By John Fitts
COLEBROOK — It’s been nearly 30 years that Canton Public Schools have sent kids back to nature.
Specifically the school district partners with the non-profit outdoor education organization Nature’s Classroom to offer sixth graders a near week-long experience. This year, some 135 students went to Camp Jewell, a sprawling paradise of more than 500 acres, complete with cabins, recreational areas, fields, a lake, hiking trails and farm animals.
While there, students participated in educational hikes, recess-like transition times, live performance skits, story times, group activities and outdoor classes that explore such areas as aquatic life, geology, biology, nature-based art, ancient skills, and haiku.
Students get to choose classes based on their interests and each incorporates elements of math, science, english, art and more.
“It’s all the disciplines we teach but it’s just in a whole different environment, with a different group of students and a different instructor,” said sixth-grade teacher Patrick Allen, who is also the district’s Nature’s Classroom Coordinator. … Continue Reading