We are so glad you found the Wilderness Classroom. Below you will find information about our school assemblies, online expeditions, and other educational resources educators have been using with their K-8 students since the Wilderness Classroom started 2001. If you ever have any questions, please reach out, we are here to help!
School Assemblies
Explorers and educators, Dave and Amy Freeman have delivered over 700 assemblies across the US and Canada. The Freemans use images, videos, artifacts, expedition equipment, and a wide range of fun and engaging activities to education, inspire, and entertain. They work with audiences of all sizes and ages, but their main focus has always been elementary and middle school students.
Due to COVID the Wilderness Classroom has shifted entirely to virtual school assemblies. Dave and Amy have been conducting virtual assemblies since 2013, which honestly was before a lot of schools were ready. They saw the potential for a new way of reaching kids and their fun and engaging virtual school programs have become a huge success.
Virtual school assemblies focusing on Rainforests, Oceans, and Dogsledding are the most popular. If you have any questions or would like to schedule a virtual school assembly with the Freemans please fill out our virtual assembly inquiry form, check out the Virtual Assembly FAQ page, or give Dave a call at 312-505-9973.
What is an online expedition?
Brazilian Amazon.
Each year the Wilderness Classroom conducts a series of online expeditions, which allow students to interact with expedition members exploring remote locations around the world. Our online expeditions are used by over 3,200 teachers and 100,000 3rd to 8th grade students and have proven to be an effective way to improve students’ vocabulary, reading, critical thinking, and communication skills. Our cross-curricular approach helps teachers tie our program in to their art, language arts, math, science, and social studies lessons.
Due to COVID our next online expedition has been delayed until the spring of 2021, but our archived adventures and other resources offer plenty of opportunities to explore and learn.
Educational Resource for K-8 students
All of the educational resources outline below are available for free thanks to a dedicated group of volunteers, sponsors, foundations, and private donations.
Wilderness Library –The Wilderness Library contains a wealth of information for you and your students. Included are useful facts and pictures about the different plants and animals encountered on our expeditions. Many teachers have each student pick a plant or animal for a research project or art project.
Mystery Photos – Students can use their investigative skills to solve a mystery. Students are given 3 clues to help them solve the mystery photo. These are a huge hit with 1st to 4th grade students.
Archived Adventures – Take your students on a journey through the Amazon Rainforest, dogsledding through the land of the Polar Bears, or dive into a Coral Reef. Many of our previous expeditions are archived so that you can explore our past adventures.
Lesson Plans – Our goal is to make it easy for teachers to integrate our program into their existing curriculum. To accomplish this we have developed a wide range of quick activities (most with worksheets) to use in conjunction with Notes From The Trail, Dave’s Dilemma, Podcasts, and Mystery Photos. You may download the plans and print them out for additional reference.