Explorer Community SchoolActivities
For a list of Before and After School Activities you will be directed to the Dickinson webpage.
Community Events
Feast
An annual community gathering near Thanksgiving to have fun, eat good food and participate in a community service activity.
Family Camp
An annual 2 day/1 night retreat in the late Spring for the entire Explorer community: students, parents, siblings and teachers. A wonderful time for all students to develop closer friendships, parents to enjoy learning and playing with their children and a special unity to foster within the school community. Family camp committee directs themed educational projects each day with the help of other parents.
Class Celebrations
Teachers work with parent room helpers to celebrate in their classes around holiday times. Examples of these include Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day Tea and End of the Year parties.
Learning Celebrations
This is an opportunity for families to view and appreciate student work in the classroom. The work is typically classroom projects in the areas of writing, social studies and science.
5th Grade Promotion
An evening event for the entire community to congratulate the graduating class of 5th graders as they move on to Junior High School.
Sunset at Warm Beach - site of annual
Family Camp
Valentine's Day celebration in the
1st/2nd class
Part of the "class of 2008" celebrating
their promotion
Community Service
Explorer Community Service is one of the underlying themes of Explorer. Currently students and families are involved by volunteering in the Dickinson Preschool, taking care of the school grounds, conducting a holiday gift drive, and supporting Pantry Packs on an ongoing basis.
“Reading is FUNdemental” group spreading the joy of reading to a class of preschool children
Explorations
Explorations is an hour-long parent-led learning time spanning a four-week period. The parent instructs a multi-age group of six to eight children on a variety of topics including art, science, music, community service and environmental awareness.
Making cards for
Children's Hospital.
Tending to Explorer's
garden.
Intricate design of a
derby car.
Field Trips
One goal of our learning community is to enhance our children’s awareness, understanding and respect for our environment and surrounding community. Therefore, field trips are an integral part of the curriculum. The field trips may involve one or more classes.
Some examples of places we have visited include:
- Washington State Capital
- Theo Chocolate
- Pioneer Farms
- Museum of Glass
- University of Washington
- Redmond School of Glass
- MOHAI
- Burke Museum
- Washington State History Museum
- Plays
- Art Galleries
- King County Recycling Facility
The funds raised from annual contributions, pass the hat donations and corporate matching enable Explorer to plan an extensive field trip calendar. Classes average 6-8 field trips per year.
Teacher and students on the Lewis Creek all school field trip
Explorer families and faculty enjoying a marimba music ensemble; an example of an all-family field trip
Friday Choice
Friday Choice is a time where the student has an opportunity to choose what they will learn. Parents come to class for 1 hour and instruct a multi-age group of 6-8 children. Children choose from a wide variety of learning opportunities including crafts, math/card games, cooking, science experiments, technology, and more. Friday Choice exemplifies a fundamental Explorer value that we have a rich educational environment where learning is fun, thoughtfulness is nurtured and enthusiasm reigns.
Learning proper cooking
methods.
Getting into sand art
during Friday Choice.
Marketplace
Our Garden
Over the past several years, Explorer has established a community garden that provides unique, hands-on learning experiences for our students. We use our garden as an outdoor classroom. Students learn about science, math and even art in our garden. Our students have learned to plant, harvest, prepare and cook produce we’ve grown in the garden. We frequently use the garden to teach the students about botany and environmentally friendly horticulture practices.
We are committed to helping our students connect and serve their larger community and our garden is part of our community service efforts. We share the produce we grow in the garden with Hopelink’s Redmond Food Bank. Glen Miller, Communications Manager, Hopelink says, “Fresh produce is essential for Hopelink in providing quality, nutritious meals for clients. What is remarkable here is that it is kids helping other kids. Their hard work and generosity of spirit, and others like them in the community, means that thousands of their classmates come to school ready to learn and ready to grow.”