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Sunlight filters through the hardwoods as these RMMS seventh graders get ready to study insects and animal life at the Outdoor Classroom at Camp Bethel.

“We have had a very busy fall season,” said Beth Wiegandt who heads up Your Outdoor Classroom located at Camp Bethel. The weather was bright, but cool and yet the atmosphere warm and sunny as Read Mountain Middle School 7^th graders spent the morning at Camp Bethel in outdoor activity.

This month marks the beginning of the second year for the Your Outdoor Classroom which reinforces Science SOL’s (among many others) yesterday, Oct. 23. The students learned about watersheds, pollution, plants, leaf and tree identification, wildlife, insects and spiders to name a few. Better yet, they had the opportunity to spend four hours in the great outdoors.

Wiegandt has a lot of experience in the outdoors and she has a teaching background so when she came up with a plan for an outdoor classroom, it only seemed natural to combine the love of both into an enjoyable way to introduce students to hands on outdoor learning. She worked diligently addressing particular SOL’s for the program that encompasses K-12. School groups from all over Botetourt and the Roanoke Valley make arrangements to come to the camp for the Your Outdoor Classroom on a field trip.

Bill Stetson is a retired insurance executive from New York Life, who also is an outdoorsman and a substitute teacher in Botetourt County. Ken Rago is a retired forest ranger. Kim Saunders is a naturalist and river enthusiast with loads of kid experience.

The Your Outdoor Classroom team.

They, along with Wiegandt, as part of the Your Outdoor Classroom team, lead groups to different stations during the morning. Each group also ate a packed lunch at the pavilion.

Stetson took a group of RMMS Apollo team members up the mountain to talk about the plant and animal kingdoms. In his backpack he carried specimen jars and trowels as he lead the way up a steep incline in to the colorful forest. He would stop ever so often to ask questions about the types of plants along the way, different characteristics of plants and what made them different. The students answered every question correctly!

Along the ridge crest he handed out trowels to pairs of students to dig under the leaves and overturn logs to see what kind of animals and insects they could find. They talked about the characteristics of an insect, vertebrates and invertebrate animals they might encounter as the dug and the creepy favorite: arachnids better know as spiders. RMMS teacher, Vickie White also accompanied the group. Other teachers along for the field trip were Liz Hogan and Kim DiVirgilio.

The discoveries of “critters” lead to squeals from some of the participants. Alex Norris captured a black salamander and let it roam around his hand and arm before he placed it in the specimen. “Hey look at this!” he called to his friends as he trotted over to show the salamander. A centipede, ants, an ant warrior, a fat, juicy grub worm and numerous spiders soon filled the jars. Stetson talked about the particulars of the species and about the characteristics of arachnids verses insects. For more pictures, click.

Alex Norris and a salamander he captured during the class.

The students returned the insects and animals to the spot where they were discovered and they meandered down the mountain. Several students including Karis Lumsden, Morgan Jarrett, Paul Lucas, Kristina Lee Barger and Bradley Morris stopped along a bridge on the way down the path. When asked, “Did you have fun?.” They replied with out fail, “Yes!”

Three school buses waited to take them back to Read Mountain, where they planned to watch a movie until school let out for the day. The Your Outdoor Classroom team briefly met to discuss the next group of schools coming to Camp Bethel in the near future. Silence once again fell along the autumn colored mountain valley at the foot of the Blue Ridge.