Looking at the Sixth-Grade Outdoor Education Block from the Inside

In preparation for Thursday's downpour last month, the outdoor education’s first meeting took place inside the fencing practice rooms, where sixth graders practiced the critical skill of setting up a camping tent, breaking it down, and properly rolling it, so it actually fits back into the tent bag. This is a difficult skill for anyone who has to figure out how to make sense of the contents of a tent bag when you have a lot of space outside, but imagine having to do it with a whole group of students in an indoor space, shouts of confusion bouncing off the walls. This was how the Sixth-Grade Outdoor Education Block class found themselves inside, preparing for the outside. 

Middle School Math Teacher and Advisor Will Vasquez was grateful to have an indoor space to avoid the brunt of the storm’s precipitation and chilling temperatures. He is excited to lead the group on new adventures, hikes, and all the flora and fauna of Southern California. The Sixth-Grade Outdoor Education Block teaches students about plants that they will encounter along the trails of our hikes, including the treacherous poison oak and how to identify its telltale characteristics, beyond the classic “leaves of 3, let it be” expression. Students also practiced tying basic knots like the square knot and the bowline, important skills for traversing the outdoors. Some students were able to teach others by sharing their prior knowledge of tent building, plants, and knots with those who were new to these skills. 

Armed with these new skills, the group’s first hike was on the La Cañada Gabrielino Trail. The air was crisp, windy, and cool in the shade—perfect hiking weather. PolyNews spoke with the group the afternoon after the hike and asked about their experience. An excited, buzzing group of the Class of 2032, Emi C., Cleo G., Ash H., Whit H, Isabella H., Charlotte J., Kolie K., Max L., George M., Vann R., Malia R., Daniel R., and Falcon W., huddled around to talk about their hike. We asked them what they liked most about the hike they had just gone on, and they were eager to share what they had done.

“One thing I liked about going on hikes is, like, there's like a freedom of just being able to walk, and it's kinda fun being in a group, if you have a good group.” Ash H. quipped. Several of the others nodded their heads in agreement. 

This block group consists of students who have not all been on hikes before, some were more experienced, but clearly the group had begun to enjoy being part of each other’s hiking experience and for many it was the reason the hike was so memorable.

Isabella chimed in, “I really like being in a group, because we're all really nice to each other, and we all watch out for each other. We also all try to warn each other about seeing stinging nettle and poison oak. And it's just great to, like, talk to people.” On these hikes, students don’t have their phones, they have each other and nature.

On the hike, the group had come across a small creek. Kolie was very excited to mention it, saying, “I think probably one of my favorite things that we did is see the water. We didn't get to go in it, but you could, like, dip your head in it. It was really fun.” Vann joined in saying, “the one thing I liked about hiking was going in the water, feeling the water, you know?” 

And for Middle School teacher and Eagle Scout Will Vasquez, being able to take students on a hike and help them experience nature is a perfect intersection of what he loves to do outside of school and with the students on campus. He remarked, “it's so important to reconnect with nature. We live in such a huge metropolis area. Everything's paved with concrete, everything is made by humans. And when you go out in nature, you get to see patterns and experience the natural world. And you get to identify certain plants that are native. And you get to learn, ‘oh, I can touch this one. I shouldn't touch this one. This one has this beautiful smell to it.’ And you get to see just all these natural things unfold in front of you. And you hear the kids say, ‘Wow, oh my gosh. I just want to go over there. I just love this place. It makes me so excited. I want to plan a birthday here.’”

He and Richard Sherrell have led sixth-graders out into nature since the beginning of the year. This new group of students just began their adventures outdoors, giving them a break from the busy, tech-saturated world since January. Richard said, “I’ve been doing this hiking block for a little over four years now. I hope that my enthusiasm on the trails instills a love of nature in the students. I especially love seeing the kids who have very little experience in the outdoors become more comfortable with it on our weekly hikes. Over the years our sixth graders have had some amazing experiences seeing wildlife, trudging through icy streams and even hiking up a mountain in a rare Southern California snowstorm. Experiences, I’m sure, they will never forget and can only happen outside of the classroom.” 

Will’s adventures outside have been a grounding experience of his childhood. He said, “My favorite memories as a kid was doing the same kind of a thing, walking in nature, talking with my friends, reminiscing on memories, cracking jokes, noticing things that are out in nature, and I'm so happy to pass that on to another generation and give them an appreciation for nature.”  And the group of sixth-grade hikers, just beginning their memory making, wholeheartedly agree.

When asked what to tell other students who haven’t experienced a hike before, Kolie said, “What I would recommend is going somewhere where you could have a picnic or something. You could go with friends, and we also went to a place where there was a river, and it was really fun.”