The School District of Rhinelander’s newest charter school, Rhinelander Environmental Stewardship Academy (RESA), introduced its first newsletter last month, called "The Rendezvous Site.”

    The attractively laid-out eight-page newsletter serves as a showcase of student writing, with articles that range across many topics and are written a variety of styles—from personal narrative to poetry to straightforward reporting.
   
    Along with photos of RESA activities, the articles of “The Rendezvous Site” give a compelling picture of what place-based education is all about.

    Currently, there are 18 students, all 7th and 8th graders, in the academy, which is housed in James Williams Middle School. The teacher is Kirby Kohler. A curriculum has been developed for RESA students who are going on to Rhinelander High School. RESA is funded by state and federal grants. For information about RESA or how to enroll, contact Kirby at kohlekir@rhinelander.k12.wi.us.

    To introduce RESA to a wider public, NNN will feature articles in this space from the students who write for “The Rendezvous Site.”

    The first article, written by 8th grader Nick Siewert, begins below. His photo is in the Slide Show.

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            PLACE-BASED EDUCATION FINDS A HOME
            By Nick Siewert

    The Rhinelander Environmental Stewardship Academy (RESA) is a placed based-learning school. Place-based learning is different from traditional learning. The curriculum focuses on applied, field-based learning on thematic units related to the community we live in.
 
    The thematic units are related to natural resources in the Rhinelander area. From fall to spring the units are: wild rice ecosystems, furbearer ecology, whitetail deer biology and management, renewable energy, sustainable forestry, wolf biology and management, ornithology, fisheries biology and management and multiple resource uses.

   When RESA students are out in the field they are using an interdisciplinary curriculum. For example, we have daily oral language and daily oral math that ties in with the unit of study. In the field we learn about science, social studies, physical education, and we even read out in the field!

   In the classroom, we have regular lessons in the major disciplines.  We do Pre-algebra and Algebra 1 on a computer program called Larson Learning.  We go through lessons in science, social studies, and physical education to learn content and skills consistent with the Wisconsin State Model Academic Standards.

   Every day we have homework. Daily we write in our journal about the land and topics of interest using paragraph writing skills, poetry techniques, or short stories. We also have science and social studies homework from the daily lesson and may be working on essays or presentations related to the thematic unit.

    After every thematic unit we have a unit exam. The exams are challenging, but are a good way to see how much we understand the material. My favorite unit was the furbearer ecology unit because we got to go out in canoes and trap muskrats on the Wisconsin River in October. We learned about their habitat, classification, genetics and wetland management.

    As a RESA student I would recommend this school for anyone interested in learning about the environment and for anyone who is a naturalist learner. As a RESA student I have learned to observe, record and analyze data.  This school has taught me to appreciate the environment and how to take care of it “hands on.”