Dear Seeley Lake Residents:
I just had the most amazing visit to your elementary school. As I walked in, I felt like I was in the most amazing learning environment. There was a bench by the opening door made from snowboards and the wood trim on all the indoor doorways, windows and shelves were made from recycled pine beetle wood. I saw a table made from an old wooden bleacher and met some of the most enthusiastic educators.
While visiting with the educators I learned about an outdoor program you had for your students and learned how this was incorporated with your afterschool program. Who would have thought in this small community that I would find a school designed to help students learn through hands on relevance learning?
Research done by the Bill Gates Foundation a few years back discovered a silent epidemic in our schools today. This epidemic was students dropping out of school at a high rate. After researching this issue, they discovered that the main reason for students dropping out, was not the academics or that the subjects were too difficult it was because student did not see a relevance to learning.
Your outdoor program has brought relevance learning to this school and by doing that it has assisted the students in being able to identify with their community and vice versa. There is a book by Luv “Last Child in the Woods” that talks about how being outdoors is tied to learning and creativity.
Our county was founded on learners who experienced learning through nature. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison and Thomas Jefferson all had nature in their lives helping them with their inventions. Having children using all their senses and learning through hands on experiences is priceless. So much of that has been taken out of our children’s lives.
I just wanted to say thank you for allowing me this experience and allowing your children to learn in an exciting way.
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