Nature Connection
With guidance from our skilled naturalists and teachers, students interact with nature through sensory awareness activities Over time, these activities build a feeling of love for nature, a sense of feeling “part of” the earth, and a feeling of deep responsibility for the earth’s well being. Additionally, the characteristics of joyfulness, empathy, vitality, and a quiet mind are activated in our students while building a relationship with nature.
Manzanita School Curricula for Grades 3-8
Please click here for Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade Curricular Overview
In this class students experience a range of activities, games, and explorations that help them cultivate a sense of belonging to the natural world.
+ Activities Include:
Shelter building, playing nature games, chaparral plant identification, hiking, making cordage with natural fibers, bird identification, quiet reflection in nature, silent exploration, and mapping.
Upper School 9-12
+ Nature Connection:
A deep study of the core routines of nature connection. An emphasis is placed on developing naturalist skills such as paying attention to patterns and disturbances in the natural world, maintaining a nature journal, and using field guides.
+ Survival Skills:
Learning the history of and cultivating reverence for wilderness survival techniques are an integral part of this course. An emphasis is placed on developing skills such as making fire with a hand and bow drill, knife skills and safety, shelter building, and shaping stones.
+ Tracking and Bird Language:
In the tracking portion of this course, students study animal signs to learn about where animals live, how they live, what they do, how they relate with each other, with members of their own species, and of other species.
Bird Language refers to the identification and interpretation of patterns of sound and behavior made by birds and other animals in the landscape. Students study 1. How to notice and identify birds by their shapes, colors, behavior, and sounds. 2. Understanding the Voices of the Birds, the five major types of vocalization commonly made by birds. 3. Understanding Shapes of Alarm, the major patterns of movement and sound that birds make in response to specific disturbances in their environment.
+ Wildcrafting:
Wildcrafting is a term for the age-old practice of collecting plant materials in their natural habitat for food, medicine, and craft. In this course, students learn about and practice ethical foraging, plant identification, and how to make at least one useful item strictly from wild materials.