Princeton Academy Forest Program"Let's go to the woods!" shout Princeton Academy students as they begin the new Forest Program!”
Both Princeton Academy Faculty and Ridgeview Conservancy Youth Stewards have been hard at work this summer. Their summer work has built lessons across subjects centering on experiential learning and connections to nature. The Forest Program will provide hands-on activities and project based learning, which will elevate student knowledge, understanding, and connections to the environment. Students will develop greater responsibility and active stewardship enabling them to become environmental agents. Princeton Academy will build on its strong comprehensive educational program by integrating the Forest Program into the core curriculum in both the indoor classroom and outdoor classroom. Students have already become familiar with identifying trees and differentiating between native and invasive species. They will learn how to protect amphibian habitats, practice outdoor survival skills, and explore cultural-historic sites. Faculty and students will use the forest as a classroom across the curriculum. Curriculum examples of teaching and learning in the forest are: English classes will engage in nature journaling and storytelling, math classes will be able to sort and count leaves, measure tree height, and collect data and analyze animal populations, science classes will observe the plants and animals of the forest and conduct experiments, and social studies classes will learn about the people of the land and how they interacted with the land.
The students will benefit in strengthening their social emotional wellness as they will spend part of their school day outside across the school campus. They will engage in many experiences through the positive impact of nature, which will allow them to be in the moment feeling a sense of excitement and a sense of calm, appropriately engage with the plants and animals, and improve their interactions with each other as teammates working together.
Princeton Academy is an all boys school. Boys thrive in an environment that allows them to be navigators of their own learning. Having class in the forest is a practical scenario for them to develop their ability to observe and problem solve. Boys learn best deductively. They can build knowledge and understanding in the indoor classroom and move to the outdoor classroom in the forest to apply their learning in realistic situations. Boys learn best when they are given clear goals and feedback and when they are not afraid of failure. Boys will benefit from the clear expectations and safety considerations in the indoor classroom that will prepare them for the challenges of the forest classroom. The boys will be well prepared for their forest study through a solid foundation and strong connections. The important routines of learning will be enhanced by the spontaneous wonder of nature. Think about it! The boys will be going on daily adventures feeling the power of the wind, the warmth of the sun, the crackle of leaves, the chatter of birds, the brush of the leaves on the trees, the sounds and sights of animals moving about the forest floor, the falling rain, and more. They will be tasked with a variety of activities that will require lots of movement, curiosity, imagination, creativity, multi-sensory exploration, play, collaboration, and cooperation. Of course, safety will be the number one priority in keeping the boys free from harm in the forest. They will stay together with their teachers, be aware of their surroundings, and be prepared for emergencies. They will have to keep hats, boots, rain gear, and work gloves in school.
In the end, the boys will have many personal experiences with nature through active participation, which will build their relationship with nature and their ability to become environmental stewards.
Read More: RidgeviewConservancyPartnership.pdf