Outdoor education and free play support emotional, behavioral, and intellectual development and improve academic performance and overall brain health. Through our Montessori lens, we see our outdoor environment as a classroom extension.​ Students can often be seen reading on the lawn to their “buddies” from EC or kicking the soccer ball around with Coach Amanda. Students can dig deep to crest the last hill of the trail or take in a new plant or creature during nature studies. They will learn coordination and determination during one of our many field trips, including Nordic skiing. Time spent outside is an invitation to learn from our world, and Durango Montessori returns again and again. 

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Colvig Silver Camp Fridays Aug-Oct (8 Fridays)

Durango Montessori School has been truly fortunate to partner with Colvig Silver Camps to help instill in our students a sense of adventure and recapture wonder and inspire them to be stewards of our wild places.

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Kindergarten through 6th grade students spend the first 8 Fridays at Colvig Silver Camp at the beginning of each school year. This is the perfect place to build relationships with their peers and teachers. Students dive into science curriculum (Ecology, Biology, Botany, Geology, and Zoology)  through direct and experiential education.

 

A typical day at Colvig looks like this: meeting up in our classroom groups, reviewing our 3 Rs (Respect for our World, Respect for ourselves, and Respect for others), playing a couple of team-building games, and then begin our day with a hike on one of the many excellent trails within Colvig Silver Camp. Then, go to the lake, where students spend an hour swimming, jumping off the tower, using a paddle board, kayaking, and playing in the sand (lifeguard supervised, life jackets worn unless child passes a swim test). Then we move to the Lodge for bathrooms, wash hands, and have lunch. Or maybe it's decided to have lunch on the trail during our next hike. We stop to play nature games, explore the natural environment, learn about the flora and fauna of the region, or do a journal entry about the bugs we have seen today. We wrap up our day by hiking back to our pick-up spot and resting as we share fun memories with our friends about our day. 

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