Anser Charter School is part of a national network of Expeditionary Learning schools known as EL Education. We partner with school districts across the country to support the EL framework for engaged teaching and learning.
We invest in the growth of teachers, helping them transform their classrooms into rigorous and stimulating learning environments. Our model challenges students to think critically and take active roles in their classrooms and communities, resulting in higher achievement and greater engagement at school.
In order to become credentialed, a school must show high levels of implementation of the EL Education model in the following areas:
In the EL Education model, we don’t do traditional, passive “field trips”—we engage in rigorous Fieldwork. Fieldwork is a direct extension of our classroom curriculum, transforming the community into a living laboratory where students act as real-world researchers, interview experts, and collect primary data. For example, as part of their Box City learning expedition, our first graders step directly into civic life by visiting the Ada County Landfill, the Mayor’s office, and the Boise Watershed to investigate how vital community services function. Across multiple grade levels, students regularly utilize the MK Nature Center to study local ecology firsthand, while our fourth graders travel to portions of the historic Oregon Trail to let history come alive beneath their feet. Fieldwork ensures that what students learn in the classroom connects deeply to the world they live in.
Service at Anser is never an afterthought or a checkbox; it is an authentic vehicle for building Crew and character. During the year, in preparation for Better World Week, our kindergarten through fifth-grade students work together in Curiosity & Creativity Lab to tackle real-world needs, which has included planting in our Better World Garden, hand-making cozy cat blankets for the Humane Society, and running a community can drive to fund local non-profits. As students grow, their impact expands. Our fifth graders, for instance, have taken on vital environmental stewardship by planting sagebrush to restore damaged habitats in the Boise Foothills, and our middle school students complete Solutionary Projects. By using their learning to serve others, Anser students realize at an early age that they have the agency to make a meaningful difference right now.
Adventure at Anser is a deliberate instructional tool used to foster the EL Education habits of character—resilience, collaboration, craftsmanship, and courage. By stepping outside the comfort zone of a traditional classroom, students discover they are capable of more than they ever thought possible. This journey begins early, with experiences like our third graders heading up to Bogus Basin to navigate new environments and build team trust in the mountains. By middle school, these challenges scale into unforgettable outdoor expeditions. Our older students build lifelong camaraderie and self-reliance while studying ecology at MOSS (McCall Outdoor Science School), bonding at Horsethief Camp, and navigating the thrilling whitewater rapids of the Payette River. Adventure teaches our students how to persist through difficulty and support their crew members when the trail gets steep.
Anser Charter School is part of a national network of Expeditionary Learning schools known as EL Education. We partner with school districts across the country to support the EL framework for engaged teaching and learning.
We invest in the growth of teachers, helping them transform their classrooms into rigorous and stimulating learning environments. Our model challenges students to think critically and take active roles in their classrooms and communities, resulting in higher achievement and greater engagement at school.
In order to become credentialed, a school must show high levels of implementation of the EL Education model in the following areas:
Guiding Questions
Each year, kindergartners engage in a year-long study of birds, an ideal focus for this age group because birds are highly visible and easily observed in students’ everyday lives. This sustained investigation encourages young learners to slow down, notice the natural world around them, and develop curiosity through firsthand experiences.
Guided by age-appropriate inquiry questions, kindergartners learn to observe, identify, and describe different kinds of birds. They explore birds’ physical characteristics, behaviors, habitats, and needs, discovering how birds live not only in their own backyards but also in diverse environments around the world. Through stories, research, outdoor observation, and creative expression, students build foundational science and literacy skills while deepening their understanding of living things.
The study also emphasizes responsibility and care for the natural world. Through habitat improvement projects, simple research activities, and service-learning experiences, kindergartners learn about the delicate nature of wildlife and the importance of environmental stewardship. By the end of the year, students begin to see themselves as caretakers of living things and recognize their role in protecting and respecting the world around them.
Guiding Questions
In Box City, students work together as a Crew to explore what makes a community function and thrive. Through hands-on investigations and collaborative learning experiences, they study community helpers, essential places and spaces, mapping and zoning, accessibility, and the systems that support healthy, inclusive communities.
Students apply their learning by designing, planning, and constructing a shared Box City, making intentional decisions about layout, purpose, and the needs of their community. Throughout the process, they develop teamwork, problem-solving, communication, and civic responsibility skills. The expedition culminates with students showcasing their work at the Future City Competition at Boise State University, where they present their designs, ideas, and innovative solutions to a broader audience. This experience allows students to celebrate their learning while demonstrating how thoughtful planning and collaboration can help communities grow and thrive.
Guiding Questions
In Writers’ Workshop, students deepen their storytelling skills by studying authors’ craft, story structure, planning, and sequencing. Building on their learning from the Box City Expedition, students analyze mentor texts to understand how writers develop characters, settings, and plots.
Through guided lessons, collaborative discussions, and independent practice, students apply these techniques as they plan, draft, revise, and publish their own original books. Along the way, they learn how to organize ideas, develop engaging narratives, and communicate effectively with readers. Emphasis is placed on creativity, clarity, and perseverance, helping students grow as confident writers who can craft meaningful stories and share their ideas with an audience.
Guiding Questions
In the Lifecycle Expedition, students explore what it means to be alive by investigating the life cycles of worms and other living organisms. Through hands-on observation, inquiry, and exploration, students learn about growth, change, and the basic needs of living things.
