News & Press Releases
Camptown’s “How Wild is Your School” Program Visits Irvington on Earth Day ’09
On April 22, 2009, ICS marked the occasion of the 39th anniversary of Earth Day by hosting some special visitors for grades 4-6 and having a daylong series of environmental awareness activities for K-3 students.
Thanks to Keep Indianapolis Beautiful Inc.’s sponsorship, Camptown, a local nonprofit that serves central Indiana youth by providing wilderness adventures, brought its “How Wild Is Your School” outdoor experiential learning program to Irvington for the day. Two Camptown staff members, Brittany Sherman and Brent Freeman, led 4th-6th grade students in teambuilding activities that challenged them to engage one another in collaborative problem solving.
Camptown’s teambuilding exercises are designed to help children understand what it means to really work as a team, and to do so in a respectful, helpful manner. And although fun, none of it is easy. Each student has to work as an interconnected part of a whole, navigating such challenges as crossing the imaginary “Peanut Butter River” with classmates, along with participating as a team member in other colorfully named exercises like the “Pipeline,” “Buzz Saw,” “Helium Hula Hoop,” and more.
Freeman, a Camptown program leader, felt the day went well. “It was great to work with your students and to help them learn valuable lessons about interacting with one another, lessons that they can apply in the classroom, at home, and in their everyday lives,” he says. “We enjoy doing the program because it allows the students to teach each other and themselves about teamwork through solving the hypothetical problems we posed to them.”
The Camptown program received high marks from ICS teachers whose students participated. Fourth grade teacher Ms. Dwyer commented, “I really liked how the usual leaders of the class had to become listeners and followers. I saw growth in how my students interacted with each other.” Mrs. Smith noted that her 5th grade class “learned that communication is a big part of being successful.” And 4th grade instructor Mrs. Daugherty added, “I thought the students really enjoyed the program. Perhaps most significantly, it helped some of them to see that they have leadership potential.”
The K-3rd grade teachers organized a daylong Earth Day program of their own, in which the eight teachers’ classes rotated through a number of activities intended to help students better understand their individual and societal roles in helping to take care of the environment. Mrs. Rago, an ICS 2nd grade teacher who organized the event with Mrs. Thorn, one of our 1st grade teachers, said, “We just wanted to be sure and recognize Earth Day as a community of learners. We also wanted to give tips on simple ways students can help our planet.”
Throughout Earth Day ’09, K-3rd grade students made musical instruments out of everyday discarded materials, cleaned up trash on the school grounds, sorted trash for recycling, played a recycling game, read The Lorax and did an activity associated with this classic Dr. Seuss book and its message about ecological awareness, went outside and made a “worm” from empty milk jugs, “revived” old T-shirts, and charted the "refuse path" of some products. Mrs. Rago noted that many parents sent in throwaway items for the kids to work with on Earth Day. Days later, she observed, students were still talking about their ICS Earth Day experience. Now, that’s really wild!