Outdoor and Environmental Education • Department of Business Services 71 Clinton Rd, Garden City, NY 11530 • 516-396-2264 • Fax 516-333-6432 • www.nassauboces.org/outdoors

Student Guide to…

The Low Ropes

Challenge Course Program

Outdoor and Environmental Education • Department of Business Services 71 Clinton Rd, Garden City, NY 11530 • 516-396-2264 • Fax 516-333-6432 • www.nassauboces.org/outdoors

Are You Ready for a Challenge? This guide will help to prepare you for your field trip to one of our Environmental Education Centers – either at Brookville or at Caumsett State Historic Park. You and your team will be involved in lots of fun activities that are designed to give you practice with communication and problem solving skills.

What will happen on your Field Trip: Your bus will arrive at our Nature Center and you will be assigned to a group. You and your classmates will be working together with one of our naturalists. A naturalist is an outdoor educator who has studied many topics about the outdoors. And, they know lots of great ways to help you and your team work together. You’ll have a great day learning about yourself and your classmates.

Caumsett Environmental Center

Don’t forget to dress for the weather and the season! Dressing in layers is the best way to make sure you will enjoy your day. Brookville Environmental Education Center

What types of activities will you do? The program is often called “Project Adventure” but we like to call it “Challenge Course” because the activities are designed to challenge you and make you think and even get you frustrated…on purpose!

The games and activities are designed so that no one person can solve the problem alone. The object is to have all team members design a solution to accomplish each task cooperatively. Sometimes the task will be physical and sometimes the task will be a mental one. But in all cases, you will need the power of your group to: Be a success!

There are many signs posted on trees throughout

our Brookville site.

What does this sign mean and why is it important to

solving a problem?

This group is “processing” the activity: talking about what went right…or what went wrong and ways to reach their next goal.

Outdoor and Environmental Education • Department of Business Services 71 Clinton Rd, Garden City, NY 11530 • 516-396-2264 • Fax 516-333-6432 • www.nassauboces.org/outdoors

Your day will include three main activity sessions:

Cooperative Games –also called “New Games” or “Icebreakers.” These are designed to get your group to become a Team and for your Naturalist to get to know you a bit better, too. This helps the naturalist select the best challenges for your group.

These games and challenges will take place in a large field and often have strange names, like “Joe Cool”, “Turnstile,“ “Moon Ball” and are probably games you have never played before!

Problem Solving Tasks: These activities add a bit of a physical challenge. Your group may have to get from one point to the other, go over or under or

across something.

The tasks will start out easy and then get harder as the session goes on. If your naturalist thinks your group is having too easy a time, they may try to challenge you even more by adding a “handicap” like doing it blindfolded, or on one leg or with…

NO TALKING! - Impossible for some groups!

Low Ropes Course: Your third session will take you to our wooded course where there are many elements from which your naturalist will choose the ones best for your group. Here, you will often need to go one at a time or with a

partner to go through the obstacle.

But this doesn’t mean the rest of the group gets to take a break! All of the team will help by being spotters to make sure each member of the team is safe and supported.

Why is it called Low Ropes? We do have a High Ropes course but this is

reserved for middle and high school groups that have already had the low ropes course experience.

Outdoor and Environmental Education • Department of Business Services 71 Clinton Rd, Garden City, NY 11530 • 516-396-2264 • Fax 516-333-6432 • www.nassauboces.org/outdoors

What happens if you don’t think you can do an activity? Many of our activities seem hard at first. But if you remember that you will have help from your group, many students are amazed that they were able to do all or most of them. We have a saying: “Challenge By Choice.”

This doesn’t mean that you can choose not do an activity. It means that you can decide what level you want to try. So for example, if our six foot high cable bridge looks a bit too high for you, you can first just try several steps on the ladder and take it one step at a time. Don’t forget that you will always be supporting your team and participating as a spotter. So no one really ever “sits out.”

If you think this all sounds like just fun and games…you are half right! Your teacher or principal has chosen this field trip for your class to practice many skills that will be important for you in school and in your daily life - not just for now but in years to come. For example, when you get your first job, you will have to work well with others to be successful. Being able to problem-solve and communicate well are skills that are very important to an employer.

After each activity and as a wrap-up of the day, your naturalist will “process” the experience to help use it as a metaphor for situations that may go on in your life at home or at school. You may hear some of the words or phrases below during your trip with us:

Using communication skills Being collaborative Taking responsibility Taking a risk Getting out of your comfort zone

Analyzing the problem Being a good listener Showing respect for others Being a leader Trust the Process

We hope you will enjoy your Challenge Course Day with us!

Outdoor and Environmental Education • Department of Business Services 71 Clinton Rd, Garden City, NY 11530 • 516-396-2264 • Fax 516-333-6432 • www.nassauboces.org/outdoors

Nassau BOCES Administrative Center 71 Clinton Road P.O. Box 9195

Garden City, NY 11530-9195 516 396-2264

Stephen B. Witt, President

Eric B. Schultz, Vice President Susan Bergtraum, District Clerk

Michael Weinick, Vice District Clerk Deborah Coates Ronald Ellerbe Martin R. Kaye

Fran N. Langsner Robert "B.A." Schoen

Thomas Rogers

District Superintendent

Department of Business Services Joan Seigel

Executive Director

Instructional Programs Patricia Bussett

Executive Manager

Carolann James Program Coordinator

Outdoor and Environmental Education (516) 396-2264

www.nassauboces.org/outdoors

Non-discrimination Statement: Nassau BOCES advises students, parents, employees and the general public that it offers employment and educational opportunities without regard to sex, race, color, national origin or handicap. Information and grievance procedures are available by contacting the following Civil Rights/Title IX/Section 504/ADA Compliance Officers in the Human Resources Department at 71 Clinton Rd., Garden City, NY, 11530: Lawrence McGoldrick, Acting Director, at 516-396-2358, lmcgoldrick@nasboces.org, or Selma Shelton, Assistant Director, at 516-396-2360, sshelton@nasboces.org. A copy of programs and educational courses offered and available to residents may be obtained from our website, www.nassauboces.org