Contributed by the Kickapoo Valley Reserve
A long-time shared vision of immersing children in the health and academic benefits of learning outdoors is about to become a reality in southwestern Wisconsin for two dedicated educational institutions, the Kickapoo Valley Reserve and the La Farge School District.
Working together, the two entities submitted a charter school planning and implementation grant to the Department of Public Instruction. In early June, the DPI awarded the successful grant of $700,000 to the La Farge School District, which will authorize the 4-year-old kindergarten through second-grade forest school to be located at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve. The Kickapoo Valley Forest School (KVFS) will ultimately enroll 60 4-year-old kindergarten through second-grade students each year to engage in the kind of inquiry and play-based learning that studies are increasingly showing benefit child development.
The DPI grant will allow for a year of planning and development of the new school with funding for a lead teacher, support services, material, and equipment purchase(s). KVFS will open for the 2021–2022 school year with 30 4-year-old and 5-year-old kindergarten students, adding 15 first-grade students for the 2022–2023 school year and 15 second-grade students for the 2023–2024 school year, reaching a total of 60 students.
As a public charter school authorized by the La Farge School District, KVFS will be open to students located in any school district at no cost. Students who do not reside in the school district will be able to open enroll, and a lottery system will be used if the number of applicants exceeds capacity. The KVFS Governance Board will be responsible for ensuring that the school’s program and operation are faithful to the terms of its charter.
Based on its mission, the KFVS curriculum will be place-based within a forest school model centered around play. The three tenets of KVFS are the following:
1. Daily nature immersion through play to increase emotional awareness, special awareness, large and fine motor development, rich experiences with literacy, math, science and social studies concepts;
2. Collaboration with community partners that expand connections tothe region including sourcing local food, integrating art and music from local artisans, connecting with local business that are dependent on the region and;
3. Teachers serve as mentors to facilitate individual academic skill development within rich and varied play in the natural world.
Jonel Kiesau, the Kickapoo Valley Reserve’s education director, said, “For many years, we have watched children connect to nature in meaningful ways through our nature immersion programs at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve. We have always dreamed that one day we could help provide access to a daily nature immersion program that would be free of cost and allow all children to reap the many benefits of time in nature.
“Children are natural scientists, engineers, artists and mathematicians. They wonder about everything, and then experiment to answer their own questions. With a knowledgeable adult to act as their support and guide children’s self-directed learning, problem-solving and constructive play can create an environment rich in learning that sticks! We are so excited to collaborate with the La Farge School District on an early-childhood education program that emphasizes social competence and readiness to learn in a forest school setting.”
Community members interested in learning more about KVFS can visit kvr.state.wi.us/Education for initial information. As a lead teacher is hired and the planning year begins, significant updates will become available through the fall and winter with a full website, information sessions, and the first year’s enrollment window expected in February 2021.