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Fall
Geocaching
Geocaching gives students an opportunity to participate in a real world "treasure" hunt using coordinates, clues and a handheld GPS device. In the winter, students can participate in "Ski-o-caching," or geocaching on skis.
Grades 3 - 12 Outdoor Skills Fall Spring Winter
High Ropes Course
Our high ropes courses are set 30 and 50 feet above ground! These two different challenge courses are aimed at presenting safe challenges that build deeper, more trusting relationships.
Grades 6 - 12 Outdoor Skills Fall Spring
Wild Kingdom
This class is an introduction to wildlife study; components of habitat, predator-prey relationships, and food chains are the basics of understanding wildlife needs and survival. We will use games/activities to teach these concepts. We also have the taxidermied animals in Creation Station to point students to the God who created these animals with a variety of "adaptations" so they could survive in a wonderfully complex world.
Grades 3 - 8 Animals Fall Spring Winter
Wet and Wild
This hands-on exploration of the edges of Little James Lake is one of our favorite classes. Students will see a wide variety of plants and animals as we collect and observe frogs, minnows, crayfish, and aquatic insects. We will begin with discussion about the values of these "riparian" communities and why the Creator made them. Then we'll go outdoors and use the hip waders and aquatic nets. This class is especially fun in spring when the frogs are abundant.
Grades 3 - 8 Animals Fall Spring
Animal Tracks and Signs
We can have a pretty good idea of what is happening with wildlife around us if we learn to “read” animal tracks and other signs. Students will use rubber-mold animal feet and plaster of paris to make "take home" track casts. Then they will go outdoors to hunt for some real tracks.
Grades 3 - 8 Animals Fall Spring
Night Sounds and Sights
Here's an activity that will be something new and unique for students. The night hike (with flashlights covered with a red filter) introduces them to the world of nocturnal animals. We will spend several minutes sitting quietly and listening to the sounds of the night and perhaps even getting a look at some birds or mammals active at night.
Grades 5 - 8 General Ecology Fall Spring
Mysteries of the Bog
What is it about bogs that fascinates us, causing students to react with exclamations like, “awesome,” “gross,” and “may we go to the bog again?” We will hike to Blueberry Bog, a glacially-formed kettle bog that features a large mass of sphagnum peat moss to walk on and two kinds of carnivorous plants to observe. Stay on the boardwalk to keep your feet dry or take your shoes off and feel the wet sphagnum with your bare feet!
Grades 3 - 8 General Ecology Fall Spring
Limnology
Depending on the time allowance, we will begin with an indoor session about the unique properties of H2O , our absolute dependence on it for life, water quality, and aquatic ecology. Outdoors, we will collect and observe aquatic animals and conduct water quality tests at one or more of our aquatic areas (lakes, ponds, bogs, creek, marsh).
Grades 7 - 12 General Ecology Fall Spring
Exploring Special Places
Students will find their own special place out in the woods. They will choose from several observation activities in their personal "Explorer's Guide"; activities that encourage them to use their senses to focus on the beauty of God's creation around them.
Grades 6 - 8 General Ecology Fall Spring
A Sense of Wonder
One of our desires in outdoor education is to help students appreciate the Creator and the creation through developing a “sense of wonder” about the natural world. This session will have students using their senses--sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell to focus on the creation around us.
Grades 3 - 6 General Ecology Fall Spring
Trees R Us!
Get acquainted with some tree-mendous food producers and air cleaners - trees! Students will learn about photosynthesis, tree growth, how we use trees, and how to identify some common tree species. We have a wide variety of trees here, but the favorite area for many of us is the hemlock/white pine grove that features some 100 year old giants.
Grades 3 - 6 Plants Fall Spring Winter
Team Challenge Course Option
The focus is on teamwork as students and adults tackle some of the 15 elements of the low-element ropes course. Trained staff will facilitate your experience; helping to make it fun and safe. Be ready for a dynamic learning experience!
Grades 6 - 12 Outdoor Skills Fall Spring
Orienteering
Students will learn how to use a compass and test those skills with a compass game. In a more extensive orienteering program, we will learn how to read a topographic map and then work in pairs on an orienteering course, looking for markers set out somewhere in our 570 acres. In winter we use snow shoes for traveling through the woods
Grades 5 - 12 Outdoor Skills Fall Spring Winter
Canoe Trip Option
Students in senior high classes may choose to go on a one or two-day canoe trip on the nearby Flambeau River as part of their week at Forest Springs. We have the staff and all the equipment you will need for a fun supplement to the program. This option will involve an additional charge.
Grades 9 - 12 Outdoor Skills Fall Spring
Canoeing
Instruction in the basics of canoeing for novice and intermediate paddlers, followed by a paddling tour around James Lake.
Grades 7 - 12 Outdoor Skills Fall Spring
Basic Camping Skills
This is an introduction to outdoor/camping skills including fire building and cooking something simple. Students will have an opportunity to practice these skills. We will also introduce to them the idea of practicing good stewardship through minimum impact camping habits.
Grades 5 - 8 Outdoor Skills Fall Spring