Field School Projects
This page contains a sampling of the projects we have explored and how they fit in with core academic subjects.
Downloadable Field School Projects
Our Falcons class observed, researched, and put together a Macroinvertebrates guide for anybody who wants to go explore our local macroinvertebrate populations around Helena!
Sciences
Life cycle of local kokanee salmon and salmon dissection; understanding of weather and climate through identification of clouds and seasons; creating ecosystem food webs to gain understanding of how plants and animals are connected; learning about chemicals that change leaf colors; identifying animals and animal tracks; identifying deciduous and coniferous trees; dissecting pine cones and identifying different varieties of pine and spruce trees; identifying macroinvertebrates in local ponds and streams; comparing rocks and minerals found in our area; mining for sapphires; testing soils; dissecting flowers to learn flower anatomy; learning about the importance of pollinators to our local environment; taking daily weather measurements and finding patterns as seasons change; learning the ways animals in our place adapt to winter through migration, hibernation, and resisting; exploring the water cycle and how it affects our water supply; exploring consumers, producers, and decomposers; learning about local bird populations and migration, bird behaviors, and nesting practices.
Mathematics
Creating patterns with items found in nature; engineering/building forts; measuring ingredients for making freshly pressed chokecherry juice; identifying geometric shapes in nature; counting objects in nature; measuring and comparing size of leaves, trees, sticks, fish parts; measuring and determining distance and direction on maps; measuring snowpack and calculating the snow water equivalent; measuring boards to construct bird feeders and nesting boxes; taking daily weather measurements and creating graphs from the data; learning how to navigate using handmade compasses, bow and arrows, and blazing trails.
English Language Arts
Reading and listening to books relevant to the week's topic; reflecting on the day and writing about it in nature journals daily; reading and creating maps; using books and guides to identify local flora and fauna; writing in the dirt and labeling leaf parts; making music; creating a wildlife tracks booklet; filling in charts concerning the day's topic (flowers and pollinators present, descriptions of soils); creating and writing stories around their fairy houses.
Social Studies
Foraging and learning how people in the past used local plants to eat and make art; creating local guide books based on history and culture; storytelling about the cultural history of our places and exploring them; learning about the Corp of Discovery and its impact on our local place and surrounding region; making maps of local places; learning how miners found gold and other minerals in our surrounding regions and how that shaped the culture of Helena; using tools like Native Americans did to forage local foods; respectfully visiting a local cemetery on the National Historic Register to learn about life in the past; playing games to understand the hardships settlers faced when moving out here.
Art
Creating story bandanas with color extracted from local plants; making musical instruments; singing; rhythm making; free painting and painting our surroundings; drawing; yarn snowflakes and winter stars; salt paintings; creating picture frames with natural materials; making flower crowns, creating golden glitter globes; making fish prints based on the Japanese art technique called Gyotaku; creating Christmas ornaments out of wire, cardboard, and fire; experimenting with wind and paint/art; and many other process art experiences!