Alex's Adventure Notes
I am very excited to announce the pilot year of Grass Valley Charter School’s innovative Adventure Benchmark Curriculum. Over the last year, GVCS committed to bringing to fruition years of work towards engaging our students in meaningful adventure - adventure as a vehicle to instill Character Traits.
As such, the staff developed the following ten Character Traits, which were selected by virtue of their universal value. These traits are: Compassion, Courage, Discipline, Integrity, Perseverance, Respect, Responsibility, Spirit of Adventure, Stewardship and Crew. These traits have been further defined by grade level to create Character Outcomes/Standards. To view the scope of Character Outcomes/Standards by Trait Compassion, Courage, Crew, Discipline, Integrity or if you prefer to view the Traits by grade level Kindergarten-Second, Third-Fifth, Sixth-Eighth.
The Adventure Benchmark Curriculum is designed to spiral from K – 2nd, 3rd – 5th and 6th – 8th grade. Meaning that in each grouping, students will have a grade – level appropriate Adventure, designed to create the optimal environment for instilling a portion of the10 Character Traits. As a student moves up through groupings (K – 2nd, 3rd – 5th, 6th – 8th),
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they will have further opportunity to experience these 10 traits in more depth. For example,
while a kindergarten adventure may incorporate a walking tour of California Caverns and target the Character Traits of Courage, Compassion and Spirit of Adventure, the same students years later in 4th grade will revisit these traits via a more challenging spelunking (cave exploration) adventure. Finally these same students in 6th grade will again revisit these Character Traits via a more challenging spelunking adventure that builds upon their previously developed skills. In this manner students will continually refine the skills necessary to participate in that specific adventure activity safely, as practice well as practice Compassion, Courage and the Spirit of Adventure in their own lives. These skills become the tools to triumph against adversity and attain their goals.
All Adventure Benchmarks activities are “challenge by choice.” However, all students are highly encouraged to participate. Grass Valley Charter School is a unique tight-knit community, and participation in challenging academic and rigorous physical pursuits strengthen this bond. Furthermore, it is our belief that Adventure serves many purposes. Not only does it frequently stimulate our students’ desire for knowledge about their course of study, but it is also a means of self-discovery. Students at Grass Valley Charter learn that they are capable of things far beyond their initial expectations.
If we are able to instill these Character Traits in students’ core understanding of themselves, we give them the tools to succeed at most anything. This is true whether they are learning to navigate through the woods with a compass, or navigate their way through life and its obstacles. The lessons they learn internally while rappelling into a cavern, or paddling through a rapid, are the lessons that will guide them in the future because more than those in textbooks, these are the lessons that are remembered. They are the experiences that students blurt out at the first sight of you, their parents, what they tell their friends about, and that they relive in their minds as they fall asleep that night.
