LOCALadk Magazine

Fall 2014 9 LOCALadk June 2014 - Spring Adventure Last Friday, we made the trip to Adirondack Loj at Heart Lake for the last time. Right away our guide Laurel had us make nature names. Mine was Rhyann Rabbit Jr. The most interesting part for me was when we went back to the ski slope, the same place we made the snow sculptures in the winter. It was green and lush with many different kinds of plants, much different than it was in the winter. We took a grid made of string and cardboard and placed it on the ground. In each square of the grid there were different kinds of plants. We took our Heart Lake Adventure Journals and drew symbols for each of the different plants in our grid. I had ferns, wild strawberry plants and Indian paint brush in mine. On our hike around the lake we observed many holes in the ground. One of my friends called it a squirrel subway system. At the end of the day our whole fourth grade met at the outdoor amphitheater and received certificates for completing ADKs Three Seasons of Heart Lake Program. I am so grateful to the ADK Mountain Club for this awesome experience! About The Program By Michelle Gottschall Adirondack Mountain Club's (ADK) School Outreach program will be starting up again this fall and we anticipate a great season of hiking and learning about the seasonal changes of the Adirondacks with the new fourth grade students. Our Three Seasons of Heart Lake School Outreach Program focuses on providing outdoor, environmental education throughout the entire school year for local fourth graders. The program begins in the fall, when ADK educators visit the participating classrooms a week or two before they venture out to the Heart Lake Program Center for their educational hike. The lessons continue in the same format throughout the winter and spring seasons. By the end of the school year, ADK educators have visited each classroom three times and have also provided outdoor, environmental education on a hike with the students three times. These continued visits offer the students an opportunity to learn about the natural world and the seasonal changes, setting the stage for a positive learning environment between the students and their instructors. Additionally, ADK educators create a season-specific nature journal for each program, which creates a bridge between the outdoor and classroom curriculum. The advantage of ADK's school outreach program is that we are able to provide students with more than a one-time-only field trip. We interact with each class six times throughout the school year, providing them with the experiences to make a long-lasting connection with the Adirondacks. The format for this program also allows us to bridge the gap between the classroom curriculum and the natural environment, while meeting teacher curriculum needs by addressing topics that align with 4th grade learning standards and the Common Core. It's the perfect set up, one in which the teachers can justify allowing their students to venture outside and interact with nature, while still addressing topics required by the science, math, social studies and English standards. To top it all off, this program is offered free of charge by the Adirondack Mountain Club to local schools willing to make a long-term commitment. Thanks to the generosity of one ADK member, Art Haberl, the Marie L. Haberl school outreach grant was created to provide this programming in a time of tight budgets and school cuts. This fall Lake Placid, Saranac Lake, Bloomingdale, Elizabethtown, Keene and Plattsburgh Schools are all participants in the program. What a wonderful way to start the school year, with a close look at seasonal changes, while on a naturalist-led hike up Mt. Jo!

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