On a recent autumn day, Mount Madonna School (MMS) fifth grade students and their health class teacher Kami Pacheco headed into the nearby redwood forest on the school campus for a reflective lesson on building self-awareness.
Mount Madonna School (MMS) offers a unique health class for fifth grade students that teaches a holistic view of health and all it encompasses and utilizes the school’s serene 380-acres for learning.
“We teach so much more than just physical health,” said Pacheco, “although of course that is very important. Our bodies and minds and hearts are all interconnected.
“By offering the class the opportunity to spread out amongst the trees and reflect in ‘quiet nature,’ each student can reflect deeply on the questions and answer with fewer distractions,” she continued. “Our discussion afterwards allows us to respect each other’s sharing of personal information, without judgment, and delve deeper into understanding each other’s perspective.
The weekly course lessons cover a broad array of topics including nutrition, stress reduction, body image, conflict resolution, anti-bullying and inclusion, media consumption and internet safety and managing peer pressure.
Pacheco makes the most of the majestic outdoor areas at MMS to provide opportunities for student mindfulness/meditation, journaling and breathing techniques for reducing stress.
“I love to give the class a quiet place to think about the topics we’re learning,” Pacheco commented. “For a recent lesson, we spent time in the redwoods reflecting on our self-identities. It was a great way to kick off some of the concepts we’ll be learning this year starting with better awareness of who we are and what is important to us.
“We’re also learning what it means to cultivate a growth mindset…to see ourselves as a work-in-progress,” she continued. “Even in the things we are good at, we all have room to improve, and it’s important for children to understand that failure is really just another step on the journey to learning important life-lessons.”
Later in the semester, the class will take on scientific topics such as the nervous system, digestive system, the musculoskeletal system, immune system, disease prevention, and more. The lesson always ties back to the students’ personal experiences and how health is relevant to their daily lives. In the last topic covered, the students learn about the important and amazing reproductive system in age-appropriate lessons and discussions.
The class aligns with many of the core values of a Mount Madonna School education: intellectual inquiry that fosters curiosity and self-discipline, experiential outdoor learning that prioritizes an interconnectedness with nature and self, the development of relationships based on self-acceptance, openness and empathy, and communal experiences that cultivate a sense of belonging.
Every class and program at MMS works to support these values so that its students become compassionate, articulate and discerning individuals who share their talents and passions with their community to meet the challenges of our day.
