professional development on us
Please stay tuned for future teacher retreats!
Nature’s Classroom is hosting our annual spring Teacher Retreat. This free professional development weekend for teachers takes place at our Lake Ossipee, NH center. We’ll cover all accommodation, food, beverages, recreation, guest speakers, seminars, and entertainment. All you have to do is show up!
Submit an INTEREST BELOW
location
Our Freedom site is nestled in the southern edge of the White Mountain National Forest along the sandy shores of Lake Ossipee, in New Hampshire. Our setting is spectacular!
Guests can stroll along the mile of shorefront or hike the wooded nature trails, explore the wetlands and creeks, and head to the field to gaze at the stars in the seemingly endless night sky. Our site houses an ecosystem rich with trees and plants, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, as well as more than 30 varieties of birds (even bald eagles)! The welcoming landscape and biodiversity make this the perfect setting for learning in the great outdoors.
travel times to cody
Boston - 2 hours, 10 minutes
Concord - 1 hour, 20 minutes
Manchester - 1 hour, 40 minutes
Portland - 1 hour, 20 minutes
cody’s campus and facility
The breathtaking natural setting of Cody is enhanced by its facilities, making it the perfect location for this teacher retreat and professional development weekend. All of the buildings are new or have recently undergone major expansion or refurbishing. We continue enhance and expand the facility to meet the learning needs of our schools and retreat attendees.
Our spacious dining hall seats 250+ and also serves as an indoor instructional area for lessons and evening programs for visiting schools. Our 4-season Rec Hall houses the indoor basketball gym and includes a stage. It can also serve as an indoor instructional area for lessons or evening programs.
Accommodations
We offer comfortable, modern, heated, accommodations on nearly 100 acres and a mile of shoreline on Lake Ossipee. All cabins and lodges are pine paneled, have single or bunk beds, electricity, fully equipped bathrooms, and Wifi.
You’ll be sharing a cabin with other teachers and education professionals like you - there for community, to learn, to share, and have a wonderful time. There are some private rooms available for attendees with special needs or particular accommodation requirements.
food and drinks
We’re proud to offer perhaps the best food at any outdoor education center in the nation. Our chefs are full-time career professionals. Led by our head chef, John Gross, who is culinary institute trained, ex-Disney World, our team delivers a superb dining experience for our guests. The lakeside dining and entertainment venue is spectacular, and we’ll make sure that you’re relaxed and enjoying the food and beverages, provided by our staff who have a reputation for delivering superb guest service.
Guest Speakers
In addition to walking and biking trails, tennis and basketball courts, and or just relaxing in our lakeside Adirondack chairs, we’ll have tremendous guest speakers offering a wide range of professional development sessions, some academic, and some, just for fun.
workshops
We will be offering a variety of customized, interactive, workshops, not 3-hour canned lectures. We’re not here to have you suffer through hours of consultants telling you how you’re “doing it all wrong” and how their way is better. The goal is to help not hinder, to entertain and edify, not to bore you.
Entertainment and yoga
While we’re cramming your minds full of good stuff, your stomachs with delicious food, we also want to entertain with a variety of activities, and then help you relax and enjoy our spectacular setting. We’ll offer guided tours on land and water, and then for those looking for a more peacful moment, sessions in mindfulness, stretching, and relaxing, with Tara, our superb yoga guru.