Saturday, October 14, 2006 KITTERY, Maine -- The classroom got a whole lot bigger for students at Mitchell School Friday.
The great outdoors provided all the workspace second-grade students needed for their lesson in orienteering. Three classes from the elementary school were led through Fort Foster Park by their guide, Charlie Ek, and their own topographical maps.
"It's everything opposite about holding a book," Ek told the students. "You'll be holding the map upside down."
Ek is executive director of the Kittery Trading Post Outdoor Academy, a nonprofit partnership between the Trading Post and seven local school districts, including Kittery, York, Eliot and the Berwicks. The academy teaches children about the outdoors through activities, service learning projects and environmental education.
"The idea, essentially, is to get kids out and exposed to the outdoors and interested in it," said Ek. "Some kids have never been on a hike in the woods, so it's a great experience for them."
The maps included 10 different landmarks as well as markings signifying parts of the park like forested areas, marshes and the lookout tower. Throughout the half-mile hike, the class stopped and talked about some of the characteristics of Fort Foster and how to navigate through an unfamiliar area by identifying key objects on a map.
Terri Hartley, teacher of a Grade 2 class, said the field trip tied into the students' lessons on discovery, Christopher Columbus and the pilgrims. But the more important lesson, she said, is that southern Maine's natural resources are not limited to the beaches.
"This allows kids the opportunity to get outside and use the resources within their community and share it with their families in a way that maybe their families don't know about," she said. "Oftentimes, families are so busy they don't know there's so many great resources around them."
KODA, which is 1 year old today, was created by a mutual desire for educators and managers at the Trading Post to foster a greater appreciation for the outdoors among students. Other activities the program provides are hikes to historic places, studying climatic zones, kayaking and snowshoeing.
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