In my Outdoor Education Journal I will talk about various things I did during Outdoor Education. I will explain every activity I did at Outdoor Ed, from my favorite activities to my least favorite activities. Everything will be in great detail. I will also explain how we solved problems in the team’s courses. I will also tell you about how I felt. I will tell you about activities such as teams course, survival, orienteering, archery, insect study, new games, nature and climbing tower/high ropes.

The first thing we did was play a game called “Brawl Ball” where everyone on a team gets numbers and when the caller calls out their number they have to run to the ball in the middle, pick it up and try to throw it or kick it in to the opponents base which is guarded by the other team. After that we played an everyone is it tag game where everyone who is playing is a tagger and you have to get some one before they get you. After that we played blob tag where one person is tagger and whoever that person tags has to join hands with them and the object of the game is to have tagged everyone and made them part of the blob. We also played finger fencing which is where two players pair up and join hands but keep their pointer fingers out and the objective of the game is to get as many touches with your finger on the opponent as possible. We also played a ball toss game where we had three balls and we were standing in a circle and the objective of the game was to get the ball to everybody without dropping it. In this activity my team and I learned that we had to cooperate in order to complete this task and so we did and were able to complete that task. We then went over to the low ropes course and over there we tried to figure out how to get off our imaginary ship without breaking through it and there was a platform about ten feet away from us and there was a rope to get to it but it was five feet away from us. We considered Cory’s idea to take a lace and throw it around the rope and pull it in and it worked. To get to the platform we used each other’s knees so we could get to the platform without going through the ship. The last person had to be able to get over the ship. I was last so I jumped over the ship and used the rope to get to the platform and we were successful. Next we went over to the help maze and what we had to do to get through the maze but not by following the rope with a blindfold on but by asking for help. This activity was to teach us that it is ok for you to ask for help. The last activity we did in the low ropes course was called save lake Geneva. This is the activity we have to stay connected to everyone directly or indirectly and have to get through twelve sections of rope and if you touch the sides of the rope you have to start all over. Then after that we separated into our groups and did balloon relay races. Each time we had to get our balloon to the other side without using hands and you had to use a partner and the last person had to roll across the opposite sideline. We learned the five-finger rule. The pinkie is the finger that needs to be protected, the ring finger is the commitment finger, the middle finger is the disrespect finger, the pointer finger is the blame finger and the thumb is the leadership finger. Then we went to the gymnasium and did five relay races and we got disqualified in one of them and we also came in third place.

We did archery, which is a shorter name for bow and arrow shooting. We first learned about safety rules and then we shot bows and arrows. Soon after we played a game where we had to earn twenty-five points by popping balloons. I hit the balloon that made us lose five points by accident. In the end we were able to get twenty-five points but only because our Physical Education teacher was able to hit the final balloon.

We then went on to Nature where we learned about animals. We learned about animal and saw their point of view because we had our thumbs taped to our hands. We had to try to catch and open candy without thumbs. Then we did an exercise where our activity leader sprayed peppermint water on pieces of paper and we had to use our sense of smell to find where they were because they were hidden in the woods. We found every piece of paper and were rewarded with airheads.

Next we went to Entomology, which is the study of insects. We learned about insects such as Butterflies and moths. We learned that insects could be determined by their different attributes. We learned that dragonflies eat mosquitoes. We also learned that Butterflies eat from the milkweed plants which is what poisons their predators and that they start as caterpillars and turn into a butterfly inside their chrysalis. We also made insect out of candy but we got to name them our own names and they didn’t have to be real insects.

We then continued on to orienteering, which is navigating to areas with a compass. We also used triangulation, which is going three different directions and ending up right where you started. We now use Global Positioning Systems or GPS. We then navigated through the woods. We started at a certain point and we were given the direction and the amount of steps we had to go and the point that we reached was a tree that had a letter on it that we had to write down. Once we finished navigating we were done.

Then we went to Survival where we sat around a fire and had a task, which was to build a shelter which could protect you and that you could sleep in and a shelter that was able to protect you from being drenched. After that we presented our shelter. We then learned that an average human can go three weeks without food, three days without water and it takes about three ours to build a shelter. We learned that in survival three is the magic number.

We then went on to my favorite activities, which were new games. We played Frisbee keep away where one team has a Frisbee and they have to keep the Frisbee away from the opposing team. The next game was Ultimate Nerf, which is where one team has to try to get a touchdown on the opposing team without dropping the ball or having it intercepted. The last of the new games we played was Monarch tag where there are two monarchists and the rest of the people are anarchists and the monarch cannot move with the ball but the person without it can. You have to try to hit everyone by throwing the ball at him or her an who ever gets tagged has to raise their hand and yell monarch and then they become part of the monarchists and tag other people anlong with the other monarchists.

We then went on to group games. We played Space Jam where you start out at your home planet and you have to wear you goggles in space or you have to go to the dead zone and when the big boom happens you have to land your self on a planet, which was a circle. Next we played the handshake game where we stood in a big circle and we looked for a person across from us and we went up to them, made a handshake and then told them about what we had fun doing that day.

Then we went on to the night campfire where we had lots of fun and we roasted marshmallows and made s’mores and they were very tasty. We also heard scary stories, which were told by Mr. Thurston, and they were pretty scary and the creepiest part was that they were true.

We then went to the high ropes and climbing tower. There were five high ropes courses, which were the balance beam, the tight ropes, the tire walk, the high ladder and the handled tight rope. I was afraid of heights but I decided to try it and it wasn’t too bad. I learned that to conquer your fears you have to have the guts to try to conquer them. Then when I thought I had conquered my fears I saw the climbing tower and it was scary but I tried it. What kept me going up was my motive to zip line down the climbing tower. I reached the top and I zip lined down and it felt amazing.

I had an amazing time at Outdoor ED. I learned a lot and I got to make my own journal of my experiences there. I had loads of fun in my experience. My favorite part of my experience was doing the campfire because everyone got together and made s’mores by the fire. I felt as if I liked outdoor ED better than my home but there is a saying that the best things don’t last. The fun I had at Outdoor ED is the fun that I will remember forever. It was a very educated and fun experience. I wish I could go again.

As a concluding activity for our study of the Scientific Method, students worked through a variety of bacteria investigations. Students were provided a lab template which provided them with a six-step outline of the scientific method for problem solving. Using those steps and sterile nutrient agar plates, students collected bacteria in an attempt to answer their original question. Bacterial growth was documented through qualitative and quantitative observations as well as digital photographs. The following lab report is this student’s attempt at a bacterial investigation.   (Mr. Peter Ogden: Sixth Grade Science Teacher)

Please click the link below to view this student’s bacteria lab investigation.

Hand Soap Evaluation Lab