Twice weekly, Carpe Diem students hop on the Metro bus for a short two-mile ride to a place called Jumping Mouse. A favorite destination for the students, Jumping Mouse contains 5 acres of forest, organic garden, lawn, and our school’s art studio. In the Jumping Mouse Forest students connect with all that the two-acre forest has to offer, and where Carpe Diem hosts environmental studies. Students may be on the prowl searching for decomposers, listening to woodland bird song, creating objects using natural materials, or simply enjoying magic spots within the forest.

The Jumping Mouse Art Studio is also the destination for our weekly art projects. Often these projects are tied to the seasons, or a theme unit we are currently studying. We may be making dragon puppets, creating leaf prints, exploring color, composition, sculpture, painting with a variety of mediums,  or simply drawing from nature.

Jumping Mouse is also the destination for our organic garden. We till  the soil and plant our vegetable starts and seeds in the spring. When the students return in the fall, we harvest our bounty of grapes, berries, kale, lettuces, tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, and a variety of other tasty edibles.  The lawn at Jumping Mouse is also the perfect place for all school outdoor games such as sharks and minnows, sheep tails, British bulldog, and parachute play.