Author: Sarah Walls, 7th and 8th grade teacher at Lakewood Montessori Middle School and DNCR Teacher Ambassador
“The real world is more complex, beautiful, and spontaneous than we can possibly convey in a classroom. When we take our students outside, we immerse them in this environment and build deeper meaning to their learning.” -Fred Pfeiffer, teacher and Earth Week at the Eno organizer
What does it take to get every student from Lakewood Montessori Middle School in Durham to Eno River State Park in one week?
“Earth Week at the Eno” is a valued tradition at Lakewood - a school-wide effort, with individual teachers’ creativity making it their own. As a public Montessori middle school, we strive to connect our students to peers in other grade levels, develop engaging field studies, and focus on experiences that connect kids to nature. For these trips, each 7th and 8th grade class partners with a sixth-grade class to form a team of combined students, with the purpose of building relationships. Elective teachers and support staff are all a part of a team as well, allowing teachers the opportunity to collaborate with others beyond their content or grade level peers.
Principal Don Jones explained why he supports this effort: “Field studies at the Eno help create a shared experience that is difficult to create in a classroom. Students get to apply the knowledge they learned in class, and interact with peers in a different setting. The collaboration and planning also allows the staff to interact in new ways, helping broaden the professional connections in our building.”
How did we make it happen?
Funding
This year, we took advantage of the Learning Happens Here Field Trip Fund to support the Eno trips. The Field Trip Fund is available for public schools to visit any NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR) sites across the state. This includes over 40 North Carolina State Parks! The funding covered buses and substitutes. The application was straightforward and clear, and we were grateful for a quick, positive response.
Before the trip: Setting the tone
Mixed grade Eno teams met several times to get to know one another and do team building activities. We practiced nature observation skills by using hand lenses (loupes) and introducing students to nature journaling protocols through sensory observation and questioning.
One effective approach we’ve used comes from the Beetles Project: “I notice…I wonder…It reminds me of…”
Students surprised themselves and others by the level of detail they could perceive about something that typically goes unnoticed, like a piece of bark or a fallen leaf. The skills of close observation and questioning are beneficial in all academic disciplines and require explicit teaching and practice.
While at Eno River State Park
Over four days, Lakewood students took turns visiting the park in their teams, inclusive of multi-grade small groups of students and two adult guides, where they engaged in several activities. In addition to hiking various trails, guides led students in activities to fully connect with their surroundings through nature journaling, sound mapping, watercolor painting, or writing prompts. Teachers designed the day to support learning goals in the classroom and needs they saw in their students. We took advantage of the large open spaces by the visitors center to facilitate group challenges and reflection circles.
Back at school
As with all field studies, we allotted time to reflect in writing or through discussion. Students reported what they learned and observed on the trip with the rest of the class. In addition, we asked kids to share acknowledgements of one another: identifying a positive action in a peer. Acknowledgements are a regular part of our daily lives at Lakewood, but it is always special to hear them after field studies. They are often focused on the ways in which students help each other face a challenge, as being out of the building can stretch student comfort zones in unexpected ways.
Why Eno River State Park? The Benefits of Outdoor Learning
We are so lucky to have Eno River State Park in Durham, with multiple access points and opportunities for exploration. We know, though, that this tremendous natural resource is not always a regular part of our students’ lives, despite growing up in Durham. On this year’s trip, one of my 8th grade students remarked, “I like coming here each year. I like noticing the changes each time.” His visits with our school community have been an entry point to the natural world. And by choosing to visit one of our state parks, we are assured to have a positive experience given the access to helpful outdoor educators, park rangers, and well-maintained trails.
Nature-based field studies and outdoor learning have always been central to our school’s core values. With all of our outdoor learning experiences, we pay close attention to students who show up in a different way than they do in a classroom. Lakewood’s school counselor, Meg Graham, commented:
Students who seem tough or stoic at school might find that they need to rely on their peers to cross a bridge over the river or calm down at the sight of a snake. After all outdoor field studies, Lakewood teachers are usually found marveling together about a student who has been tough to motivate in history class that finds a new passion for frogs or shows a previously hidden knowledge of native plants. Fred Pfeiffer summed it up:
“Taking students outside and into the woods creates all sorts of opportunities for them to explore and empower aspects of themselves that are sometimes dormant inside the classroom. Movement, sensory observation, teamwork, curiosity—in my experience these are as important as the curriculum I teach.”
Rich outdoor learning experiences support students’ academic, social, and emotional development and provide teachers with new lenses with which to view their kids. What could be more fundamental to good pedagogy?
About the Author
Sarah Walls is a veteran middle school educator of nearly 20 years and 2025 DNCR Teacher Ambassador. She currently teaches Humanities to a mixed age classroom of 7th and 8th graders at Lakewood Montessori Middle School in Durham. She has a passion for field studies and project based learning and relies on the rich resources and sites of NC in her teaching. She considers North Carolina her adopted home state and has been shaped by a family of curious educators. Sarah has taken advantage of professional development and collaborations with the Museum of Natural Sciences, the National Endowment of the Humanities, the NC Civil War Center, the NC Museum of History, the John Hope Franklin Scholars at Duke, and many others. She has established programs and field studies for students that allow them to immerse themselves in academic content combined with personal development. Through curiosity and innovation, Sarah has pursued and created opportunities with a sense of experimentation for her students.
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