Yellowknife (Dec 12/03) - Learning isn't limited to books.

That's what students learned last week when they left the classroom and walked out on the land armed with rabbit snares and marten traps.

Grade 2 students at J.H. Sissons school joined students from Dettah's Kay Tay Whee school on a walk into the bush near the community.

Danny Beaulieu, a forest officer with Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, taught the students how to set rabbit snares, make tea over a fire and find their way through the snow.

"Learning how to set traps was really good," said Chelsea Graham, age 7.

Students said the survival skills they learned on the land might just help them out some day.

Making a fire out in the bush and melting snow for tea stuck out in many student's minds after their journey.

"My favourite part was when we had the barbecue with the roast and the hot dogs," said Kyle Bauhaus, 8.

Teacher Tara Brown says excursions like this one encourage kids to get outside and experience nature.

"This is something that these guys are going to remember forever. Not everyone gets to learn how to snare and trap," she said.

The two classes get together once a month at events like these to forge a bond between Yellowknife and Dettah students.

"It was a really nice connection between two schools," said Brown.

She explained that Maria Hunt's Dettah class wanted the city students to understand more about the traditional way of life in the community.

Hunt's class went out on Monday to check the two marten traps and three rabbit snares set by the students.

The final tally? One marten was caught over the weekend.

Now the class is anxiously awaiting Beaulieu's return to teach them to skin and stretch the marten hide.