Over the course of four days, the Grade 6 students from Westlock Elementary School solved math problems, took part in phys-ed and took lessons in history, nature and poetry.
But unlike the rest of the school year, their “classroom” was the campground at Camp Mackinicholea by Long Island Lake.
“It’s school outside of school,” said teacher Maggie Cournoyer, one of the supervisors at the camp.
For many years now, the Grade 6 classes at WES have taken part in an annual “outdoor education camp” at Long Island Lake.
This year’s trip ran from Tuesday to Friday, with 81 students taking part, including special ed students.
The students stayed in seven cabins, with each cabin hosting about 10 to 15 students, said teacher Shayla Tellier.
Students were split into groups that determined their accommodations and what activities they would be doing at a given time on a given day.
“Every day we do something different,” said Tellier.
Along with the teachers and students, there were also a number of parents at the camp helping out, particularly in the kitchens.
Cournoyer noted they couldn’t put on the camp without the support of their parent volunteers.
Every day, the students occupied themselves with activities like short hikes, canoeing and orienteering (finding your way from Point A to B with a compass).
On Thursday, the students combined their newfound orienteering and canoed out to the island at Long Island Lake, where they had to put their orienteering knowledge to use by engaging in a scavenger hunt.
Teacher Sandy Jones noted that the school’s wake-a-thon fundraiser on May 21 and 22 enabled them to purchase one of the canoes, but six more were donated by the Westlock Recreation Centre, along with a trailer, which they will share with the nearby Bethel Bible Camp in the future.
On that first last Tuesday, there was a lot of emphasis on introducing the students to the campground: showing them the boundaries of the camp, where their cabins are, what rules they must follow and so on.
During a “welcome walk” teacher Dan McDonald talked about the history of the camp, which was purchased over 60 years ago by several local families who combined their names to come up with the moniker.
McDonald recalled there used to be staff at the camp to organize activities with the kids, so “it was a lot like a holiday for the teachers,” he said.
There were also team-building activities — basically, fun games geared towards making the students work together, like using teamwork to fill a leaky bucket with water.
Cournoyer said the students also do academic activities, like tree studies, mathalympics, poetry lessons and a game the teachers referred to as “make a park,” where the students are challenged to design a park around 100 trees planted at the campground.
Basically, it’s their normal curriculum, but it’s offered in a different way outside the classroom.
Cournoyer said she thinks this is a trip that the kids will remember in some way for the rest of their lives.
“It’s the experience of a lifetime for the kids, I think,” she said.
