As with any good class teachers most often begin class with a series of activities that can help facilitate the group adopting a safe space to learn. These activities generally consist of the following elements: Name games, team building exercises, class “rules” and expectations/syllabus review. As I tell all of my students, I alone cannot… Read more »
After the first full year of programming for Nature Kids / Jovenes de la Naturaleza (Nature Kids) Program in Lafayette, CO, there are some great results to report! Nature Kids is a five-year, $10 million collective impact project led by Thorne Nature Experience that provides pre-k to high school, backyard to backcountry, and family integrated… Read more »
Our 5-day trip to Mission: Wolf with Cottonwood Institute proved to be an exceptional week to remember! Six students from Colorado Academy summer camp piled into the bus on Monday morning ready for a day of travel. We arrived at Mission: Wolf to cloudy skies, wind, and the Sangre de Cristo mountain range shining in the hazy… Read more »
It was already warm at 7:30am when the group started to trickle into the parking lot of Casa de la Esperanza for our adventure. Sleepiness mixed with excitement as we piled into the van for the four hour trip. Skyscrapers and billboards gave way to mountains and desert sage until we finally reached our destination:… Read more »
It was nearly two months ago when the CAP crew at AXL Academy debated the major problems affecting the world and their neighborhood. The class was skeptical that they could have any real impact on big problems like homelessness, clean water, worn out parks, air pollution and trash bins overflowing with recyclables. A few students… Read more »
Cottonwood Institute staff spent the afternoon at Colorado Academy (CA) on Friday, June 8th. We were there to offer our expertise in the art of team-building and small-group-facilitation to CA’s Day Camp staff who will be entertaining, enriching and wrangling kiddos aged 4-14 all summer. Most of CA’s staff are themselves teenagers and relatively new… Read more »
The spring CAP class at STRIVE Prep – RISE really wanted to make an impact with their action project. They were interested in finding a way to educate their community on the issue of plastic pollution and waste. The class was introduced to Washed Ashore — a non-profit community that builds and exhibits aesthetically powerful… Read more »
The Angevine Middle School CAP class was busy this spring – busy learning about pollinators. At first the students weren’t exactly sure how to help pollinators. One group of boys just wanted to “free the bees!” Needless to say, some learning was in order. First the students learned about all different types of pollinators: flies,… Read more »
This year’s STRIVE Prep – Westwood CAP class choose to focus their action project on food – well, on the process of growing food actually. After spending several class periods looking at environmental problems going on around the world and locally, the CAP students learned about the importance of pollinators for food production and how… Read more »
The STRIVE Prep – Sunnyside third annual trip to Mission: Wolf certainly set the bar high. Eleven sixth graders, one teacher chaperone, and two Cottonwood Institute instructors ventured down the Saturday after school ended for a three-day course at the sanctuary. Students were excited to take the trip as it was the culmination of their… Read more »
