When Ms. Annalise said she wanted to take her second graders backpacking I said, “Our backpacks are bigger than your backpackers.” But doing the impossible is nothing new for the Kindergarten through 2nd graders at Roots & Wings Community School. It’s rare for even high school students to go into the wilderness overnight, even at the most ambitious and exclusive private schools. And here we are at this little public school camping out for three days in the mountains with five-year-olds.
2nd Graders head back to civilization
It’s a credit to the teachers that—in a state where the Governor is bent on shutting down all but the largest and most average schools—RWCS continues to get as far out there as a public school can be. Take Mr. VanEvery’s first trip with Localogy as an example. His 3rd – 5th graders were studying food systems. In a planning meeting, he told me not to shop for Wednesday dinner because we were going to harvest it from the mountain! Pit roasted goat and prickly pear cactus never tasted so good.
The Roots & Wings mission is to engage the head, hands and heart ̶ enabling students to achieve more than they think possible and to take an active role in our ever-changing world. Students who spend their days in tidy rows of desks will find themselves woefully unprepared in the real world. The world is a dynamic place, and so too must be our schools!
A 4th grader growing a brain