What Makes Us Unique

In addition to art, physical education, music, and STEM, students work with a naturalist each week.

During these sessions, classes learn outdoors through environmental lessons that connect to their classroom instruction and align with the Wisconsin Standards for Environmental Literacy and Sustainability.

All students are expected to follow our Code of Nature Ethics during all outdoor learning activities.

• Picking or damaging plants & trees is prohibited.
• Hurting animals or making their lives more difficult is not allowed.
• Keep a respectful distance from wildlife.
• Help to preserve all animals and plant life, unless an insect, such as a mosquito, is biting you.
• Leave No Trace – Take nothing with you except memories and garbage.  Leave nothing behind except footprints.
• Stay on marked trails for your safety and the health of the ecosystem.
• All things in nature (organic and inorganic) have value and are important and should be treated accordingly.
• The quieter you are in nature, the more you will see, hear, smell, feel, and notice.

In partnership with our naturalist, Fox River Academy students engage in outdoor learning weekly and in all types of weather. This includes rain, snow, and colder temperatures. 

Each student completes a question-based inquiry project. It lets them be creative with their discoveries, which they showcase at the end of the year for families and the community.

Younger students work in groups, and the older students do the project independently. 

Each week, all classes do outdoor learning; however, the K-2 classrooms do outdoor play.

This is an unstructured time for students to collaborate, explore, and play together outside in all types of weather.

As a K-8 school, we believe in the power of multi-age collaboration. Each student is put into a teacher’s house at the beginning of the year.

The houses meet once a month to do a collaborative project that connects to our school’s belief statement. Since the houses are a mix of all grade levels, student’s get a chance to build relationships with many of their peers.

Learn more about Houses here.