Indoor Outdoor Classrooms

Creek

Celebrated in the school song (“a creek for cardboard boating…”), the creek has been a favorite spot for play and study for generations of MCDS students. Lower Schoolers don their rubber boots when they play in the creek!

Dock

The dock provides access to the Bay for children to study the natural habitat of many plants and animals. For example, second graders use the dock mainly for their Bay Study in science to observe and conduct hands-on investigations. There is a hatch door so the students can lightly touch barnacles, sea anemones, and other Bay inhabitants. They can also observe waves, tidal shifts, and be “out on the water.”

In Upper School, students spend time on the dock discussing general conditions of the estuary, taking water samples, taking bottom samples and doing a plankton tow. Some teachers like to take their students out on the dock for an impromptu activity or just to read by the water.

Lower School Garden

Lower School students use the garden to study the life cycle of plants. The students plant, tend, and harvest crops such as lettuce, carrots, beans, and tomatoes which are then shared with the school kitchen and served at lunchtime.

Upper School Garden

Located adjacent to the Upper Field, the Upper School Garden allows 6th through 8th graders the same opportunity to study and cultivate plants as their Lower School counterparts.

Ring Mountain

Bordering the campus, the grassy slopes of Ring Mountain provide a unique location for the study of native and non-native plant species. The mountain’s geology and microclimate provide a home for a number of rare plants.

Playground and Fields

The wide-open spaces of the Upper and Lower Fields are ideal sites for play, P.E. classes, and organized after-school teams sports such as soccer and baseball. The Lower Field, which borders the bay, is the location for the Walkathon and for MCDS’s annual Field Day (Blue vs. Green) competition.

The playgrounds in Lower, Middle, and Upper School are designed to offer safe, engaging, and age-appropriate environments for play during recess. Lower Schoolers particularly enjoy playing in the little red school house —a fixture on the Lower School playground for decades. Middle School students use recess to scamper about on the wooden play structures or hone their skills at tetherball, basketball, and four-square. Basketball is a popular choice on the Upper School playground as well.

Tim Hall Area

Dedicated in memory of a former MCDS student, the Tim Hall area is a beacon for those in search of a place for quiet reflection.