All Moorestown Friends School (MFS) students in grades 5 to 12 will participate in Intensive Learning programs from ending March 22. Intensive Learning has been a unique school tradition at MFS for four decades. Middle and Upper School students take an in-depth look at a particular topic or issue, while normal class schedules are suspended for the week. This allows students to take overnight field trips, complete hands-on projects and engage in other activities, which apply what they have learned.
Many of the programs focus on service learning. Groups of students will travel to Camden or Philadelphia each day to engage with various service organizations, such as a Philadelphia neighborhood gardening program. Other groups will participate in the local Habitat for Humanity, “Quilts for Kids” program or an “Improv with Issues” week where the students will study improvisational theater and use those techniques to run theater workshops about social issues.
There are various opportunities to participate in Intensive Learning in other states and countries which include: an Appalachian Trail hiking trip, an ecology trip to Oahu, a Costa Rica service trip, rebuilding Quaker churches in Cuba, a Renaissance Culture and History trip to Florence and a trip to Paris and the Côte d’Azur. Many of these trips will include language immersion programs as well.
Students in grades 9 to 12 choose from several programs, including the learning abroad programs, and various local programs such as “A Unique Pine Barrens Experience,” “Bayshore Discovery Project” or a “Multicultural Experience of Philadelphia.”
Middle School students remain with peers and each grade level participates in a different thematic unit:
Grade 5: Chinese culture and a U.S. 19th century seaport — students will travel to Chinatown and to Mystic, CT.
Grade 6: Zoo design — students learn the habitat requirements for specific animals, and design and construct miniature zoos. The class visits the Philadelphia and Cape May zoos.
Grade 7: Musical Theater — students work on all aspects of a theatrical production, and perform it for their parents. This year’s performance is called “The Fabulous Fable Factory.”
Grade 8: Environmental Education and Service — includes trips to the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Learning, Palmyra Cove Nature Park and a three-day trip to YMCA Camp Mason in Hardwick.