Students engage in simple scientific investigations as they plan, conduct, observe, and document experiments involving plants and other living organisms. Working alongside buddies and classmates, they practice asking questions, making predictions, recording observations, and drawing conclusions—just like real scientists. Throughout the expedition, students develop foundational science skills while building curiosity about the natural world.
Guiding Questions
Second grade begins the year by exploring what it means to be part of a community, both human and natural. Students investigate the interconnected roles that individuals play within communities before diving into the fascinating world of pollination. Through hands-on research and inquiry, students study a variety of Idaho pollinators and native plants, learning how these species depend on one another to survive and thrive. As part of this work, students build essential geography skills, such as map reading, spatial awareness, and location-based research, which they use to document habitats, track species, and deepen their understanding of Idaho’s ecosystems. This integrated approach helps students see how communities, environments, and geography are deeply connected.
Guiding Questions
The second case study shifts students’ focus to the geography, ecosystems, and habitats of the Boise Foothills. Students investigate how the foothills have changed over time, examining natural processes that shape landforms as well as seasonal and long-term environmental changes. Through observation, research, and analysis, students explore the plants and animals that call the foothills home and how these organisms are adapted to their environment. The case study also emphasizes the impact of human activity on the foothills, prompting students to consider land use, conservation, and stewardship. By connecting physical geography with environmental responsibility, students develop a deeper understanding of how people and places influence one another.
Guiding Questions
The Power of Reading explores why reading matters, how people access books, and the barriers some individuals face. Through literary texts, discussions, and narrative writing, students build comprehension and analytical skills while examining how stories foster empathy and express identity. The course culminates in a class-created library and Book Tour that celebrates learning and highlights the importance of reading in students’ lives and communities.
Guiding Questions
The Wonderful World of Frogs invites students to explore frogs through poetry, stories, and informational texts driven by curiosity and “why” questions. Students learn about frog traits, habitats, and behaviors while building research, writing, and collaboration skills. By blending imagination with inquiry, students practice gathering, organizing, and sharing information to better understand the natural world.
Guiding Questions
The Water Challenge: Enough Clean Water for Everyone explores global water systems and access to clean water through research and informational texts. Students build critical thinking and communication skills as they analyze water issues, form opinions, and propose solutions. The course culminates in public service announcements and visuals that promote responsible water use and inspire positive change.
Guiding Questions
The Decisions We Make About Money builds financial literacy and critical thinking as students explore how people earn, save, spend, and share money. Through texts and real-world examples, students analyze money choices and the values behind them while strengthening reading, writing, and communication skills. The course emphasizes empathy, responsibility, and using money as a tool for positive change.
Guiding Questions
The Art of Poetry engages students in reading, analyzing, and writing poetry through novels in verse, classic and contemporary poems, and poet biographies. Students study how poets use language, imagery, and structure to express meaning and emotion while building close reading, writing, and presentation skills. The course culminates in students creating and performing original poems, developing creativity, confidence, and a strong author’s voice.
Guiding Questions
The Brain and How We Learn introduces students to how the brain and nervous system support thinking, feeling, and learning through engaging texts and discussion. Students build scientific knowledge and academic skills by using domain-specific vocabulary, writing informative pieces, and exploring multiple perspectives. The course encourages curiosity, perseverance, and a deeper understanding of how the brain supports growth and creativity.
Guiding Questions
In this expedition, students explore how movement has shaped the American West, with a special focus on Idaho’s landscape, peoples, and history. Students study how geology and geography influenced Indigenous cultures, natural resources, and settlement, as well as key moments of westward expansion such as the Louisiana Purchase, the Corps of Discovery, and the Oregon Trail. Through maps, primary sources, and case studies, students examine how migration changed both the land and the people, connecting Idaho’s story to the larger history of the American West.
Guiding Questions
Equal Rights and the 19th Amendment explores past and present injustices through the study of the women’s suffrage and civil rights movements. Using historical fiction and informational texts, students analyze key figures and events while building reading, writing, and critical thinking skills. The course culminates in students creating public service announcements that promote civic engagement, empathy, and positive change.
Guiding Questions
Throughout the module, students explore hope and human rights as they read narratives and nonfiction texts, engage in pair, small group, and whole-class discussions, and write narratives. The anchor text of the module is Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan, a novel inspired by her grandmother’s experiences. It tells the story of a privileged Mexican girl whose life changes after the death of her father and a sudden move to California with her mother. By focusing on key themes such as family, hope, and determination, the unit helps students make sense of a story about significant challenges without reducing it to struggle alone. Students are guided to make connections between Esperanza Rising, other texts, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in order to understand the rights to which everyone should be entitled.
Guiding Questions
Students learn about the experiences and perspectives of different people in the American Revolution through informational texts, a novel, a play, and poems. They analyze characters in texts and write informational literary essays about the concerns characters have. Students also analyze the structure of literary and informational texts. Connecting to this module, students will learn about the structure of government using We the People textbooks and will take a trip to Idaho’s Capitol building while the legislature is in session.
Guiding Questions
Students will learn what energy is, why we need it, how we use it, where it comes from, and how it impacts communities. Students will read an anchor text to build background knowledge about energy. They will then read supplemental articles about a variety of local energy solutions to examine and compare different points of view on energy systems, how they meet the needs of different communities, and how they affect humans and the environment. During this module, students will participate in hands-on activities involving the transfer of energy through wind and solar power, as well as simple circuitry. Finally, students will create a clean energy model and write a description of how it works for their Celebration of Learning.
