Recap of Events
As part of an effort to increase awareness of orienteering as a sport, and to incorporate the many educational and problem- based learning aspects of the sport into the curriculum, NEOOC teamed up with 4th graders from Kenston Intermediate School to put on an orienteering event. In what we hope was the First Annual orienteering day, 200+ 4th graders and staff took part in orienteering in and around the building, and most teams completed four courses covering more than 2 miles distance travelled.
Students prepared with pre-orienteering materials in their classrooms, and completed practice problems solving mazes and orienteering inside a room to get aquatinted with relating the map to reality. A few instructional videos were used to enhance their knowledge of the sport itself, and they learned the importance or rotating the map, and orienting to north at all times.
Bob Boltz, map coordinator of NEOOC, had designed the custom Kenston Intermediate School map covering the grounds around the building, and laid out 4 courses each covering 9 controls over about 0.8km (800m) each. Andreas Johansson, NEOOC club member, and Director of Technology Integration at Kenston Schools, assisted with planning, teacher training, and supervision during the event. They had plenty of help from Kenston PTO to manage map exchanges and supervision around the building. A big thanks to Mr. Adam Fender, Principal at Kenston Intermediate School, for making it happen, and helping coordinating the event, and activities leading up to the very successful day.
Furthermore, the 4th grade students orienteering at KIS was part of a larger worldwide effort to set a new world record for World Orienteering Day (on or about May 11th, 2016), and their efforts were registered along with Kenston Middle School’s 8th grade students doing hot spot orienteering during a field trip to Washington, D.C., as well as the 7th graders orienteering while at 7th grade camp. In total, at least 650+ students and staff from Kenston Schools took part in World Orienteering Day activities, and were counted for the world record attempt.
We’re excited for the opportunities to build long-lasting relationships with the Kenston Schools, and look forward to holding many more orienteering events, including full campus sprint, cross country, and score events in the future.
Photos from 4th Grade Orienteering
Photo credits go to Josh Timmons, Tech Integration Specialist, and Andreas Johansson, Director of Technology at Kenston Local Schools.
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