More information and dates will be coming soon!

3-Day/2-Night Outdoor Education Program

Our 3-day/2-night outdoor education program is the most popular program, offering teachers the choice of four core classes and two night activities. Utilizing your students' curiosity about the natural world, our instructors will guide your students through hands-on activities that engage students in higher-level thinking, problem solving, and personal growth.

Curriculum

WATER LAB

Students learn about watersheds, the water cycle, and aquatic food webs by using nets, strainers and microscopes to discover macro-invertebrates and their roles in pond ecology.

Learning Targets:

• I can use different scientific processes to identify macro organisms.
•  I can describe the health of the lake by the type of macro organisms living in the lake.
•  I can identify stages of complete and incomplete metamorphosis.

Water Lab is paired with canoeing and/or fishing to fulfill the 2.5 hour time allotted for class.

EXPLORING THE LAND

Students explore the biodiversity of the prairie and forest to identify a suitable place to settle and survive. Activities include biodiversity survey, erosion and deposition demonstration, soil profile, model shelter- and fire-building.

Learning Targets:

•  I can describe the importance of biodiversity.
•  I can describe the layers of the soil and the make-up of each of the layers.
•  I can explain the effects of erosion and deposition.
•  I can describe the characteristics of an area of land that man needs in order to survive.

FOREST ADVENTURE

Students hike through the forest and learn how forest organisms adapt to forest conditions, interact as an ecosystem, and how the ecosystem changes over time. Students learn basic tree identification, the carbon dioxide/oxygen cycle, and how man can and has affected the environment.

Learning Targets:

•  I can describe how inherited traits help organisms survive in their environment.
•  I can describe how succession impacts the ecosystems and give examples of ecotones.
•  I can give examples of the effects of weathering.
•  I can describe how the carbon dioxide/oxygen cycle and photosynthesis help trees and plants survive and thrive.

OUTDOOR LANGUAGE ARTS

Students will read nature-inspired poems and quotes along the trails and brainstorm ideas for their own poems. Students will review poetic techniques, figurative language, and poetic structure. Students will create their own nature-inspired poems.

Learning Targets:

•  I can understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about the structure and elements of poetry.
•  I can provide evidence from the text to support my understanding.
•  I can analyze how poets use sound effects to reinforce meaning in poems.
•  I can write a poem using poetic techniques such as alliteration and onomatopoeia.
•  I can write a poem using figurative language such as similes and metaphors.
•  I can listen and interpret other students' poems.

CHALLENGE COURSE

Led by a CCAC instructor, students participate in series of outdoor games and challenges designed to increase teamwork, problem-solving skills, and communication.

Learning Targets:

•  I can describe why it takes teamwork to accomplish a goal.
•  I can describe the characteristics of a good leader.

Challenge course is paired with archery to fulfill the 2.5 hour time allotted for class. For school groups larger than 100 students who select climbing wall as a recreational option, challenge course will be paired with climbing wall.

NATURE SCENE INVESTIGATION

Students investigate crime scenes of nature based on evidence found at each crime scene (fur, scat, and other evidence). Students use identification charts, critical thinking, and problem solving to solve the environmental crimes.

NSI is usually paired with group games to fulfill the 1.5 hour time allotted for the class.

NIGHT HIKE AND STAR GAZING

Groups take a nighttime hike with the intent of getting to know nature in the darkness, activating different senses than during their daily hikes. Activities emphasize sensory awareness and note differences between daytime and nighttime observations. Instructors will also point out seasonal constellations and tell folk stories about the stars and constellations.