Community Days at SAU
Co-Learning is driven by relationships — Relationships with ourselves, with the environment, and with each other.
On many Fridays at SAU, we aim to connect with our larger community. We either invite community members to our grounds for an on-site interactive workshop/experience or we go beyond the four walls of our cozy building to connect with the land and community around us on fun and engaging field trips.
Join In! We hope these are interactive learning experiences for all - children, parents/guardians & educators!
We look forward to meeting you!
Earth Day Community Day
Friday, April 26th | 9:30am-2:30pm
Meet: @ School Around Us
COST: $25 per child (adult participants are free)
(note: Adult accompaniment is required for non-enrolled learners)
What to Bring: a bag lunch and plenty of snacks, a water bottle. Remember to dress for the weather, we will be outdoors all day!
Celebrate Earth and explore sustainability with us!
Our Earth Day Celebration day will be jam packed with awesomeness!
We have lots of fun activities planned including: Pickling, compost discovery, face painting, and more! Our day together will culminate in an upcycled fashion show where you’ll have the opportunity to create a unique, new to you outfit and strut it on the runway! You may bring it home, or we will donate items to the Kennebunk Cares Closet after the event.
We’ll begin by gathering together to sink into the day as a group before we move into a morning workshop block. A break will follow with free play, snacking and field games. We’ll have a second workshop block in the afternoon with another break for food and fun. The last part of our day will focus on the fashion show and book swap which will be tons of fun!
*** We’re accepting donations of clothing (mostly kids sizes, but all gently used donations are welcome!), jewelry, belts, scarves and other accessories for the fashion show. And books for the Book Swap! If you have items to donate, please bring them on the day of the event ***
Natural item Art and PMA tour
$25.00
Friday, May 3rd | 9:45 am-1:30pm
Meet: Mackworth Island
Travel to: Portland Museum of Art
COST: $25 per child (adult participants are free)
(note: Adult accompaniment is required for non-enrolled learners)
What to Bring: Snack, Lunch, Water, Comfortable shoes, Layers and gear for the weather
Join us for a day of exploration in Portland! Meet us at Mackworth Island at 9:45 where we will get to spend some time walking in nature, creating natural item art and just sinking in to this beautiful place. We’ll have our lunch on the island before we head over to Portland Museum of Art, arriving by 12:15 to participate in a guided tour: Learning to Look with Visual Thinking Strategies from 12:30 - 1:30. Our day will close after the visit to the museum.
More about the tour from PMA::
Learning to Look with Visual Thinking Strategies
Our Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) tours are the most open-ended, inquiry-based tours we offer. VTS is a method of facilitated discussion that focuses on students looking at and talking about works of art. The docent role shifts from information provider to discussion facilitator. VTS asks students, as a group, to utilize their existing visual and cognitive skills as well as previous life experiences and knowledge to slow down and carefully investigate and interpret works of art. VTS, a tested and proven method, encourages the practice of critical-thinking skills that are essential to success in subjects across the school curriculum. Please note that this style of tour does not deliver art historical information but rather requires the students make meaning on their own terms. For more information about VTS, visit vtshome.org.
Gardening Fun w/ Frinklepod Farm Community Day!
Friday, May 17th | 9:30am-2:30pm
Meet: @ School Around Us
COST: $30 per child (adult participants are free)
(note: Adult accompaniment is required for non-enrolled learners)
What to Bring: Bag lunch, snacks and water bottle. Dress for the weather and clothes that you are willing to get dirty!
Come to Frinklepod Farm with us! Select a seedling and bring it back to our campus to enjoy a day of gardening fun. We’ll have fun with pot painting, planting, and garden activities.
Previous Community Day Highlights
Winter Gardening Fun: Native plant sowing and garden art
December 2nd | 10:00am - 2:00pm
This was a great interactive experience where we learned how to turn milk jugs into mini greenhouses for winter seed sowing with native seeds! The greenhouses we made will give our seeds a better chance of surviving to be planted in our planned Native Plant Garden at SAU this spring!
SAU Day of Giving Community Day - Soup making for Preble Street
November 18th 10am - 1pm
It has become an SAU tradition to support the Preble Street Resource Center in Portland at this time of year. On this day we made about 15 Gallons of soup that will serve our neighbors.
Songs + Stories of the Natural Kind w/ Jackson Gillman
November 4th 9:30am - 2:30pm
Jackson brought us along as he performed “Whales, Octopi & Sharks, Oh My!” in the morning and offered us an opportunity to dive deeper in the afternoon in his “Close Encounters of the Natural Kind” storytelling workshop. What a fun day!
SAU Fall Celebration & Trolleyween w/ Seashore Trolley Museum
October 28th 9:30am - 3pm
We had a blast spending the morning at the Seashore Trolley Museum participating in their Trolleyween Adventure!
Our Halloween traditions were not forgotten either, we enjoyed a wonderful costume parade, a haunted office, donuts on a string, and more in the afternoon.
Eyes on the Estuary @ Wells Reserve
September 16th + 30th 9:15am - 2pm
Estuaries are where rivers and oceans meet and mix. Over two days of trail adventures and hands-on investigations, we explored Wells Reserve estuaries and Wells Harbor and learned why they are such important places for wildlife, plants, and people!
Interactive Wildlife Presentation with Sparks Ark
June 3rd 10a - Noon
This presentation with live animals presented by Spark’s Ark was a big hit with learners! The focus on animal safety and respect for wildlife resonated with us and we got to expand our knowledge of the natural history and care of some cool creatures.
Tidepool Adventure with SAU & Coast Encounters
May 20th 8:30 - 1 @ Kennebunk’s Middle Beach
We loved this hands-on Maine beach adventure where we got to romp in the tide pools with “Coastal Carol” a gifted guide and scientist. Multi-aged learners shared their knowledge and discoveries about the animals and plants of the intertidal region.
Archaeology Adventure!
May 13th | 10 - 2 @ University of New England, Biddeford Campus
We had a fun day learning about Archaeology with Professor Arthur Anderson! We explored artifacts on campus and then went down to Freddy Beach for a little digging, learning about what an archaeologist does and lunch!!
Short Story Writers Workshop w/ Telling Room Teaching Artist Kyle Battle
April 1st | 9:30am - 3:00pm
As humans, storytelling is an inherent part of who we are and how we live our lives. But how do we best tell our stories? And what makes a good story anyways?
We explored these questions and more with Kyle who brought a great energy to this day and left us feeling more connected to ourselves as storytellers!
Indoor Rock Climbing @ Evo Rock + Fitness!
March 18th | 10:00am - Noon
This rock climbing experience at Evo Rock Gym in Portland was a blast!
Wildlife Tracking with Naturalist & Outdoor Educator, Ryan Busby
March 4th | 10:00am -2:00pm
Ryan shared Wildlife Tracking and Sensory Awareness activities where we learned how to use field guides to ID tracks and signs, learned to age tracks, understand who lives in the woods around us, and how to follow a trail.
Downhill Skiing at King Pine!
March 11th | 10:00am - 2:00pm
King Pine, located in East Madison, New Hampshire and has established a rich tradition of delivering enjoyment for kids. It has become a School Around Us tradition with many of our learners enjoying their first days on the slopes on this lovely mountain.
