Learning Outcomes

Students should be able to:

• State the definition of “survival”

• Know to leave an itinerary before going in the woods

• Know the difference between being lost or being stranded

• Know to first evaluate a situation before taking action

• Explain how to find direction using natural phenomena

• Know the meanings and signs of hypothermia and dehydration

• Demonstrate the principles of fire-building and fire-starting

• Show how to boil water using simple methods

• Explain why water should be boiled before drinking

• Demonstrate how to build a shelter out of natural materials

Writing Prompts

Persuasive/Opinion
If students have taken Hartley’s Wilderness Survival class, have them write a paper giving three reasons as to why the class was important to them.

If they have not yet taken the class, have them describe three things that they think they will learn from the class.

Informative/Explanatory:
Explain how to: build a fire; build a shelter; boil water over a campfire; find their way in the woods without a compass; recognize and prevent hypothermia and dehydration.  Use drawings to help illustrate your explanations.

Narrative
Describe a real-life or imaginary survival situation.  This can be about anyone.  Create pictures to illustrate your narrative.

Outside Learning/Exploration Opportunity:  

Take a nature hike and look for natural resources to use as survival materials.  This hike could be as a class, or be assigned as a family activity.  Make a list of the natural materials that you see that would be useful for survival and describe how you would use them.

Have students design and draw their own type of shelter. Using the link below, have students compare and contrast elements of their shelter and the shelters in the link. Take a trip out into the woods to build for students to try and build their shelters