Reviews of Islandwood

From Kina...

Every 5^th grade at or school gets a chance to go to a nature reserve called Islandwood.

The activities are what makes it worth going. Before I got there, I got assigned to my field group, my eating group and my lodge group. I ate with my eating group, I was with my field group for field study’s, and my lodge group I slept with and was with at lodge time. In field study’s there are all sorts of activities. We made tea with herbs and spices in the garden, jumped on the canopy tower, went in the floating classroom, swung on the land bridge, and played camouflage in the forest. Also, in the mornings before breakfast, in the afternoon before dinner, and after dinner activities like the fun night walk or the funny two-person play, we had something called lodge time. Its where we got to play tag in our lodge and have free time.

We ate with our table group. Mine was called Oregon Grape. The food is amazing. For breakfast there’s bacon and turkey bacon, eggs, pancake and for dinner there’s pasta, pizza, salad, and teriyaki chicken. For desert there is brownies, ice cream, cupcakes. Lunch is sandwiches of whatever you want but not at the eating- hall. we had a picnic with our group only. There was plenty of options for vegan and dairy free

Our lodge is a giant lodge with a common room, and two parts. One I couldn’t go into because of my gender. The girl’s hallway is upstairs. We had a deck and rooms lining up to the end of the deck on the other end. We had two bunkbeds and a queen, 6 people per room but we had 5. There’s a bathroom, a shower room and a sink with cabinets. our beds had our own reading light and our personal little window. The floors and walls had radiated heat. It was really warm and comfortable, and I had a good night’s sleep.

I think that islandwood was super fun and I recommend going in 5^th grade. Make sure that you bring warm clothes if you go in the fall or winter.

From Lacie...

I had an amazing Islandwood experience. I went there with my school and had the best time ever!  The first thing you do is unpack your things into your room. I loved my roommates, they were my some of my best friends. The lodges are also cool, but they are not the only good thing. The food there is amazing and something to look forward to, they mastered every meal from breakfast to dessert. And you can't forget about the talent show! The talent show was fun to do and to watch, it was unforgettable. I spent most of the day with my field group. What is that? Well you have at least one instructor who shows you cool things and does fun activities with you and your group. You don’t get to pick your group, but I still liked mine, but not as much as I liked my instructor. Each group got its own name our groups name was bog, other examples of names are rain, and wave. One of the examples of the places that we went to was the beach, every group got to go there. But not every group got to go into the amazing bog tree house! To conclude my review, I would like to say that it has been one of my highlights of the year and that I highly recommend that you go to it.   

From Crystal...

I went to islandwood. Islandwood is likes a forest with trees and de era but it also has bis cabins. Also when de were in lslandwood, we got to eat eggs for breakfest and got turkey for dinner in a cafetería.

I loved the islandwood trip because we got to do fun activities. We got to walk at night and found out that if you bite a starburst, the candy can glow for a second. Also, we got to be blind like we would close our eyes and the teacher would like it’s eyes open a lede use.    I really liked the trip because we got to eat pasta, eggs,Turkey and for the last day that we got to spend there, we got to eat pizza and ice cream.  I really enjoyed the trip because we got to sleep in a big cabin and got rooms where we could sleep with friends, also the rooms had bathrooms and heated floors. I had fun mostly when we woke up with me. Bixmens music that she always used to wake use up.


Conclusion- I hope that if you want to go somewhere I recommend you go to islandwood and explore nature, also have fun.

From Ella...

     On November 6th, the fifth graders from our school, along with two other schools, went to an overnight fieldtrip to Islandwood. We were at Islandwood for 3 nights, and 2 1/2 days. Islandwood is a nature camp, and there are a lot of fun things to do!

     At Islandwood, we had what was called lodge time. Lodge time was when we got to hang out, and play games in the lodge that we slept in. I liked lodge time because it was a time when I would get to make my bed all cozy. It was really nice in the lodge because most of the floors were heated. The showers were nice and warm, so after the long day, you could have a nice warm shower.

