Join Us!
In person Teacher Training Weekend Course
4 Elements Earth Education Presents an in person Teacher Training program with Rick Berry
This immersive weekend course is designed for educators, mentors, parents and guardians, forest school leaders, outdoor instructors, and anyone called to guide children toward a deeper relationship with nature.
Day Program or Overnight Camping Options Available
Friday Evening 7:00 PM – Sunday 12:00 PM
Why is this important?
As modern life has become faster, busier, and increasingly automated, many children are growing up disconnected from experiences that naturally develop confidence, emotional regulation, resilience, adaptability, problem-solving, and a sense of purpose.
Developing a meaningful relationship with the natural world helps children slow down, become more aware, work with their hands, engage directly with real-world challenges, and experience the confidence and grounding that come through direct interaction with nature.
We have witnessed how nature-based skills, awareness practices, and experiential mentoring can positively transform children and families by fostering confidence, adaptability, practical problem-solving, deeper awareness, and a more thoughtful relationship with the world around them.
Led by Rick Berry, this training draws from more than 35 years of teaching experience rooted in the lineage and teachings of the Tracker School, and from mentorship with Tom Brown Jr., Jon Young, Gary Morris, Juan Villarreal, and others.
This course introduces the foundational skills and teaching approaches needed to create meaningful, engaging, and transformative nature-based experiences for children and youth. Participants will explore practical tools for teaching, nature connection routines, group facilitation skills, and mentoring approaches that support curiosity, resilience, awareness, and belonging.
Come gather with fellow educators, mentors, and guides to deepen your skills, reconnect with the natural world, and renew your inspiration for working with youth.
Core Areas of Study
Creating Safe & Welcoming Learning Environments
Learn how to cultivate emotional safety, trust, inclusion, and a sense of belonging for children in outdoor learning spaces.
Coyote Teaching & the Art of Questioning
Explore the timeless mentoring approach often called “Coyote Teaching” — guiding through curiosity, storytelling, observation, and thoughtful questioning rather than direct instruction.
Nature-Based Curriculum Foundations
Core teaching themes include:
● Shelter
● Water
● Fire
● Food
● Tracking & Awareness
● Observation & Sensory Development
● Ecological & Place-Based Knowledge
● Storytelling
● Caretaking & Stewardship
● Imagination and Grandfather's Worlds
Earth Skills
For participants that are completely new to earth skills, we will include a very basic introduction but we will not be going into detail or instruction on them. We encourage you to deepen your own education and skill development. We can provide book sources and courses that we have experience with and would recommend upon request. This course will teach you to utilize your knowledge and experience with earth skills to engage children and lead youth in nature.
Hands-on experiences may include:
● Fire: 5 Minute Fire Challenge, wood selection, camp fire, various ways of making friction fire that may include: Bow Drill, Hand Drill, Crutch Drill-Group Bow Drill
● Shelter building: Summary of principles of shelter, making a quickie mini shelter
● Hunting: Throwing stick, hunting ethics
● Stone Tools: Cutting edge of the stone tool, other ways to use stone tools with youth
● Cordage: technique and usages
● Knife Usage: Knife Safety and carving a figure Four Trap
● Usage of fire: Cooking over fire coals, Rock Boil Water
● Games: Awareness and Tracking
● Activities: Natural pigments, track casting, bow and arrow making, container making
Social, Emotional & Spiritual Mentoring Skills
Participants will also explore:
● Sharing circles
● Group awareness and “needs of the group”
● Meeting children where they are
● Intuitive teaching methods
● Leadership through presence and observation
● Nature connection philosophy
● Mentoring through relationship
“Survival skills open the doorway to the Earth…”
“Tracking and awareness open the doorway to Spirit…””
Deep gratitude is also given to Stalking Wolf, whose vision helped inspire decades of wilderness living, mentorship, and the continued development of programs through the Children of the Earth Foundation and 4 Elements Earth Education.
Who This Training Is For
This course is especially valuable for:
● Forest School educators
● Nature school instructors
● Homeschool educators
● Camp staff and youth mentors
● Outdoor classroom teachers
● Parents and caregivers
● Wilderness guides
● Therapists and youth workers
● Anyone wanting to deepen their connection-based teaching approach
We especially invite instructors and leaders from other schools and organizations to join us in broadening their skills, strengthening their philosophical foundations, and renewing inspiration for working with youth outdoors.
This training emphasizes engaging children directly through nature itself — with simplicity, awareness, creativity, and minimal reliance on manufactured materials or technology.
Day and overnight options available.
Come gather with fellow educators, mentors, and guides to deepen your skills, reconnect with the natural world, and renew your inspiration for working with youth.
Course Schedule:
Friday 7:00 PM – Sunday 12:00 PM
Burton Educational Preserve, Nevada City, CA
Schedule will adapt to weather, season, and group needs.
Pricing
Day Participant (no camping, no meals): $200
Camping + Kitchen/Bath Access: $250