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FARMINGTON, IOWA -- Every year for 23 years, Harmony School District hosts a reading day for their elementary students.

Each year has a theme, last year's was aviation, and this year, students read and learned about nature. So what better way to spend the day than in nature itself?

"The state has been really excited about getting kids more active and for the health part of their life, and so we thought it would be fun to incorporate a day here at the lake so they could walk around the lake and get their exercise and just learn about nature," said Wanda McCracken, Harmony Elementary teacher.

The kids got a safety talk from the park manager at Indian Lake Park and learned about tree identification from the Lee County Conservation Board.

"I've learned that everything out in the wilderness is so fun," said fourth grader Gabe Counts.

"Plant some new trees, if you cut one down, help keep it safe, pick up litter and trash, that sort of thing," said Melina Monakey.

"Nature's fun. You might as well have fun and enjoy it before they cut it all down," said fourth grader Carson Halbrook.

Seniors from Harmony High School help out at the elementary school and came to reading day to help run the day's activities.

"Getting them interacting with what they're supposed to be learning, something more fun with them rather than just sitting in the classroom getting bored doing every day things," said senior McKenzie Smith. "Something fun for them to do."

The students realized how much more they learned when they were surrounded by trees instead of books.

"Cause you get to walk around and look at things instead of sitting at your desk, reading," said student Megan Fitzsimmons.

"You can actually see it and in school you just see it in the books and it's not real like in the books," said student Allison Taylor.

Superintendent Dennis Phelps said it's something the students will always remember and something the school hopes to continue to do each year.

"We are a smaller school, so we have these opportunities to take kids out, many schools could never do this, we can take our whole elementary out," he said. "And the other thing is, it's kind of a way for us to build some sense of responsibility and trust with our students because we're not just in the classroom, we're not following the hallways, we have some more open space and I think this is a great time to learn, to teach and to really come together."

The students were also treated with a surprise appearance by Smokey the Bear, who gave a lesson on fire safety.