     On the second night, we took a walk outside, which was really fun! It was really fun because we closed our eyes, and walked in a line with our hands on each other's shoulders, while being as quiet as possible. Our counselour gave us wintergreen lifesavers to eat. If you ate it with your mouth open, you could see they glowed bright green in the dark. Also, we learned how rodopsin builds up over time in your eyes when you are in the dark, so that you can see better.

     The food was delicious too! For dinner on the first night we were served pasta, on the second night we had turkey teriyaki, and on the last night we had pizza. For lunch they gave us different sandwich options to eat. And for breakfast they had things like eggs, muffins, bacon, and cereal. They even served desert! Even more, they had special options for those who had food restrictions.
     On the last full day, we went to the harbor. To get there, we had to walk through a bunch of plants, including poison oak. At the harbor, we got to flip over rocks to see if any small crabs were under them. We found lots of crabs! Our counselour showed us an app you can get, where you find an animal, take a picture of it, and name it. The harbor was really cold, but still was one of my Islandwood highlights.

     In conclusion, I would definitely recommend that if you ever get a chance to go to Islandwood, to take up that opportunity! The counselours are really nice, and Isalndwood is an amazing experience that you don't want to miss!

From Brianna...

     Our class and, the whole 5th grade went to a over night school, in the woods called Islandwood, and we had an amazing time!!! They had great food, such as eggs ,pizza, and pasta. They also had amazing lodges to sleep in. In each room in there was a bath room, a shower, and 5 beds. Each lodge had a huge common room, with many fun games. There were also filed groups that we did many fun activities with. We had such an amazing time at Islandwood.

From Amara...

     Island wood is a four day sleep away camp that I did with my school. I think that my experience at Island wood was very fun and exciting. I also really liked being outdoors because there were a lot of trees and plants. In addition, we did a lot of walking which I enjoyed. 

   I thought that Island wood was very fun and exciting. I thought that it was especially exciting when we saw a deer, and when we went to a beach called Blakley harbor, we saw crabs. Going to Island wood was also fun because we went into a tree house at night. 

   At Island wood we walked to all the activities, which I liked.  And while we walked I got to be with my friends. While we walked we also learned about different types of plants and berry's. During one of the activities we ate black berry's and huckleberry's which tasted very good. 

    At the end of the week we got to go to the "Floating Classroom". Which was a boat attached to a wire that went out into the middle of the pond. You were able to move the boat by peddling with your hands. While out in the water we saw frogs and some ducks. At the Floating Classroom it was raining hard which made it uncomfortable to be outside. 

        So, in conclusion, I would go back to Island Wood but on a nicer day, and probably only with friends. And I would recommend Island Wood to my friends, and people who like walking and being outdoors. 

From Kaya...

          Island Wood is a AMAZING program for all 5^th graders!  In other words, you could say Island wood is like an overnight camp for 4 days. Island Wood is not only a school program, they provide summer camp for everyone! They have so many activities, you won’t be able to daydream one bit!

           Island Wood is a program that invites JUST the 5^th graders from the whole school! If it’s a school activity. And every day we learn different things about nature.  They also have AMAZING cooks there! The food is AMAZING. The breakfast, lunch, and dinner are all different every day! Where do you sleep?  You stay in cool & FANCY lodges! And you get to sleep with your friends if you get lucky!

           Everyday Island Wood has different activities! Some activities are at night and most of them are at day. One of the activities that me and my team did during the day when I was in Island Wood was called “Floating Class Room” This activity was extreme fun because, you get on this boat made from logs. And in the middle of the boat there are 4 standing peddlers, and everyone gets a turn peddling there and back! When we get to the middle of the pond we stop and take notes on what we see. Such as ducks, fishes etc.

