On and Off the Rocks at Ferry Beach

Sixth grader Jack Poska will especially remember night wind from his time in Saco, Maine last week.

“I liked going in the forest at night,” he said. “We heard the wind rustling against the leaves.”

Jack and 150 classmates from spent two nights and three days exploring the forest, the rocky beach, even ways to reduce waste at the dinner table. 

They were at Ferry Beach Ecology School where the classroom is outdoors even in the rain.

They poked through rocky tide pools, scooped crabs from sea water and looked them square in the eye.

They heard sea gull cries and crashing waves.

Grade 6 science teachers Stacey Beck and Liz Rogers said the students learned ABCs of ecology and lessons about ecosystems.

They made up songs and acted out skits.

Some of them also learned about feeling homesick, though the teachers tried to prepare  kids for their time away from home.

Fourteen middle school teachers and administrators chaperoned the students. 

Thirty sixth graders did not make the trip, and, instead, got their lessons at the middle school.

In Saco, 12 Ferry Beach staff members taught the lessons and led trips to the marsh, shore and forest.

The kids also played cards in their dorm rooms and ate fun food like pizza and mac’n cheese.

They recycled and composted.

The group ended up with 16 pounds of waste after their first campus meal, the teachers said.

Their last meal produced one pound of waste.

Swampscott students have visited Ferry Beach for four or five years now, and pay for the trip.

The Saco lessons dovetail with school curriculum, the teachers said.

And the teachers and students alike look forward to the trip each year.

“Oh, it was so much fun,” Rogers said, wistfully.