A. Project Title: Outdoor Educational Program at Stanley-Boyd School Forest
Applicant: Stanley-Boyd School District
School Forest: Stanley-Boyd School Forest
B. Statement of Need
1. Target Audiences:
 951 K-12 students
 130 professional and support staff
 7 board of education members
 Several area community members
 Area business men
2. Need and Evidence of Need:
Need one: The Stanley-Boyd School District needs to be able to assist community members,
students, and teachers to access the land easily.
The Stanley-Boyd School District would like to keep the community and the entire school updated with
the land. As a school district, we are striving to keep the community involved with our new addition to
the school. The 75 acres of land is joined with the school, and this makes it logistically superior for the
teachers to allow their students to become active on the land. This is what will allow us to assist
community members, students, and the faculty.
Evidence of Need One:
The district does not have enough trained teachers required to implement basic programming at
the district’s school forest facility. This has resulted in few opportunities for students to participate in
school forest activities and severely hampered the curriculum committee’s goal of implementing the
school forest education plan.
This property will also be used to connect with the community with local organizations and partner
with 4-H, Boy Scouts, FFA, FCCLA, FFA alumni, FBLA, and Lions Club. Examples include 4-H Clubs by
promoting projects for the fair such as: plant and animal science, horse, dairy, swine, wildlife
photography, woodworking, and others. Boy Scouts will be able to connect by outdoor activities like
snow shoeing. FFA would be able to have an FFA member take on a supervised agricultural experience
on the overall land. Lions Club would also like to have the opportunity to use the pavilion for monthly
meetings. Community gardens are also in the process of being constructed, and the FCCLA is willing to
take this on as a chapter star event. Finally, FBLA would have the ability to calculate any connections
that need to be made do to the land. There will be a mower and brush mower purchased and maintains
trails for access to: hardwood area, Christmas tree area, cropland, ponds, apple orchards, and canola
fields. Access is also needed for community recreation including snow shoeing, walking, and skiing on
the trails. These are several different ways that the Stanley-Boyd School District would be able to assist
community members, students, and faculty to access the land easily.
Need two: The Stanley-Boyd School District needs to develop a curriculum to establish hands-on
activities and to allow interactions within nature.
The Stanley-Boyd School District feels that they need to develop new curriculum that is more handson related. We feel that we would be able to do this with our school land that deals with nature,
mathematics, art, physical education, and many other subjects. The students will have hands on
experience of the social and economic benefits of the land stewardship.
Evidence of Need Two: Students from the Stanley-Boyd School District have asked each grade
level from K-12 what they would like to be able to do with this land. Each grade level submitted a list
that stated why they wanted that accessible, and how it would enhance a student’s development.
The Kindergarten, first grade, and second grade would have the ability to combine the subjects:
math, physical education, and science. For math they would be able to have a curriculum
connection with shapes and measurements. They could do activities such as sorting leaves and
measuring pumpkins and leaves. Another subject is physical education. They could connect with
physical activity. Some of the activities that could be involved are hiking the trails, following
direction given, running, and walking. The final subject that they would be able to make a
connection with is science. The main connections would be through plants, insects, seasonal
changes, careers, and living and nonliving items. They would do activities such as: planting seeds in a
garden lot, harvesting garden produce, exploring the forest, learning what foresters do, collecting
and observing insects, adopting a tree, visiting the apple orchard, and identifying living and nonliving parts of the school forest. The Stanley-Boyd School District plans to create an apple orchard.
This will help with economic issues because the elementary will be able to go on the school land
rather than a field trip out of town to a different apple orchard. These are the curriculum
connections with the kindergarten through second grade at the Stanley-Boyd School District.
The third through eighth grades would connect with the following subjects: science, Language
Arts, Social studies, environmental education, math, visual arts, and agricultural education. Some of
the curriculum connections would include: physical activity, ecosystem management, careers,
mapping, language arts, non-fiction reading, ecology, history, plants, problem solving, forests, land
forms, forest diversity, trees, forest resources, sustainability, glaciers, economic issues, tourisms,
bio-diversity, management, controversies, tree identification, and natural resources. There are
several activities that may be a key concept to an individual’s learning ability. A few activities may
consist of: taking field notes, keeping a journal, hiking, creating maps, collecting data, and
calculating tree age, measuring the diameter of a tree, investigating, experimenting, brainstorming,
evaluating, and many more. This is how the Stanley-Boyd School District hopes to connect with
grades three through eight.
Curriculum connections expand through the ninth through twelfth grades. Subjects such as
language arts, math, science, art, agricultural education, social studies, and Spanish will create and
broaden concepts with the students. Some activity connections will include: writing, identification,
graphing, measurement, statistics, ecosystem management, soils, plants, taxonomy, food web,
mapping, land use, habitats, landscaping, drawing, and navigation. We feel these are all important
connections that will be used through your high school career.
