A school program focused on integrating the wonders of nature with academic experiences will be offered once again this year for kindergartners at The Pathfinder School.
The independent school first introduced the unique but highly successful program last year. Since then, it’s helped not only foster a love and curiosity for the outdoors among kindergarten students, but it has also led to academic achievements. Test scores reveal 98% of the class finished the year above grade level in reading, further proof of the program’s effectiveness in fostering early literacy skills, while over half of the students scored in the 90th percentile in math skills.
“Our forest program has a very strong academic component to it,” said Taryn Carew, Pathfinder School Advancement Director. “The main idea is that these kids are immersed in the outdoors for four hours a day, all weather, all the time.”
Carew said everything is designed to be student-centered at Pathfinder, where youth are able to take advantage of the many benefits found learning in nature on the 22-acre campus. While there’s an element of play incorporated into the kindergarten program, Carew said kids are still getting and learning about all of the social and emotional aspects that they would in a traditional classroom setting, too. Whether it’s learning how to count numbers, math, science, or any subject, kindergartners are able to understand and apply the knowledge they absorb but in an outdoor setting.
Starting the nature-based program as a kindergartner at the beginning of one’s educational journey helps to lay a foundation for success, Carew added, creating a passion for education no matter what subject it is.
“They’re learning to read, they’re learning the basics of letter recognition and number recognition, things like that. If you can build that base confidently and joyfully, it sets the tone for their learning environment for the rest of their learning career,” she said. “That’s really a value of the Pathfinder School as a whole — instilling this lifelong love of learning in our students and how we can do that.”
Pathfinder School faculty member and forest kindergarten leader Ron Harig introduced the program a year ago. While kids are immersed in the outdoors, they’ll get called for oneon- ones in the “learning hut,” where they receive individualized attention to complete writing, math, and other assignments. The “child-led” component, Carew explains, is just the premise that they are looking to the students to help guide their own educational journeys.
“We’re going to teach reading, writing, math, and science, but we can do it in a way that ignites a passion in the kids,” she said. “Our third graders hatched chicken eggs in science and learned about life cycles. They can really do that cross-curricularly where they are learning about it in science, and they’re designing chicken habitats in art… So the whole educational journey can be really exciting to them if that’s what they’re really excited about.”
For more information about forest kindergarten, go to www. thepathfinderschool.org.
