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Taking the Classroom Outdoors

LOCUST LAKE STATE PARK, Pa. — On this second day of fall, the fifth graders brought their classroom to Locust Lake State Park near Barnesville. “I l...

LOCUST LAKE STATE PARK, Pa. -- On this second day of fall, the fifth graders brought their classroom to Locust Lake State Park near Barnesville.

"I learned about the different types of trees and how we can use trees for different things and I learned all about insects that are here," said fifth grader Mackenzie Moyer.

This week, the Schuylkill County Conservancy hosted nearly 200 students for an outdoor learning day. Newswatch 16 stopped by as students from West Penn Elementary near Tamaqua enjoyed the beautiful fall weather and learned about animals, plants, and rocks.

"People that conserve the natural resources, that love the natural resources, will have a better understanding of the resources and therefore as they grow older, they'll care for the resources. That's the whole idea. Expose the kids to the environment, learn something about it, and they'll care about it," explained conservancy member Frank Snyder.

The key mission of this program is to get these kids outside and to get them to appreciate the great outdoors.

"I look around and see kids who are getting dirty and they're investigating and they're observing things that they haven't observed in a long time. Getting out of the classroom gets them away from all of the technology and brings them back to nature," said fifth grade teacher Michele Bittner.

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