By Callie Buys
Students at the Sundance Mountain School learn the traditional 'three r''s'- reading, writing and arithmetic - in anything but a traditional school setting.
They study in a double-wide trailer, play on a mountainside and sing at Robert Redford''s annual Christmas party.
The charter school aims to integrate environmental studies and the arts with academic subjects, said Ed Kruger, director of the school.
The school opened its doors three years ago in the Sundance fire station as the first charter school in Utah, Kruger said.
This year the school moved to a trailer at the Sundance Resort in Provo Canyon, where students can use facilities such as the Sundance Art Shack.
'We attempt to take academics and apply them to various projects,' Kruger said. 'The innovation here is the linkage between the natural environment and the child''s learning.'
Currently, the school has 21 students in kindergarten through sixth grade - nine short of the 30-child limit specified in its charter.
Students come from Orem, Provo, Heber, Park City and American Fork, Kruger said.
The school is divided into two classes, one for kindergarten through third-grade students and the other for fourth through sixth-grade students.
'Older kids can learn from younger kids and vice versa,' said Jeff Turley BYU Spanish professor, who has a fourth-grade son at the school.
Turley said students treat each other with respect, tolerance and openness.
'Age barriers don''t seem to be that important to the kids - they look past that,' he said.
Each morning, all the students meet together in a circle for announcements. The classes separate for instruction in language arts, math, science and history.
'The students get a combination of personal attention and a really neat group experience,' said Dan Maryon, an Orem parent with a fifth-grade son attending the school.
The school has two full-time and one part-time teachers as well as specialists who teach classes such as Spanish, art and music on a regular basis.
The school counts on extensive parental participation.
'Part of the agreement in coming to the school was the understanding that we as parents would contribute our time and be involved,' Maryon said.
Parents take turns providing the daily snack, as well as cleaning the school each week on a rotating basis, Maryon said.
Many parents, such as Turley and Maryon, provide instruction from their areas of expertise.