The Outdoor Education day-long trip to Lorado Taft offers sixth graders a blend of hands-on learning, outdoor exploration and teamwork. The field trip focuses on three areas:
Geology - Students study the life cycle of rocks through activities and games in the deep gully where ancient glaciers melted. They are encouraged to hunt for fossils and investigate the forces of weathering and erosion.
Forest Ecology - Students hike through the diverse habitats of trails, including pine and hardwood forests, meadow, prairie and gully while learning about trees, soils, wildlife and water that interact to make the forest community.
Team Building - Through games and activities, students learn the importance of working in a group and using skills such as trust, communication, cooperation and problem-solving. Students go through activities and games designed to facilitate teamwork.
Elementary schools are teamed up with other District 58 elementary schools that will feed into the same middle school. Lorado Taft is a field campus of Northern Illinois University and is located in Oregon, Illinois.
