Camp is intended to serve two main purposes, one is educational, to learn about our environment, and the second is social, to celebrate a successful elementary career and send students off with friendships and shared experiences as they head to middle school.
It is not required, but it is expected that students will go to camp unless there is a strong preference from the family that students not attend. Please contact your child's teacher if you have concerns about camp.
Camp Orkila, - Orcas Island, WA
We will leave from Brookside at 7:45AM Wednesday and return to Brookside around 3:00PM on Friday. It is easiest if students can be dropped off and picked up from school by car, since they will have bags and sleeping bags to carry and that is difficult on a school bus.
The cost changes every year depending on how much the PTA is able to help us and the group's fundraising efforts. We try to keep the cost as low as possible. Please email Mr. Woods (allyn.woods@shorelineschools.org) if you need to know the cost ahead of time.
We make every effort to make the price of camp as low as possible so that money is hopefully not a big concern for families. We have a small pool of money to help pay for student scholarships, to provide some support for those families that can't afford the full price of camp on their own. We expect that every student and family will contribute some amount towards the cost of camp if possible. We have NEVER left someone behind because they can't afford to go to camp. We will find a way to get every kid there. Please contact your 6th grade teacher if you have concerns about affording camp.
Check out the "What to Bring" list (also found under the Forms link).
All prescriptions and over-the-counter medication must be in the original container inside a Ziploc baggie and turned into the school nurse before we leave for camp. Please complete the Permission to Administer Medication Form for all medications. Asthma inhalers (with prescription) or epi-pens are to stay with the student at all times.
Check out the daily schedule. Students will be very busy throughout the 3-day camp experience.
We don't ask for any parents to come to camp with us and we ask that you don't visit during camp. With that said, we do a random drawing of interested parents who become our Parent Chaperones (cabin leaders) for each of the kids' cabins. If you are interested in becoming a chaperone, please contact your students teacher.
Our camp has 8 cabins separated by a field and the bathrooms in the middle. Usually we have 3 boy cabins and 3 girl cabins. Students are matched with classmates that we feel will help each student feel successful while at camp. In addition, cabin chaperones are matched carefully with groups of kids that we feel are a great fit.
Please make your students' teacher aware of this need if it is an allergy we need to monitor, as well as filling out the medical paperwork for the nurse.
In cases of other dietary restrictions (such as no pork, specific food preferences), Camp Orkila can only provide vegetarian and gluten-free meals in additional to the regular food served. If your child has a need for one of these two types of meals, please fill out the camp paperwork and indicate this so they will be included in the count. The meals are good, and only those students who indicated that they are a vegetarian or gluten-free will get those meals.
Warm Beach Camp cannot make other special meals, so if you feel your student will need additional food, please contact your child's teacher to make arrangements to send food with your child to camp. This food will not be kept in the cabins but will be kept in the mess hall where we eat, with a refrigerator and microwave available, to supplement meals. We do not allow food in the cabins.
In case of emergency, you may contact Camp Orkila at 206-382-5009 (between 8 and 5). You may also call the Brooskide office at 393-4140 (during school hours) and they can usually get a hold of us quickly.
Parents that are interested in joining our students as chaperones sign-up to be in a random drawing. A random drawing is completed in April to allow for background checks to be completed by June 1st. All parents are required to do a fingerprinted background check. Parents who have organized the camp fundraisers (fundraising chairs) are given the chance to automatically fill chaperone spots before the drawing.
Our camp has a great shower facility. Both the girls' and boys' sides of the bathroom have 3 or 4 individual stalls with showers. Each has curtains for privacy. We recommend students use any spare time to grab a shower.
Bed time will always follow our evening activity time. Usually it is right around 10:00pm. Lights out will be at that time, and cabins are expected to be quiet. Adult staff will monitor the cabins until everyone is asleep. Chaperones are in the cabins with students if there is any problem in the middle of the night.
Students do not need to bring electronics or anything electric. Hair dryers and cell phones are not needed. Staff members will have a cell phone for students to use if they MUST call home for some reason. Students may bring a disposable camera, but they are responsible for its well-being.
Students may leave their cabin at 7:00AM and go to the beach to toss rocks into the water and socialize.
We understand that camp is the first time some students have spent away from home and their families, and we want to be supportive and make this a positive experience for your student. Our schedule is so full that students rarely have downtime to think about homesickness. Every year we have students who are nervous, and they have the support of their friends, their chaperones, and the staff. If your student is concerned about homesickness, we know it is tempting to send a cell phone so you can keep in touch, but please don't, as knowing that a parent is only one phone call away can make the problem worse. The teachers always have cell phones and can make them available to a student and monitor any situations. If there are concerns about fears or homesickness, please contact your child's teacher and we will do whatever possible to make your child comfortable.
Please make your student's teacher aware of this situation so that we can develop a plan for any issues that occur at camp.
Cabin groups are carefully put together by the 6th grade teachers with input from students. Students choose a few cabin-mates that they would like to bunk with. Using this information, teachers match the cabin groups and chaperones that will best serve each of the students.
Team Building, Leadership, Perseverance, Estuary Habitat
Although we want all of our students to attend 6th grade camp, students can jeopardize their chance to participate based on behavior they show while at school and at camp.
If it rains we will continue with our normal schedule of events. We do our best to lead classes and activities under cover, but sometimes that is not possible. Please send your student with a good jacket and clothes that they can layer, and at least two pairs of shoes, so if one gets wet they have a backup pair.