           Another activity that was at daytime was called “Space Walk” this is an activity that gives you an opportunity to walk in the woods bye yourself. So, basically this is how it works. The leader of the group goes first and as he/she walks down trail she leaves fun activity cards. Then person behind counts to 5 mississippi then starts walking. And when everyone finishes we talk about how the experience was.

           The last game was the most popular one. It was called “Night walk” this activity was where you walk in the dark and try to hear all the night nature sounds. It was cool!

           So, that’s why I loved Island Wood! So, if you want to go to a summer camp please choose Island Wood! Thank You!

From Sam...

Islandwood is an amazing camp on Bainbridge island. 

The grounds are in the woodlands with many animals. The lodges have heated floors, tons of rooms, 2 stories, a fireplace, and additional tabletop games. The other structures include the cafeteria, the garden, the bird blind, restrooms are dotted around grounds, a watch tower. There is also a harbor outside grounds you can visit. 

Therefore, with beautiful wildlife, amazing structures, and great food. I think that Islanwood would make a great addition to your summer. 

From Amos...

From November 6 through November 9 I went to Islandwood and I had lots of fun there. The food was great, the activities were fun, and the lodges were awesome.

The meals were delicious. They were big and each meal consisted of a lot and it all tasted fantastic. It was also cool to meet some of the kids from BF Day School and the kids from Telluride, Colorado at the dinner table.

Some of the activities such as the nightwalk and the solo hike were really really fun. The nightwalk was fun because it was quiet and tense and at the end, we got candies that exploded in our mouths. The solo hike was fun because it was a new experience to be hiking by myself. We also went to the beach and found crabs, and that was really cool, because I never seen so many in one place. At first when I walked up to the beach I had no idea there were any crabs at all, but we ended up finding close to two hundred.

The lodges were awesome because the floors were heated. The living room was comfortable and it was really cozy and felt nice. There was a fireplace, which I really enjoyed reading by. I shared a bedroom with some of my friends, and each bunk bed had its own nightlight. Plus, you could get a nice view out the window from your bunk.

From Amishi...

My Trip to Islandwood

  My class and I went to Islandwood. Well, all the 5th graders did. Islandwood is a place where you can stay in a lodge with some friends or in a cabin with friends or family.  At Islandwood you also learn about nature, and you can have breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  In my opinion I think it would be really fun if you go there.

   The way we went to Islandwood is we went on the school bus to downtown and the ferry. When we got on the ferry we had lunch , and if we wanted to we could go on the dock which was really windy.  When we got off the ferry, the bus first took some lefts and rights to get to the destination. Then we finally got there .

   After we got there, we got out and took all the luggage out of the U-HAUL and put the luggage on a luggage holder.  It took a longish walk to get to the lodge I was in. Finally, when we got there we unpacked and got ready for dinner which we had to walk to.   For our dinner we had pasta with cheese. Then we went back to our lodge and got in our pj’s and went to hear a story then we all went to bed.

    Our first morning, we got ready, had breakfast then we went to our leader. That day we went on a walk (of course). We went to the beach which was out of bounderies but it was ok and fun.  Then we walked back. Next, we had dinner. After that we did not go back to our lodges.  We went on a walk to the woods. We all put our hands to the person in front of us and closed our eyes. Then something exciting happened.   We put mints that light up in our mouths, which was so cool. 

  The next day when we woke up we had breakfast than went straight to our walk.  That day we went in the woods and the leader put hints/cards about what to do when we finally got to our destination. We played fun games -- no joke, really fun. The last day we first had breakfast, and then we went on our last short walk, and then everyone took lunch to take with them.  Our final activity was learning how to drum. Then we had to go back to our lodge and get ready to leave.      When we left, we said goodbye to our leaders and then we got on the bus and went to the ferry.  At the ferry we had lunch, and then we got off the bus and headed back to school.

     We did lots of stuff at Islandwood and I learned a lot about nature.  I think you should go there with friends and family.