Need three: The Stanley-Boyd School District wants to provide students with tools to use in the
classrooms to enhance and expand their learning. All students have different learning styles, such
as visual learners, hands on, verbal, note taking, or textbook. The district feels that having different
tools will assist some students in the ability to apply their own knowledge to a real life experience.
This will help with expanding and connecting new curriculum here at the Stanley-Boyd School
District.
Evidence of Need Three: Many different tools and equipment can be used throughout the
school property. The Stanley Boyd School District is interested in tools that will expand and make
the curriculum more stimulating for the students. Some of the items that could be used are:
ratchets, shovels, compasses, measuring tapes, diameter tapes, increment borers, clinometers, log
rules, wedge prisms, pole saws, prunes, binoculars, and soil probes. In addition, it will connect the
students with different employment opportunities. We hope this grant will help with expanding and
enhancing the curriculum here at Stanley Boyd School District.
3. Previous Efforts: The Stanley-Boyd Outdoor Educational Center officially purchased the land on
May 31, 2007 for $258,000.00 with an 80 acre plot including a house. On May 31, 2007 the
school district sold a five acre plot including the house for $129,500.00. Therefore, Stanley-Boyd
now has a 75 acre plot that was purchased for $128,500.00.
Many activities have taken place on the land since May 31, 2007. During the summer of
2007 there was a pavilion that was built to expand the curriculum. For two years there was corn
planted, and this last year there was camellia, canola, and oats seeded also. The DNR has
reconstructed the two ponds that are on the land. On May 21, 2009 the Stanley-Boyd School
District held an opening day of the land to the community. Following that was an elementary
education day to teach the younger students about the basic structures of the land. During the
summer of 2009, many activities took place. One of the activities was that there were 2.5 miles
of trails created. Another activity was that one dozen birdhouses were made and displayed
throughout the land. Finally, there were new species of trees planted. The first year there were
1500 white spruce trees and 500 wildlife shrubs. This last year there were 2500 white spruce
trees, 500 wildlife shrubs, 500 sugar maple trees, and 200 Balsam fir trees. These are several of
the activities that the Stanley-Boyd Outdoor Educational Center committee has accomplished.
4. Priorities Addressed: This proposal will complement the Wisconsin Environmental Education
Board by making use of different resources. Teachers will be trained to make curriculum
connections from the classroom to the land, and this will be developed by the WEEB grant.
C. Project Goals, Objectives, Activities
Goal: The Stanley-Boyd School District has a goal of making the land more accessible and
useable for community members, students, and teachers.
Objective One: The school district will be able to complete this goal by different activities that
will be used by community members, students, and teachers. The activities will enhance the
number of involved community members, and accessibility to make connections from the
classroom to the land.
Activities: Bird watching, Skiing, Recreation, Walking, Snowshoeing, Mapping, Seasonal
Changes, Drawing, Photography, Forest, Careers
Who Conducts: SBOEC Committee, Stanley-Boyd School District Faculty and Staff, Chippewa
County Forester
Who Benefits: Stanley-Boyd Students K-12, Stanley-Boyd School District Faculty and Staff, and
Community Members
Where: The Stanley-Boyd Outdoor Education Center (SBOEC)
When: Year Round
Objective Two: Another way that the Stanley-Boyd Outdoor Education Center will make the
land more accessible is by trails, testing, ponds, and, other recreational activities. The land has
already created 2.5 miles of trails that lead to new adventures. There are also recreational docks
on both of the ponds. This will allow for different types of water testing and other exciting
experiences based on the ponds.
Activities: Walking, Cross Country, Running, Skiing, PH Iron Water Testing, Art, Photography,
Ecosystems, Environmental Education- Travel, Brochures, Glacier Studies, and Economic Issues
Who Conducts: Stanley-Boyd School District Faculty and Staff, and SBOEC Committee Members
Who Benefits: Community Members, Stanley-Boyd School District K-12 Students and Faculty,
Where: Stanley-Boyd Outdoor Education Center
When: Year Round
Goal: The Stanley-Boyd School District has a goal of developing a more hands on curriculum.
Objective One: The Stanley-Boyd School District has a goal of developing more hands on
curriculum. The first part will involve certain activities that can be done by the Kindergarten
through the eighth grade. The Kindergarten classes will be able to explore the land and locate
different species of insects. Grades 1-3 will be able to examine the contrasting colors of flowers,
leaves on trees, and tree identification. Grades 4-6 will be able to analyze the distinct living
habits of the birds and other small animals living on the land. Finally, grades 7-8 will be able to
construct different activities to learn about particular types of studies within the science
program.
