News & Updates

Emergent Curriculum: Survival Skills

Emergent Curriculum is a child-centered, responsive approach to education, where learning is developed based on children’ s interests. Each year, the SRV students vote on an all-school theme, which guides the direction of the emergent curriculum throughout the school-year. For 2024-25, students voted on an all-school theme of Survival Skills.

Thanks to the generous donations of the greater SRV community during October’s Giving week, we were able to fund a partnership with Coyote Tracks – a division of 4 Elements Earth Education. 4EEE offers a range of teachings in what they call Earth Living Skills, such as tracking, wilderness survival, and nature awareness through learning of the 4 elements of Survival: Shelter, Water, Fire, and Food. In November, January, and May, Jamie Coyle and Jack Antes, educators from Coyote Tracks, visited with students for 3 weeks of immersive study.

Study began in late fall, when preschoolers through 6th graders spent time with Jamie and Jack connecting with nature and learning about their philosophy of caretaking and stewardship. Jamie shared, “Calling SRV students willing would be an understatement. They were excited from day one. The motivation, enthusiasm, but most importantly the curiosity we got from [the] students made for an incredible experience.” Students and teachers observed campus and the woods in fall. They learned to “listen for what nature is telling us” to figure out which skills to learn first. They noticed the air was getting cooler, and leaves were falling, and so, they learned how to build shelter. Preschoolers worked with Jamie and Jack to make a small model shelter for a toy squirrel out of objects in nature. The older kids made human sized shelters out of wood and leaves. They practiced dumping water on the structure and adding more and more insulation until a person could stay dry inside.

Fire making came next. Even the preschoolers could learn how to find dry sticks…by feeling, and by listening for the “snap” of dry wood when you break it! Older kids built fires and learned first with matches and then moved on to fire kits- rubbing two sticks together. This skill proved inspiring and science and garden teacher Paul carried it forward by studying the science of fire, and helping kids build and cook over fires during science and recess time throughout the year. Visitors to May Fair in 2025 had the chance to cook stuffed apples over a camp fire with Paul! Nature awareness in the fall also led students to learn what other animals share our campus. They found evidence of deer, fox, and beaver.

The fun continued in January, when students were lucky enough to spend their second week with Coyote Tracks in the snow. As Jamie put it, “A snow day is the single greatest thing in the world for a wildlife tracker in the mid-Atlantic.” By observing tracks in the snow, students learned that a racoon had visited the dumpster, that jumping mice had frolicked on campus, and found out where the grey squirrels played. By following the squirrel tracks, students even found freshly nibbled acorns! Oldest kids found evidence of red foxes on the field and in Fort Town and found skunk urine in the woods. A great match for a progressive school, Jamie and Jack helped students ask and answer their own questions by honing their skills of careful observation.

During the spring, the final Coyote Tracks week ended with a splash, when they accompanied the Oldest Group on their traditional camping trip to Hickory Run State Park!

Progressive educators have a rare talent for practicing agility and for teaching critical thinking, inspiring curiosity, and supporting students to pursue their own ideas. Coyote Tracks teachers raved about the partnership they found with the SRV faculty.

“The teachers are one of the most important parts of our programming – because we are the visitors to a space, but they are the facilitators of this team of young people. When the teachers show up with disengagement or hesitation, maybe annoyance that they’re out in the rain (which sadly, is quite common) – that is echoed by their students.”

“At SRV, the teachers showed up as motivating their students, urging them along, asking questions, and role modeling being a student in a way. They had curiosity, they were smiling and physically engaging with our themes themselves and asking were questions about them. The students see them continue learning and engaging in learning themselves. And kindness. It’s sad that we go to so many schools that it’s not always the case that the teachers are pleasant and engaged, but at SRV it really was wonderful.”

“We label our desired outcomes within our team before we start a project – I think, with the SRV partnership, all of them have been reached – in large part because of the teachers.”

“This is the greatest school I’ve ever worked with.”

This all started with a student vote to spend the year learning survival skills. Through the generosity of SRV Fund donors, and the agility and enthusiasm of our exceptional faculty, a truly memorable learning experience came together. Jamie Coyle emphasized that learning these nature awareness skills helps young people nourish their bodies and minds, and feel good about themselves. “Then we start to activate caretaking actions toward our natural world… that will not only improve our lives but the lives of generations to come.”

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