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Middle School » Wild Ways

Wild Ways

WILD WAYS

Wild Ways, our three-year outdoor education program, builds on our foundation of social and environmental justice. In partnership with East Bay Regional Parks, our naturalist-led lessons track our social studies and science programs each year, providing opportunities for students to apply their learning to real-life experiences. The program culminates in an eighth grade backpacking trip where students put their learning into practice.

 

 

Sixth graders focus on traditional tools and technologies with hands-on lessons including weaving a variety of containers from local materials, starting a fire using friction, using heat to straighten sticks for tool construction, making cordage, and more.
Seventh graders focus their Wild Ways studies on plants, animals, habitats and ecosystems. Through extended study of the Wildcat Creek Watershed, students learn about the native flora and fauna of our area and study how interactions with humans and invasive species impact important ecosystems.
Building on their learning from sixth and seventh grade, students turn their attention to practical wilderness skills. Under the supervision of a professional naturalist, eight graders learn navigation and compass reading, wilderness first aid, trail building and maintenance, shelter-building, and more. The year culminates with a weeklong wilderness backpacking trip where they put their learning into practice.