Chattermarks

What happens at Mountain School does not just stay at Mountain School.

With winter’s silence embracing the landscape up at the Learning Center, the laughter of Mountain School students seems all but a distant echo, fading as the Skagit flows down valley. The excitement, the energy, travels wherever the students fare. And where they fare is their respective home grounds.

The first few weeks of December mark post-trip visitation time to participating schools of the fall season’s Mountain School. Several of North Cascades Institute’s graduate students have traveled north to Bellingham to visit Carl Cozier Elementary, Geneva Elementary, Wade King Elementary, Larrabee Elementary, Happy Valley Elementary, Whatcom Hills Waldorf School, and Birchwood Elementary. Others have traveled south to Bellevue and Bothell to check-in with the Eton School and Evergreen Academy.

» Continue reading Bringing Mountain School back home

You can feel them approaching. It is a surge of energy, a tidal wave of enthusiasm and wonder, about to overtake this place. The momentary quiet of the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center awaits eagerly the arrival of giggles and shouts, of singing and learning once more. Standing in the parking lot on a Monday or Wednesday afternoon, we, as instructors, can anticipate only so much. Backpacks are stuffed to the brim with daily supplies and previous nights are spent late, preparing for the next day’s activities.

It isn’t about us, though. As students arrive, whether by bus or by car, with gaping grins of glee and eyes wide with wonder, every time a Mountain School tidal wave hits, we are reminded—it is about these students and this place.

» Continue reading This place, through their eyes

Diablo Lake, WA– In celebration of Independence Day, North Cascades Institute is offering the next 10 families of 3 or more who register for the Fourth of July weekend Family Getaway at the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center $100 off the total registration fee!

» Continue reading Explosive deal for Fourth of July Family Getaway

Are you feeling anxiety here in the early days of 2009? It feels like every day brings a mixed bag of news — there is no shortage of alarming headlines and worrisome trends in our country, but beneath the panic is a rising groundswell of hope and optimism for what the future holds.

Richard Louv, author of the influential book Last Child in the Woods and chairman of the Children & Nature Network, recently posted an entry on the Field Notes from the Future blog, that outlines dozens of reasons to feel hopeful for the future. His emphasis is on the growing movement to reconnect our younger generations with nature, and his post shares all kinds of exciting programs, collaborations and research that are all moving the No Child Left Inside intiative forward:

» Continue reading Thoughts for the new year from Richard Louv