Gladstone elementary school puts outdoor classroom to use | News, Sports, Jobs
Everleigh Wolak, far left, and her classmates in Nikki Peterson’s second-grade class look through binoculars during a lesson in the outdoor classroom at W.C. Cameron Elementary School in Gladstone. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)
GLADSTONE — An outdoor classroom and nature trail at W.C. Cameron Elementary School in Gladstone are providing teachers and students with a different environment for education.
Inaugural lessons with the Department of Natural Resources started last week and continued into this week.
Prior to developing the dedicated classroom space on the edge of the woods that abuts the fields behind the elementary school, teachers would sometimes take their regular lessons outdoors on nice days.
“If it was beautiful (weather), they would just grab their things and head outside,” Cameron Principal Katee Inghram said. “We have this huge campus, and we’re so lucky to have such a beautiful space back there.”
Such occurrences might have been for ordinary math or reading lessons — not necessarily outdoor-related — but now, staff and administration are working on ideas to use the new area to incorporate science lessons that tie into established curriculum standards.
Second-graders peer into the woods before raising their binoculars to see a magnified view during a lesson in the outdoor classroom at W.C. Cameron Elementary School in Gladstone. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)
Several teachers came together to develop a three-year plan for gradually improving the outdoor space, Inghram explained.
Earlier in 2025, Wildlife Unlimited pledged a “sizeable grant” to helping the school start the first phase of an outdoor classroom. That allowed for the purchase of three picnic tables and chains to anchor them to concrete.
“So far, they’ve been sitting on stumps and the ground. That’s fine, too, but we’re excited about formalizing this,” Inghram said at a school board meeting in April. “This will give us space for kids to go a little more comfortably … or have a place to put their books and papers.”
A short time later, the Billerud paper mill in Escanaba donated wood chips that would go not only in the “classroom” area with the picnic tables, but also along the nature trail that had been formed as part of an Eagle Scout project about 24 years ago.
A call for assistance went out to the public: a work bee was scheduled for Oct. 7, 8 and 9 to “reclaim” the overgrown trail and connect it to the new outdoor classroom. People were asked to bring shears, rakes, gloves and effort to clean up the trail, cut back overgrowth and lay the wood chips.
Collin Young prepares to pass the pelt of a fisher to a classmate during a lesson in the outdoor classroom at W.C. Cameron Elementary School in Gladstone. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)
“We had awesome response. Just under 50 people showed up across two days,” Inghram said. “We didn’t even need the third day because we finished early. And it was super fun.”
The high school helped with the first phase by making a wooden sign for the classroom. The carved letters read “Cameron Cougar Den,” a callback to an old mascot.
Wednesday and Monday, DNR Wildlife Technician Colter Lubben had lessons for the students of Cameron Elementary at the outdoor classroom. Each class from Readiness Kindergarten to second grade had a half-hour session with Lubben, who organized a multi-part presentation about wildlife for the kids. After a discussion at the tables about herbivores, carnivores and omnivores, the children got to use binoculars to spot taxidermied animals Lubben had hidden in the woods. They took a short walk and talked about the traits of creatures native to the region.
After the student lesson, Lubben and a teacher were planning on walking along the trail to take stock of trees and make plans for labeling them with signage later, probably next year. Planting of native flora will also be part of a future phase of development.
The third phase that will hopefully be completed in 2027 will include the addition of outdoor storage space — such as a garden shed — that can be stocked with magnifying glasses and clipboards and other materials for use in the outdoor classroom.
Children in Nikki Peterson’s second-grade class compare their hands to the size of a wolf paw as Colter Lubben of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources holds a pelt during a lesson in the outdoor classroom at W.C. Cameron Elementary School in Gladstone. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)
Teachers are looking forward to using the space and the trail year-round, including for snowshoeing in the winter.
Off-road trail users are reminded that the woods immediately behind Cameron Elementary School are off-limits to vehicular traffic. Although the school has had some trouble in the past with people taking shortcuts through the grounds on ORVs, Inghram said it’s gotten better since they’ve laid wood chips, which probably makes it clearer that the path is for school use.
The actual ORV trail, marked by signs, is just a little farther off school property.
Michigan Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Technician Colter Lubben hands photos of prey animals to students and asks them to identify which predators eat them during a lesson in the outdoor classroom at W.C. Cameron Elementary School in Gladstone. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)
Nikki Peterson’s class engages with a lesson prepared by Colter Lubben of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources in the outdoor classroom at W.C. Cameron Elementary School in Gladstone. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)
