Last weekend, students from KIPP Sunshine Peak Academy (KSPA) headed out to Bear Creek Lake Park for a fun day of adventure and winter skills learning. Two sixth grade students, Janet and Josselyn, recounted the day:

We met early at the school then spent a while checking out gear to make sure we had all the warm clothes we needed. After that we packed our lunches then played a fun name game. Then we got in the van and went to Bear Creek Lake Park.

The first thing we did when we got there was unpack the van and learn how to put on snowshoes and walk in them. Mr. Adam said that we just needed to walk like penguins.

Once everyone was ready we started snowshoeing. Three of us worked together to pull a sled with our extra group gear; two of us in the front were like the reindeer with one person holding a rope at the back to help steer it.

After walking a little bit we took a snack break and played a game where we had to work together to steal a little bear, named Almond, from Ms. Eva.

After the break we walked just a little further, but then we ran into a concrete bike path that we couldn’t snowshoe on, so we walked back to the parking lot to look at a map. We learned why it is important to look at a map to choose a good trail to go on.

Using a compass we figured out what direction we needed to go to get to a longer snow trail. We had to look on the map for marked dirt trails – that way there wouldn’t be concrete under the snow and we could walk on it with our snowshoes.

We got to the trail and snowshoed for a while, then we found a big open place to have lunch.

At lunch we sat on cool folding chairs and some of us layed in the snow because it was hot outside. To clean up lunch we separated all of our trash into three separate bags; one for compost, one for recycle and one for landfill.

After lunch we learned about how to go to the bathroom in the woods with Mr. Adam. We walked 200 ft from the stream and trail to see how far from water and a trail we are supposed to go to the bathroom or set up a tent. Then we learned how to save somebody if they get caught in an avalanche with Ms. Eva. We got to use beacons and save Harry and Larry, who were Oreos. We ate them.

After that we had to go back to the van to get ready to go.

We repacked everything in the van then got into a circle to share with each other our stick (something that we learned), leaf (something that we didn’t like or was hard for us), and our flower (our favorite part of the day). It was a fun day playing in the snow and learning about beacons. We didn’t like that we had to turn around in the beginning of the day because we didn’t look at a map before we left, so now we know that we should look at a map.

When we got back to the school we returned all the gear that we borrowed then went home and slept the rest of the day.

Written by KIPP Sunshine Peak Academy CAP program students Janet and Josselyn (6th grade)

See more photos from the trip here!