By Daya Scheide.
During the first week of May, the Crestone Charter School’s combined fourth and fifth grade intermediate class spent five wonderful days camping in the high mountain meadows along Burro Creek, just west of Del Norte. With plenty of sunshine, fresh air and clean water, the students enjoyed an unforgettable opportunity to work and play together and to reconnect with the rhythms of nature.
Under the guidance of EarthKnack teachers and interns, the students learned how to make cordage from local plants, start a friction fire with a bow-drill, safely carve wood with a knife, cut firewood with a vintage two-person crosscut saw, shoot a bow and arrow and so much more. Each child experienced a little bit of what life was like for 19th-century Colorado homesteaders. Students had opportunities to watch a professional farrier trim a horse’s hooves, fit them with new shoes and then take rides in an old-fashioned horse-drawn buggy. Some kids took the opportunity to try riding bareback on a trustworthy horse.
Charter School spring trips are powerful and transformative experiential learning adventures that give students unique opportunities to overcome challenges together. For some fourth graders, this was their first trip away from home without their parents. With help from their teachers, students worked together to set up camp, cook and serve their own healthy meals, and wash their own dishes. Camping in Colorado isn’t always easy, especially in the springtime, when the nights are still cold. But when these students were given the chance to step a little bit outside of their comfort zone, the results were amazing: increased confidence and resilience, a greater sense of responsibility and collaboration, a deeper relationship with the natural environment and a real authentic sense of health and happiness.
Some of the kids’ favorite memories include hiking up to a pure mountain spring, taking care of the horses, playing near the creek, hanging out with their friends, taking rides on the zipline and of course, sharing songs and stories around the campfire.