Great River Charter Montessori School - Key Experiences

Key Experiences

In the fall of each year, Junior High students go on an Odyssey Trip. The first year the Odyssey East traveled to Williamsburg, Virginia and Washington, D.C. by charter bus and camped along the way, while visiting important historical and cultural sites. The Odyssey West in 2006-2007 traveled to Jackson, Wyoming where they stayed at the Teton Science School. The major stops along the way were Badlands National Park, Devil's Tower, and Yellowstone National Park. In the fall of the 2007-2008 year, students traveled to Williamsburg, VA again camping along the way and visiting different sites including Monticello, Shenandoah National Park and Jamestown. The fall 2009-2010 brings a new direction to the Odyssey. While the opportunity for experiential education outside the classroom and community building is important, the distance and time on the bus will be less. The destination of Greenfield Village near Detroit, MI and environs around Lake Michigan will start off the year with a study of industrialization.

The High School students have had a short experience in the fall of each year. For the first few years, all high school students went to the Lake Country Land School to work on the farm, do service work, learn about farming, canning and other important tasks. In the fall of 2007, the 11th and 12th graders went on a 5-day tour of 14 colleges in the Upper Midwest. Beginning in the fall of 2009, all senior high students will have a more comprehensive program to anticipate. All 9th & 10th graders will go to the Land School; 11th graders will participate in a college tour in the Upper Midwest and 12th graders will participate in a leadership experience, preparing them to consider their life after GRS - post secondary education and beyond.

Every January the Junior High (Adolescent 1) students have a "J term" when they put together a play in a month. For 4 years, the high school also did J-term. Past High School J-Term classes have been Film, Photography, Canoe-Building, Theater and Music. There were also workshops during two afternoons which covered anything under the sun: sliding, crafts, yoga, egg painting, peace and justice movement building, dancing, etc. As of the 2008-2009 school year the high school will have a May term instead of J-term.

Each spring, the Junior High ends the year with a bike trip (about 100 miles), a physical challenge and wonderful community building activity. The bike trips have started in several locations, in Red Wing the first year, Cass Lake and Wisconsin. Nearly all students ride all 100+ miles with few flats and many great memories. For the first 4 years of the school, a longer trip in the spring gave the older students opportunities to explore more of the US. In the spring of 2007, students traveled west to Estes Park, CO the and YMCA outdoor education facility. During the spring of 2008, high school students will travel to Louisiana to do a service project planting mangrove trees. Along the way, they will visit cultural landmarks such as the Civil Rights Museum in Mississippi. In the 2008-2009 school year the school had three trips, and the students got to go on two of them. the three trips were to Lake Itasca in Minnesota to canoe down a stretch of the Mississippi, the second trip was a trip up to the northern lakes of Minnesota, and the third trip was to a land school in Wisconsin, where students, among other things, got to burn down a building. Beginning in the spring of 2009, students (with guidance and support from staff), planned and participated in 12-day long spring intensives designed for and by the students. Intensives included the study of dance, film, photography, the arts (combined with a trip to Chicago), backpacking (a 10-day trip on the Superior Hiking Trail), volunteerism in the Twin Cities, language (12 day trip to Costa Rica) and more.

Academics take the primary spotlight at Great River School. More details to come soon.

The A3 (11th/12th) have an independent focused learning environment where each students signs up for his/her classes weekly. This helps the students prepare for the challenging schedules of college and how to manage them, along with a large amount of homework.

For more information, please see the Great River School website.

• Main entrance on Energy Park Drive

• View of from the train trestle just south of the school. Bandana Square can be seen in the background.