Mosinee School Forest

The Mosinee Lloyd Ash Memorial School Forest connects students to their world, developing and connecting them with their sense of place and well-being through observation and questioning. Students in kindergarten through 8th grade have the opportunity to visit the school forest during class field trips and also during summer school.

Yearlong Activities at the School Forest

Autumn

September

• 4K Students visit the forest

October

• Art Students in Kindergarten through 2nd grade visit the forest
• 3rd Grade students help set up camp, and learn songs, campfire safety, and how to lead their families in preparation for Family Night. Families are invited to Family Night to participate in a hike and other various activities, and enjoy a campfire snack.

Winter

January

• Kindergarten students participate in winter adaptations experiments  and see how the forest changes in the winter.

February

• Students in grades 2 and 3 take Snowshoeing Lessons

Spring

May

• 4K students visit the forest and family nights are sometimes held as well
• Lessons during spring for students: beavers adaptations, turkey population and life cycle, white-tailed deer, beaver, and bear adaptations, levers, acorn math, owls, signs of spring, signs of life, birds and their habitats, sun power, knots, dinosaurs, fossils and rocks, soil ecosystem, and more.

Summer

Friendship, connections to nature, team building, crafts, and outdoor experiences are the focus of our Grades 1-8 Summer School classes. The classes are designed to be student-lead and activities are planned around student inquiry such as: animals, fishing, group games, camping, research and debate, literacy, and hiking.

Snowshoeing at the School Forest

Snowshoeing is taught to second and third graders at the school forest.

Second graders practice the basics of getting in to the snowshoes, falling, turning, and moving as a group. Once those skills are mastered, the students split into smaller groups and  hike to experience walking in snow, breaking trails, and moving in the woods, while looking to prove animals are alive and well in the winter habitat. These experiences teach social studies and science standards – human and animal adaptations, change over time, and responsiveness to weather.

Third graders come to the school forest twice in one week as “experts.”  They get a quick review of the snowshoe parts and are then on the move, meeting WDPI health and physical education standards.

Snapshot Wisconsin

Students have opportunities to help maintain a camera for state wildlife studies.  Every quarter, the animals captured are compared to a field guide, counted, classified, and submitted to Snapshot Wisconsin.