ecology role-playing game, students begin their exploration of both natural and social systems.

Week 2
Ropes Course & Teambuilding
Students learn the value of trusting each other and working together in this outdoor adventure.

Week 3
Mapping & Exploration
The class learns the basics of map reading and navigation and how to document their discoveries in Field Journals in preparation for their wilderness & community exploration.

Week 4
Awareness Skills & Tracking
Students learn to focus their senses to observe their surroundings. They explore the links between the plants and wildlife in nature. Who is predator? Who is prey?

Week 5
Primitive Skills
Students learn the ancient art of making fire with a hand-drill and turning plant fibers into rope, exploring the connection between modern life and the natural resources that we all consume

Week 6
Community Walk & Urban Expedition
Students explore the systems within their community using digital cameras and then share their discoveries on the World Wide Web.

Week 7
Medicine Shields
Each project group learns the art of time-budgeting and the division of labor in this collaborative art project.

Week 8
Community Service Project & Culmination Ceremony
The class gives back to their community through a service project, then returns to the school for a culmination ceremony and celebration with teachers, family and community members.

Visit the Web of Our World and see the world through a child's eyes!
2002
2003
2004
Ms. Gardea's Class
Ms. Folker's Class
Ms. Lim's Class

Frequently Asked Questions