Activities: Math, Physical Education, Science, Language, Social Studies, Art, Visual Arts, and
Agricultural Education
Who Conducts: Stanley-Boyd School District Faculty and Staff
Who Benefits: Stanley-Boyd School District K-8 Students and Faculty
Where: Stanley-Boyd Outdoor Education Center
When: Year Round
Objective Two: The Stanley-Boyd High School has many activities that will take time on the
school land. Of those activities, the art program will teach the students unique values of colors
and textures. The science program teachers will be allowed the time they need to explain the
affects and interactions of human activities in the environment everyday with the physical
education department. With this ability, it will allow students to capture fresh air and exercise
from the land.
Activities: Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, Agricultural Education, Art, and Spanish
Who Conducts: Stanley-Boyd School District Students and Faculty
Who Benefits: Stanley-Boyd School District 9-12 Students and Faculty
Where: Stanley-Boyd Outdoor Education Center
When: Year Round
Goal: The Stanley-Boyd School District has a goal of enhancing the student’s learning ability in
the classroom with different tools.
Objective One: The Stanley-Boyd School District will expand on the learning curriculum by using
a variety of different tools. This equipment will be offered to community members, students,
and providing teachers to help with curriculum connections. The tools will be stored where they
will be easily accessible to faculty and community members. This will allow new ways of learning
to the students at the Stanley-Boyd School District. An inventory of all equipment from this
proposed grant will be accessible through the administration office.
Activities: Test Kits, Basic Tools, Measuring Tools, Outdoor Necessities, Gardening Tools,
Identification Signs, Physical Activity Tools, and Photography
Who Conducts: Stanley-Boyd School District Faculty
Who Benefits: Stanley-Boyd School District K-12 Students and Faculty
Where: Stanley-Boyd Outdoor Education Center
When: Year Round
Objective Two: The Stanley-Boyd School District has plans to organize several workshops to help
with the teaching and understanding of different tools. These workshops will be held in August
of 2010 for any students, faculty and community members that are interested in learning more
in depth function and use of the tools and equipment. Mr. Jordan Donnerbauer, Chippewa
County Forester Jim Skorczewski, and other Stanley-Boyd faculty members have agreed to
organize and set up these workshops. This will be very beneficial to the Stanley-Boyd students,
faculty and community members.
Activities: Workshops Teaching How to Use Different Test Kits, How to Properly Use Basic Tools,
How to Properly Use Measuring Tools and Workshops Demonstrating How the Outdoor
Necessities are Used, How to Properly Use Gardening Tools How to Use Physical Activity
Properly, and How to Properly Use Photography Equipment
Who Conducts: Agriculture/FFA Advisor Jordan Donnerbauer and Jim Skorczewski
Who Benefits: Community Members, Stanley-Boyd School District K-12 Students and Faculty
Where: Stanley-Boyd Outdoor Education Center
When: August of 2010
D. Dissemination:
The Stanley-Boyd Environmental Science class will be putting monthly articles into the local
newspaper. The articles will pertain to new activities and recreation due to the land. There will
also be a community day that will be organized by students of Stanley-Boyd and FFA members.
This will be a day to learn about the new equipment that may be used on the land. Monthly
presentations will be given to the Stanley-Boyd School Board to inform and update them on the
Stanley-Boyd Outdoor Education Center.
E. Evaluation:
The objectives with the involvement of community members will be monitored by: 1) The
number of participates in volunteer work 2) The amount of members and parents that help with
organizing and attending events that take place on the land 3) The percentage of community
members that submit a letter to the editor that is based on activities that take place on the land
4) The quantity of requests for educational programs that are based on the Stanley-Boyd
Outdoor Education Center. 5) At least 75% of the faculty will be using equipment on, or for, the
land. 6) At least 90% of the students at Stanley-Boyd will be using the land for hands on
activities.
F. Staff Qualifications:
Project Director: Mr. Jordan Donnerbauer: Agriculture Education Instructor/FFA advisor of the
Stanley-Boyd High School (2 years), and FFA advisor. Created the Stanley-Boyd Outdoor
Education Center Committee in which he organized and presides over currently. Also
coordinated Earth Day Celebration at the Stanley-Boyd Outdoor Education Center for grades K-6
and the community. Committee Members: Joan Verbeten: Middle School Science Teacher (12
years). Several graduate credits in School Forest Development and numerous Project Leaf/PLT
Workshop experience. Co-author of School Forest WEEB grant. Committee Member: Cathy
Ryba: 5th grade Teacher of the Stanley-Boyd Elementary. Several graduate credits in School
Forest Development and numerous Project Leaf/PLT Workshop experience. Co-author of School
Forest WEEB grant.
Continuation: Not applicable