Gold Bar students on bird watch during First Grade Forest Days

Armed with backpacks and binoculars, more than 55 Gold Bar Elementary School students took to the trails near Wallace Falls last week in search of birds.

The field trip was a part of First Grade Forest Days, an outdoor education program created by first-grade teachers Tanya Christian and Phyllis Tubbs. The program allows kids to get outside and spend time in the forest, where they have the opportunity to hike, ask questions, record their observations and make connections to what they learn in the classroom. Forest Days field trips take place once a month, weather permitting, at Gold Bar's Camp Huston, next to Wallace Falls State Park.

"Our whole goal is for the kids to get outside and appreciate nature,GÇ¥ Tubbs said.-á

The idea for Forest Days was seeded after a one-day field trip last year, which received an overwhelmingly positive response from students. Around that same time Tubbs encountered an article about forest learning, and she and Christian fell in love with the concept. With Gold Bar's abundance of trails, mountains, rivers and streams, it seemed like a natural fit.-á

They approached Gold Bar Principal Jake Rodgers about implementing forest learning in Gold Bar.

"He was super supportive,GÇ¥ Tubbs said.

The only barrier was funding. In order to accommodate the short journey to Camp Huston, they needed to find a way to pay the transportation cost. They also needed to purchase supplies.

So, Tubbs and Christian decided to apply for some grants.

They set up a project on the educational funding platform DonorsChoose.org, a nonprofit organization that allows individuals to donate to public school classroom projects. DonorsChoose.org was founded by a history teacher, who had firsthand experience dealing with funding shortfalls in public education. DonorsChoose.org is not a typical crowdfunding website; its sole focus is supporting education. When a teacher creates a project, they specify exactly what the funding will be used for.

DonorsChoose.org collects the donations, procures the requested items and ships them to the school.

Their first successful "field kitGÇ¥ campaign was for $570 in supplies, including small backpacks, pens, pencils, thermometers, plastic magnifying glasses and composition books. They also sought funding from other sources, receiving a $500 transportation grant from the Sultan Education Foundation and a $400 grant from the Pilchuck Audubon Society.

The Pilchuck funding helped them acquire the binoculars, a key part of last week's bird-watching adventure. Although it wasn't enough to secure sturdy binoculars for all 57 of their students, there were no issues with sharing during last week's expedition.

Which is one of the great things about the Forest Days program, Christian said. The field trips have been well-received by the students and have been free of behavioral issues.

"We don't have behavior problems ' people are just very excited and engaged,GÇ¥ Christian said. "It's really nice.GÇ¥

Another way Tubbs and Christian have bolstered engagement is by allowing the kids to have some influence over what they are learning. Last week's Forest Days journey was focused on birds, after students expressed an interest in learning how birds fly. Along with the binoculars, Tubbs and Christian purchased bird books and spent time teaching the kids about birds.

"What we're doing right now is putting together information about birds,GÇ¥ Tubbs said. "So, we've been learning about birds from books and then talking about them.GÇ¥

Last week's trip was chaperoned by Tubbs and Christian and several parent volunteers. The students were broken up into smaller groups and tasked with looking for birds and making observations. As they hiked, they looked for birds and different indicators of birds, including places a bird might live, a tree with holes in it, something a bird might eat, a bird in a tree, a bird flying, somewhere a bird might get a drink and other evidence of birds.

Students carried their field kits with them as they walked, sometimes pausing to write in their journals. Forest Days is fluid, and students are allowed to pursue things that interest them. After a close encounter with tree sap, student Lorina Eakin recorded her observations, including the fact that sap is very sticky and has a strong smell.

Zach Rogers-Vasquez had a map of the trail he drew after the last Forest Days experience. He referred back to it, helping to guide his group during the journey.-á Nathaniel Lucas was interested in different kinds of moss, and found a small snail next to the main footpath.

In addition to searching for birds, students were reminded to look for differences between what they saw last time they were there and what they saw last week. As the seasons change, so does the forest, which is part of the overall learning experience, Tubbs said.

Next month, they will again search for birds, and will work to identify changes in the environment that will have occurred naturally with the approach to summer. One of the greatest and most effective things about the Forest Days concept, Rodgers said, is the kids are allowed to make connections between things taught in the classroom and experienced outside.-á

During the 2015GÇô16 school year, Tubbs and Christian have managed to fulfill their goal of once-a-month Forest Days field trips, with the exception of November, when they were forced to cancel due to a high-wind warning. In addition to birds, they've studied things like trees and animal tracks.

Parent volunteer Rebecca Hurley recently moved to Gold Bar from Monroe. She has served as a parent volunteer during several Forest Days events and enjoyed her experiences. She said she really appreciated Tubbs and Christian going the extra mile by working to secure the funding that made the program possible for the students.-á

"The teachers really stepped up to make it happen for them,GÇ¥ Hurley said. "I think that's amazing.GÇ¥

It's been a fantastic opportunity for the kids, Hurley said, some of whom had never been on a hike before.

"It's been really great for a lot of them,GÇ¥ Hurley said.

Tubbs and Christian will continue fundraising for the money needed to cover transportation and other costs associated with the program. They recently created another project on DonorsChoose.org, for a total of $619 that would replenish the field kits needed for next year's First Grade Forest Days program. On Thursday, March 10, they learned the project was fully funded by Microsoft cofounder and entrepreneur Paul Allen.

"We are very excited,GÇ¥ Tubbs said.