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Our Four Pillars

  1. Team-building and Leadership -- developing these life-long skills through a variety of different activities.

  2. Outdoor Adventure -- orienteering, geocaching, fishing, survival skills

  3. Nature Studies -- looking at the animals and plants that call the TMS campus home

  4. Environmental Awareness -- concentrating on current environmental issues

Environmental/Outdoor Education Exploratory Courses

Our Environmental/Outdoor Education program encourages students to investigate, interact with, and impact the natural world. Led by Mr. Williams—formerly with PACK 741—these hands-on exploratory courses give students the chance to explore environmental topics and develop outdoor skills while spending time outside.

6th Grade

Students will spend time outdoors exploring, researching, and asking questions about the environment around them.

  • Build teamwork and communication skills through group challenges

  • Navigate the TMS campus using maps and compasses

  • Learn foundational survival skills

  • Study ecosystems and predator-prey relationships

  • Explore current environmental issues through hands-on activities

  • Field Trip: Orienteering adventure at an off-campus location

7th Grade

Students expand on outdoor skills with a deeper focus on navigation, planning, and local wildlife.

  • Participate in team-building and leadership challenges

  • Learn orienteering with a compass and GPS; go geocaching

  • Create and use maps for various purposes

  • Plan a mock backpacking trip

  • Learn survival skills: water filtration, shelter building, and fire-starting

  • Study local bird species

  • Learn the 7 Principles of Leave No Trace through weekly lessons

  • Field Trips

    • Local geocaching walk

    • Indoor rock climbing at Gripstone Climbing Gym

8th Grade

This advanced course emphasizes environmental leadership and skill application.

  • Design and carry out an Environmental Public Service Project

  • Build teamwork on a low ropes course

  • Learn wilderness first aid, fire-starting methods, and shelter construction

  • Study human-wildlife interactions

  • Learn to fish (including fly fishing and casting)

  • Design and set up a multistage geocache

  • Field Trips

    • Fishing at Wolf Lake

    • Visit to The Wild Animal Sanctuary

Timberview Adventure Leadership Experiences (TALES)

The TALES program offers experiential, cooperative learning opportunities that build leadership and confidence through outdoor adventure. Designed for 7th and 8th grade students at Timberview Middle School, TALES emphasizes hands-on exploration, teamwork, and personal growth.

Participants engage in outdoor experiences that help increase their comfort in natural settings while developing essential leadership skills. Students also participate in off-campus adventures throughout the year.

Past Field Trip Destinations Include

  • Grand Teton National Park (8th grade only)

Grand Teton National Park Trip – 8th Grade

Each year, eligible 8th grade students have the opportunity to join a school-sponsored trip to Grand Teton National Park. During this multi-day experience, students and staff stay at the Teton Science School, where they participate in a variety of outdoor learning activities over three days and three nights.

This unforgettable experience fosters leadership, independence, and a deeper appreciation for the natural world.

High Trails

High Trails is an opportunity available to all Academy District 20 sixth-grade students to learn about history, geography, earth, life and space sciences in a camp-like atmosphere in an outdoor classroom.

Find out more on the Academy District 20 High Trails page.

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