Mount Baldy district turns mountain stream into classroom with 'Creek math' and fire‑ecology projects

Mount Baldy Joint Elementary School District is using its mountain setting as a hands‑on classroom, the presenter said, drawing on the stream that runs through the campus to teach math, science and ecology to roughly 120 students in transitional kindergarten through eighth grade.

The district is exploring development of a magnet environmental studies program to build on existing place‑based lessons, the presenter said. The small district, nestled at about 4,200 feet in the San Gabriel Mountains, emphasizes mixed‑age classes and close staff‑student relationships that make regular outdoor learning possible.

"We have about 120 students grades TK through eighth grade, and all of our classrooms are mixed age," the presenter said, describing the district's classroom groupings by animal nicknames: a kindergarten/first grade 'squirrel' classroom, a second/third 'raccoon' classroom, a fourth/fifth 'fox' classroom and a junior high 'deer' classroom. That small scale, the presenter said, allows teachers to know every student and to take them into the adjacent creek for regular fieldwork.

Students in the district's 'Creek Freak' program visit the stream roughly once a month to collect ecological data, the presenter said. "Our junior high students visit the stream that runs through our backyard to collect data about our stream and the water and the bugs that are living in there," the presenter said. Students measure stream width and depth to calculate area and measure velocity as part of data tracking that connects directly to classroom lessons.

The presenter said those outdoor measurements are folded into math instruction — a practice students have dubbed 'Creek math.' "Math!?" students reacted when first told the measurements would be part of class work, the presenter said, and later, "We love Creek math." The presenter added that students also track plants, birds and animals they observe during fieldwork.

The district has partnered with Pomona College professors who specialize in fire ecology to study regrowth in a nearby burn scar, the presenter said. After the area burned in the 'bridge fire,' students collected data on how plant life is returning and used that work to learn why wildfire can be part of natural cycles.

Educators framed those hands‑on experiences as more than enrichment. "The best part about working at Mount Baldy is the joy on the kids faces every day. They want to come to school here," the presenter said, noting that outdoor projects help concepts 'click' for students and expose them to new possibilities. The presenter said the district hopes to formalize and expand the environmental curriculum as it develops the potential magnet program.

The district did not provide a timetable or funding details for the magnet program in this presentation; those specifics were not specified in the transcript.