This year Sharon Elementary School 4th and 6th grade teachers, Meg Hopkins and Janis Boulbol, piloted a program called A Week in the Woods. They developed an outdoor learning curriculum that consisted of going into the woods every day each morning for 3 hours and then a full day on Friday. The Essential Question for the week was “How do we survive and thrive?”
“Each day we explored a theme connected to our Essential Question,” Janis says. “We explored shelter, water, fire, and food. We developed games, readings, and challenges that supported the theme every day. On the final day, we had local experts come to the forest and teach students about the importance of water, essential shelter building skills, wild local edible plants and we cooked our lunch over the fire. We traveled to the forest at the Sharon Academy and used that as our outdoor classroom.”
“It takes a lot of heart, soul, time, effort and collaboration to do this work,” says Meg Hopkins. “The harder the work, the more rewarding it is,” she adds. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“This work is the reason I teach,” says Janis. “It inspires me and my students, makes me want to learn and do more and share my learning with others. For me, it is what education is meant to be, relevant, important, and sustaining. Also, it is work that needs time, professional development and continued recognition for its necessity and importance.”
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