LAKE CITY — Outdoor education has been a part of Lake City area schools for decades, Superintendent Timothy Heinal said.
In recent years, school districts have worked to make outdoor education a more regular part of the curriculum. Haynal said their goal is to raise the children to be good students and good people.
“This is one of those overarching pieces that really helps deepen who they are on a personal level,” he said.
Lake City's outdoor education consists of multiple components that provide students with a variety of experiences and learning opportunities. These parts include adventure, experiences, and environmental education.
Heynal said these options allow the district to offer students a variety of age-appropriate experiences and challenges. Each field also has skills and character development, he said.
Lake City is focusing primarily on environmental education for elementary school students as we move toward the end of this school year.
Lake City Elementary School Vice Principal Meghan Utek said each grade level, preschool through fifth grade, will take a trip to Missaukee Mountain Resort in Lake City. Some of the activities they do include team building, science-based art projects and ecology lessons, she said.
For example, my second grade class built a bird feeder, learned about erosion, and went on a treasure hunt during a nature walk. Inside the resort's lodge, Utek said they work on teamwork and communication skills through a series of other activities.
Being in an outdoor space gives teachers a unique opportunity to form special connections with students, Utek said. These connections can be made through conversations about students' interests in nature and experiences such as hunting and fishing.
According to Utek, these conversations help teachers learn more about their students and are great for building relationships.
“If we can strengthen that relationship, we'll see a lot of improvement in the classroom, not just academically, but behaviorally and even in difficult situations that certain children may experience,” Utek said. Told.
“Teachers can use these past conversations to make connections and hopefully help the child get through what is probably a difficult time.”
Lindsey Howard, a second-grade teacher at Lake City Elementary School, said she has seen these improvements in her classroom. She said the team-building activities allowed the students to work in groups and communicate with each other better.
Howard has also seen students shine as leaders. She said she has seen students who would not normally have such opportunities come out of their shells and engage in various outdoor education activities.
“Because of the emphasis on academics here, you're really fine-tuning skills that you don't always get to showcase,” Howard said. “When we’re not here, we focus more on character and who you are as a leader and as a team.”
Outdoor education also helps students learn. Beth Nolan, a second-grade teacher at Lake City Elementary School, said the resort allows for more hands-on activities that cannot be done in the classroom.
She said these activities can be more impactful and meaningful because students learn better by actually doing something. Utec says teachers can also reflect on these activities when they return to the classroom.
One of the activities the second graders did helped them learn about erosion. Beth Tice, a second-grade teacher at Lake City Elementary School, said she dripped water onto the cornstarch to show how erosion changes the land over time.
This activity was a highlight for Lake City Elementary School second-graders Brady Drabik and Cora Hubbard. The two said the activity helped them better understand erosion and how it works.
Lake City's outdoor education curriculum will be strengthened starting next school year. The district has been building a ropes course and climbing tower at Missaukee Mountain Resort since May.
These structures are essential to the adventure and experiential element of outdoor education, especially for Lake City middle and high school students.
Hejnal said the goal is to use these structures as metaphors for challenges one might face in school or in life.
For example, a tower to climb can be used as a metaphor for a journey. Heinal said the climbing holds used by the students can be seen as something they can rely on in life to help them achieve their goals. Belays and climbing ropes can be considered support systems for students.
Hejnal said hiking can also be used as a metaphor for life's journey. He said the rugged terrain can be used to represent the challenges they face and need to overcome.
Another purpose of using these structures is to place students in moderately stressful situations. Hejinal said the idea is for students to realize the mistakes they've made and learn from them, leading to growth.
He said when students overcome stressful situations, such as reaching the top of a wall, it shows them their abilities. We hope students can reflect on their experiences and know that they have overcome other challenges they may have faced.
“The idea is to create an environment where those experiences become fixed, so the learning becomes more than that,” Heynal said.
Giving each other words of encouragement is also a big part of these experiences. Heinal said he wants students to learn how their words can empower others to achieve their goals, whether on the course or in life.
Lake City Elementary School Counselor Katie Richardson said for the younger students, they focus on using empathy when encouraging each other. She said she asks her students to observe others because each person needs a different kind of encouragement.
“I think it helps to understand that while everyone has different needs when it comes to communication, the universal thing is to speak to people with empathy and to take time to stop and think before speaking. I think so,” she said.
Lake City plans to have students go to the resort over five days and do a variety of activities. Hejnal said the goal is to make outdoor education a regular part of how students learn.
The district is also encouraging teachers to think of new ways to incorporate outdoor education into the way they teach various subjects.
Haynal said they are partnering with other schools in the area to learn about and participate in outdoor education programs. As Lake City strengthens its outdoor education curriculum, he said it will work to develop teams to train what other schools are doing.
“Our goal, and it's very real, is to be a regional adventure learning center and help different communities in that kind of education and growth,” he said.