Naturalist Middle School

This program keeps pace with Colorado academic standards in a socially- and emotionally-supportive environment. Our classroom-based learning includes math, science, English-language arts, and social studies. Academics are also woven into the naturalist curriculum—through every skill, students develop an understanding of the natural world and broaden their scientific knowledge. We study chemical interactions through natural dyes, cooking, hide tanning, and soap making. We integrate subjects like science and writing through nature journals, keeping artistic records of  our observations and activities.

Throughout the year, our naturalist curriculum helps students build relationships with their home ecoregion by engaging in whole processes from start to finish: basketry, natural dying, cordage-making, wild food harvesting and processing, and fiber arts. The naturalist curriculum follows the seasons, harvesting food and craft materials in the fall that we then use for the whole school year. By the end of the year, students will take home beautiful crafts as representations of their connection to the land and what they have learned.

This is a place for middle schoolers to learn, explore, and grow outside the prescribed structures of modern middle school. We strive to create a light-hearted learning environment that supports a well-balanced education for adolescents.

Academic Highlights

• Strengthen creative and research writing techniques
• Utilize the scientific method and sharpen observations skills
• Keep pace with Colorado math standards

Naturalist Curriculum Highlights

• Explore the Western Colorado landscape and learn how to recognize, harvest, and process wild foods
• Experience processes of place-based living, including weaving a basket, tanning a hide, and making acorn bread from wild-harvested acorns
• Experiment with natural dyes like black walnut and sumac to create colorful textiles with local milkweed and wool fibers
• Enjoy our wonderful treasure trove of fruit trees through processing apples, peaches and pears into fresh-pressed cider, sauce, fruit leather, and more

“Being naturalized to place means to live as if this is the land that feeds you, as if these are the streams from which you drink, that build your body and fill your spirit. To become naturalized is to know that your ancestors lie in this ground. Here you will give your gifts and meet your responsibilities. To become naturalized is to live as if your children’s future matters, to take care of the land as if our lives and the lives of all our relatives depend on it. Because they do.”
― Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass

Jenna Bradford

Jenna grew up in the Sacramento River delta in California, swimming, climbing trees, searching for animals along the water’s edge, studying their ways, and always looking for excuses to be outside. She received her B.A. in Environmental Studies and Bioethics from Loyola University in Chicago. Before becoming a teacher, Jenna worked on farms in Colorado, designed and sewed clothing, and studyied plants through an herbalism apprenticeship with Wildroot Botanicals and an ethnobotany immersion with Raven’s Roots Naturalist School. Jenna taught 5th and 6th grade at Paonia’s North Fork School of Integrated Studies. She is excited to continue with some of her current students on this adventure. Jenna loves teaching because she loves learning and loves to share that enthusiasm with others.