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The Ropes and Challenges Program is excited to announce additional resources for families that focus on social-emotional learning (SEL). These activities will provide families and staff with additional ways to engage the students in fun challenges and questions focusing on developing SEL skills.
Family Activities and Resources
Family Activities and Resources – Week 2
Fun Family Videos!
The MPS ropes and challenges education curriculum is based on the experiential learning model and takes a sequential approach in activities designed to help individuals and groups develop/enhance positive social skills such as
The Full Value Contract brings structure to the activities and emphasizes physical and emotional safety as well as responsibility for all of the participants.
Activities allow participants to make discoveries on their own.
In processing, thoughtful and guided reflection before/during/after activities helps students make meaning.
Through generalization, students apply new skills in other settings in school, home, and community.
Because the program's emphasis is on skills development and emotional and physical safety, only those groups that have completed at least 6-8 prep sessions with a trained MPS ropes facilitator may come to the course.
MPS ropes and challenges facilitators participate in a week-long training that covers
Located on the north end of Whitnall Park and Boerner Botanical Gardens, Potter’s Forest is the home of the Milwaukee Public Schools ropes and challenges course.
In 1994, a collaborative effort involving MPS staff from the Departments of Curriculum and Instruction, Special Education and Supportive Services, School-to-Work, Community Recreation, Facilities and Maintenance, and Insurance and Risk Management was organized to develop a new ropes and challenges education program for MPS students and staff. After a tour of the site, the selection committee immediately chose Potter's Forest as the prime location for the ropes and challenges course. In the spring of 1995, the first elements of the course were installed, and staff began training. Program implementation with students began in the fall of 1995.
Since its inception, the MPS ropes and challenges course has served over 60,000 students, including students with significant developmental disabilities. One of the unique features of the course is that it was designed to be accessible to students with a variety of special needs, including students with orthopedic impairments, visual impairments, and cognitive delays.
Read a more detailed history of the land and Potter’s Forest.
Due to risk management and liability issues, the MPS ropes and challenges course at Potter’s Forest is open ONLY to MPS traditional schools and MPS instrumentality charter schools.
Ropes Co-Coordinator/Planning Assistant III: Frank Palmisano Phone: 414-475-8762 Fax: 414-475-8455 Email: palmisf@milwaukee.k12.wi.us
Ropes Co-Coordinator: Nancy Reuter Phone: 414-475-8939 Fax: 414-475-8455 Email: reuternm@milwaukee.k12.wi.us
Phone: 414-475-8057 Fax: 414-475-8455 Email: fullerba@milwaukee.k12.wi.us
Curriculum Specialist: Brett Fuller C&I/Student Wellness and Prevention
Mailing Address: Milwaukee Public Schools Student Wellness and Prevention 5225 W. Vliet Street, Room 265 Milwaukee, WI 53208
Milwaukee Public Schools 5225 W. Vliet Street Milwaukee, WI 53208 Switchboard: (414) 475-8393
If you are having difficulty accessing information on our website due to a disability, please contact us at comm@milwaukee.k12.wi.us and provide the URL of the material you tried to access, the problem you experienced, and your contact information (including your name and phone number), so that we may accommodate your needs.
District Partners Program