Class experiences outdoor camp

By Sam Waller

Fifth grade students from Nancy Smith Elementary School took the classroom outside last week at the Camp Grady Spruce Outdoor Education Program.

Accompanying the 29 students were NSES principal John Gallagher and teachers Leslie Neve, Candy Balliew, and William Vaughan.

The group departed on Monday, Nov. 15, and returned Wednesday, Nov. 17, after spending their time learning about a wide range of sciences.

“It’s a great program,” said Neve, who teaches fifth and sixth grade science. “It covers quite a few of our TEKs for fifth grade science and introduces the students to real-life situations.”

The main benefit, according to Neve, is that students get to see science at work in a natural setting.

“Students get out of the classroom and see things like erosion in rocks and what a real island is,” she said. “It’s hard to show that in the classroom.”

Once they are back in the classroom though, Neve said that first-hand experience will make it easier for students to understand a variety of scientific concepts.

“A lot of the topics we talked about at camp, we haven’t reached in our science class yet because we’re so early in the year,” she said. “When we do get to them, I can say ‘this is what we saw at camp.’ It really introduces a lot of those concepts.”

The program allows students to learn while exploring the outdoors. Activities included hiking up Johnson’s Peak, traveling to Devil’s Island, and climbing the left side of Hell’s Gate while learning about local folklore, sedimentary rock, landforms, and water reservoirs.

This was the sixth year NSES has participated in the program, and Neve expects the school to continue doing so.

“Students come from all over Texas,” she said. “As soon as one group leaves, there’s another one coming in.”