WAB’s Elementary School gym was abuzz last week, as students worked together to solve some wildly wacky challenges.
The 15-year WAB tradition, known as the Adventure Challenge, kicks off with teachers prompting students to solve a number of made-up disasters that require them to use key learner attributes.
“This is a great event and one of the physical education highlights of the school year,” said Jane Gooden, head of WAB’s Elementary PE. “The students learn and practice how to be good planners and effective communicators, as well as be caring and principled risk-takers. They learn to allocate responsibilities and resolve conflict.”
Together the students move into the gymnasium and are tasked with accomplishing several fitness activities using the challenge cycle – plan, perform, reflect – they learned in classes leading up to the event. As WAB celebrates its 25th anniversary, this year’s challenges were all focused around the school campus. The prompts, which you can also watch in the video above, were:
- The Elementary School Gate has been destroyed! Build a new one.
- The Tiger L’Air Dome had been destroyed! Lay a new floor.
- A tsunami hit Duck Lake! Clean the lake, and build a new bridge to connect campuses.
- Lighting struck the Electricity Room! Restore power to WAB.
- Country flags and names decorating the Admissions Office had been blown away! Match the flags with the proper country names.
- An alien destroyed the wheels on the school buses! Replace the wheels on the bus
Each challenge begins with students planning how to be successful in their tasks. After 20 minutes of working to accomplish the challenge, the students reflect on how their plan worked, what went well for them, and how they could have been more successful. At the end of the day, teachers award certificates to teams for accomplishments they made during the day.
“This is a great opportunity to see their students learning in an environment different to the classroom, and it’s a chance for parents to see their children working together in a unique environment we’ve created for them,” Jane said.
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