Wonder Takes Root at Prairie Wetlands Where Students Discover God's Creation

Each month, Mrs. Holm’s sixth-grade students leave their classroom desks for the outdoor classroom fields of the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center. There, students learn by touching, measuring, classifying, sketching, and experiencing. More importantly, they learn that the natural world is more than a collection of scientific facts. It is God's creation, inviting them to embody discovery and awaken to something about its Creator.

Mrs. Holm began piloting the monthly visits last year, hoping to instill a love and wonder of God's creation while helping students recognize His characteristics through nature. A key passage guiding this endeavor is Psalm 46:10, "Be still, and know that I am God," which provides a meaningful foundation for the experience.

During their October visit, students investigated the remarkable diversity of seeds scattered throughout Minnesota's native prairie. Before heading into the field, they studied the differences between monocots and dicots, drew seed structures, identified their parts, and considered the purposes each serves. With that knowledge, students ventured into the prairie to identify and collect seeds from native plants, including Indian grass, switchgrass, prairie dropseed, gray-headed coneflower, and meadow blazing star.

The lesson moved from explanation to exploration. Students connected scientific terminology to the plants growing around them, engaging both their analytical abilities and their natural curiosity. They adopted individual trees to study throughout the changing seasons. They examined leaf and bark patterns, classified their trees, measured trunk circumferences, studied branching and crown shapes, and even gave their trees special names.

At the prairie's Lone Cottonwood, students explored measurement in a memorable way, comparing the tree's circumference using their bodies, outstretched arms, and centimeters. These experiences turn abstract concepts into concrete discoveries. Measurements gain meaning. Classification becomes a tool for understanding. Familiar surroundings become places filled with new questions. As students compare observations and share their discoveries, they learn that another person's careful attention can reveal something they might have missed.

Mrs. Holm structures the outdoor lessons around the Compass to Nature framework, developed by Dave Ellis and colleagues. The approach emphasizes connecting students to a particular place, using naturalist methods, recording observations in journals, and studying seasonal patterns and the timing of events in nature. Each month brings new opportunities for discovery.

In September, students investigated aquatic and land invertebrates, practiced observation and classification, and reflected on their experiences through cinquain poetry. October brought seed studies and tree investigations. Winter will offer opportunities for snow tracking, while spring will bring the study of migration.

Students keep records of what they observe, including temperatures, wildlife, plants, and seasonal changes. Their journals become an ongoing record of discovery, helping them recognize patterns and build connections between what they learn in class and what they encounter outdoors.

The experience also reaches beyond science. During October's visit, students used the wind to disperse milkweed seeds, began a BioBlitz examining prairie grasses, and spent time with Mr. Peterson creating drawings and watercolor paintings of seed-bearing plants. The day began with devotions connecting butterflies and milkweed, and students later continued their reflections through poetry in the classroom. Science helped students understand what they were seeing. Art encouraged them to look more closely. Poetry invited them to communicate what they discovered. Scripture directed their wonder toward the Creator.

This integrated learning reflects Hillcrest's classical Christian educational approach. Students aren't simply collecting information for a test. They are learning to observe, organize, connect, communicate, and contemplate. In a world filled with distractions and immediate answers, the ability to slow down and examine something carefully is increasingly valuable. Mrs. Holm's students are learning that worthwhile discoveries often require patience. They must pay attention to small details, ask thoughtful questions, and return to familiar places with fresh eyes. A tree studied in October won't look the same in January. The prairie that scatters seeds in autumn will reveal different forms of life in spring. By revisiting the same environment throughout the school year, students begin to understand that meaningful knowledge develops through sustained attention.

Creation invites investigation because it is orderly and intelligible. Its complexity gives students reasons to keep exploring, while its beauty invites gratitude and worship. Studying the natural world becomes an opportunity to recognize God's creativity, wisdom, and sustaining care. Mrs. Holm is helping students make those connections through experiences they can remember, explain, and share.

A sixth grader may forget a particular definition from a Life Science lesson. But that student may remember standing beside a towering cottonwood, discovering the structure of a seed, watching milkweed drift on the wind, or returning to a familiar tree to discover how it has changed. These experiences form habits of observation that extend far beyond the prairie.