If you ever find yourself stranded in the woods in winter relying only on what Mother Nature provides for survival, hopefully a Fort Assiniboine School junior high student is nearby.
That is because for the past number of years as part of the school’s career and technology studies (CTS) program they have been offering outdoor survival orientation lessons. The school uses the CTS modules as a way to bring courses and topics that otherwise would not be available to a school its size.
Grade school and junior high school teacher Debbie Breitkreitz said usually the outdoor survival module has taken the form of a summer or fall camping/natural science outing, with one of the last ones being a multi-day excursion to Black Cat Guest Ranch in Hinton.
“This is the first time we have done it in winter,” she said, adding the winter excursion could become a regular outing. “It went better than we could have ever expected it too. The kids just loved it and they learned so much.”
This year’s version of junior high school outdoor skills day, as it has been dubbed, took place March 1 at Holmes Crossing Sandhills Ecological Reserve. The mean temperature for the day was a nippy -6.7 degrees Celsius.
“We started the day learning about the different types of snowshoes and their ancestry,” Breitkreitz said. “From how to recognize some of the different types of shoes used by Aboriginal peoples to the more modern materials such as the ones made from titanium steel that can actually be used to start fires by using them as a flint stone.”
Students then put their knowledge of snowshoes to use as they went on a hike through the bush to gather tinder to start a fire.
“It had to be match sized. We learned how that cleans up the bush and promotes our own survival by reducing the fire hazard,” she said.
During the hike the students learned what types of materials they would need to make their own snowshoes.
Although the students decided against making their own pairs they used the material they gathered for them, i.e. willow branches, as framework to make an igloo. The students used the tinder they gathered along with the larger pieces of willow to start a survival fire.
The students then broke into small groups where they practiced what they learned by competing in a friendly contest.
Students had to start their own fire, get it hot and high enough to burn through a twine that was strung over the fire about three feet in the air.
“When the twine was broken it released a tin cup, which the students used to collect and boil water,” Breitkreitz said. “It was really great to see not only how enthusiastic they were about learning survival skills and how important it is to be good stewards of the land, but how well all the Grade 7, 8 and 9s were able to work together.”
The day ended with the students learning how to bake bannock over an open fire using the large green willow branches as pot hangers.
Breitkreitz noted one of the reasons why the school is able to host the junior high school outdoor skills day is because of Dale and Colleen Kiselyk owners of Nature Alive, which specializes in offering outdoor survival courses and adventure trips. Colleen is also a teacher at the school.
