Dene students in Hay River, N.W.T., learning in the classroom and on the land

A school's story of learning on the land has landed online and appears to be striking a chord. A video made by songwriter Rik Leaf in collaboration with the Chief Sunrise Education Centre on theK'atl'odeeche First Nation nearHay River has been viewed thousands of times since it was posted Friday.

Leaf visited the school, and went out on the land with the students. He wrote a song based on lyrics the students wrote about their experiences in the bush.

He says he was amazed at how much the kids learned in their open-air classroom.

"It was just so beautiful that the education just flows, like, non-stop," he said, "But in such an organic way. You're used to the way it works in schools; the bells are going, and 'This is when we're learning.'"

Leaf produced the four-and-a-half minute long video showing the kids learning in both settings skinning rabbits, ice fishing, making bannock over the fire while the song describes what the students love about the land.

"There, you get them, you capture them, and they're always saying, 'Oh, I just love it out here, I wish we could come to school here every day,'" says Diane Tourangeau, theDene language teacher at Chief Sunrise.

"When we go out on the land, they're just free and they learn all kinds of stuff."

Leaf produced the video himself this time, but says he is hoping to work with the students to make one in the future.

"That's hopefully where this project will lead," he says.