Connecting Chewonki to your Classroom
Transfer of knowledge is frequently talked about in education, and we hope that you will help us to transfer the students’ knowledge and understanding gained at Chewonki back to the classroom. In order to maximize the benefit from students’ experiences, it is best if there are connections made before and after visiting Chewonki.

Below are some suggestions of activities that can be done before or after your visit to Chewonki.

Role Playing: Role-playing and improvisational skits can be a fun and active way to initiate discussions about group dynamics or the goals of the program. It can also be a successful way for students to bring fears into the open if they are involved in developing the role-play ideas. This can also be an excellent follow-up activity to demonstrate what learning took place. Ideas for subjects related to Chewonki: the first night out, carrying the wannagan, night-time, rehabilitated birds, the animals on the farm, getting into the canoe, etc.

Ethical Dilemmas: Give students various scenarios involving environmental dilemmas. The dilemmas can relate to issues specific to Chewonki (ex: organic farming, forestry practices, renewable energy) or a general environmental problem (ozone depletion). Have students discuss the dilemma from different perspectives (ex: a company owner, an environmentalist).

Environmental Service Project: Have students identify a need in their community. Have them plan and organize an event that will address that need and evaluate the progress of their work.

Interviews: Have students pair up and choose an animal. It could be one they will see or saw at Chewonki in the wild or in the Outreach lab. One person will be the interviewer, the other the interviewee (the animal). Both should research the animal and conduct an interview about the animal, what it eats, what its enemies are, where it lives, etc.

“Stomp”: Talk about reusing and recycling items and put together an environmental version of “Stomp” using everyday and found objects. Students can use drumming, rhythm, music and dance to give a “Chewonki Stomp”.

Posters: Make environmental posters to encourage others to protect one aspect of the environment based on a habitat they visited while at Chewonki.

Field Guides: Have students explore the environment surrounding your school/ their homes and research the flowers/ trees/ insects/ animals they see or expect to see there. Then a class project could be to produce a field guide for the area, and then put it in the library or sell copies as a fundraiser!

Newsletters or Magazines: Have the class put together a spiral-bound newsletter or magazine, with different sections such as editorials, news, comics, weather, sports, letters to the editor, living/arts, nature pages, surveys/polls, classifieds.

PSA: Create a public service announcement supporting the use of biodiesel or other alternative energy source and explain why you think it is successful or unsuccessful. You might get written up in the local newspaper!

Puppet Shows: Make puppets from old socks and other reused materials and put on a puppet show about the Chewonki experience (best thing, funniest moment, most interesting thing they saw, etc.) for younger grades.

Eco-Mural: Have everyone in the class draw an eco-mural based on a specific habitat they saw at Chewonki. Display it in the hallway.

Watercolors: Sketch a scene while at Chewonki and then make a watercolor postcard of it upon return to school. Use Chewonki as a place to do an art assignment!

Discussions: Initiate discussions on group dynamics observed while at Chewonki. Have students write down one piece of positive and one piece of constructive feedback for everyone in the class.

Poetry: Have students write poetry based on the natural environment at Chewonki, or on their own experience, or perhaps beforehand on their hopes and fears about the trip.

Curriculum tie-ins: Find some way to relate Chewonki to your lessons in the classroom and use them as examples. For example, when discussing Newton’s laws in science class, have students think back to the low ropes activities or the barn climb and use examples to demonstrate the laws. In English class, have students write an essay about their last night at the campsite. In health/phys.ed., have the students plan a healthy menu that they could have if they were to return to Chewonki and/or discuss the benefits of organic foods. Also see Learning Standards.

Reading: See the Chewonki Student Reading List below for ideas of books with stories, quotes and short essays that you can use in the classroom before or after visiting Chewonki.

The Outdoor Classroom Student Reading List

This is a list of some of the most popular reading materials that teachers at Chewonki use throughout the week during acitivities, before meals at the campsite and during the evening. Our teachers choose readings that emphasize the activities that the group is doing and the experiences the group is sharing. We encourage you to use some of these readings in your classroom before you arrive at Chewonki and also after your return to school.

Having some or all of these books available in your school or classroom library would be terrific, particularly if they are grouped together so students and teachers can access them with ease. It has been our experience that students of all ages enjoy stories and poems about the wilderness, particularly if they are read aloud. We have compiled a more in-depth list for our Environmental Education teachers and if you would like a copy, we would be more than happy to provide one for you.

Student Reading List (pdf)