There’s a trail that runs along the forested ridge above the school. With summer phasing into fall, and the smell of winter in the air, I decided to offer cross-country running as my P.E. option this quarter.
Just getting to the ridge-top is a strenuous jog up a steep slope (note to self: I need to get the geometry students to calculate the slope), especially with the thick, slippery layer of this fall’s accumulated leaves to test the unwary, and I was a little surprised that about half a dozen students actually took me up on it.
Indeed a few more students have accreted onto our group since we started, casualties of the other P.E. options for the most part. But I’d like to think that the beauty of the wooded landscape — brilliant elm and sugar maple leaves littering the ground; crisp, cool air against flushed skin; the fresh, decisive smells in the ridge-top air; the crack an crackle of leaves underfoot — may have also attracted some attention.
I’m looking forward to observing how the slope and forest change with the coming winter.
