Pine City Kids Take a Hike!

Pine City Kids Take a Hike!
Posted on 10/14/2021
Pine City Kids Take a Hike!Nature provides countless opportunities for learning. Pine City’s Physical Education teacher, Mr. Arciolla, is taking advantage of a special Pine City Nature Trail that allows students to spend time in nature during PE class!

✔️ Nature play.
✔️ Mask break.
✔️ Physical fitness.
✔️ Fresh air.
✔️ Improved concentration, learning, creativity, cognitive development, cooperation, flexibility, self-esteem, and self-awareness.

On the hikes, students are stopping to study a variety of tree species, looking closely at bark and leaf characteristics, discovering bird habitats, and catching a few quick glimpses of chipmunks. Mr. Arciolla points out the painted red dots on the trees to his students and explains how these trail markers allow safe navigation.

In an increasingly urbanised world – with phones, tablets, and extracurricular activities competing for time – too often, children have limited opportunity to enjoy playing in nature.
But in nature, children think, question, and develop their inquisitive minds. Nature walks are important for the cognitive development of our early learners. Nature play stimulates creativity and problem solving skills integral to executive function development.

The trail was created in 2011 by Pine City alumni, Forrest Wieziolowski, as part of an Eagle Scout project. Over the past several weekends, Mr. Arciolla and his family spent time cleaning up the seasonal overgrowth on the trail. They also placed several painted pumpkins near trail features.

School families are invited to come explore the trail anytime outside of school hours. The trail entrance is on the east side of the building.

#GoExpress