This weekend we hosted an Outdoor Learning Conference at my school. Educators from Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and Romania joined us to learn how we do outdoor learning in a school setting. It was great fun meeting everyone, hearing their stories, talking about their outdoor learning journeys and being rejuvenated by their curiosity and enthusiasm.
Those educators are the reason I started this website and blog. They saw and heard too much over two days to remember it all. I promised to record their questions and address them here again so they would have a resource to revisit whenever they wished. Perhaps you’ll find useful information here, too.
These are some questions that will be answered here and addressed in upcoming blog posts. If your question is not yet answered, check back again next week for new answers.
What happens when a child falls in the pond? No child has ever fallen into the pond. We are extremely fortunate that they follow the safety rules we have taught them. However, if a child did fall into the pond, the child would stand up. The pond is only thigh-deep on a child. We would then help them out of the pond, change them into dry clothing and remind them of the pond safety rules.
What do you do when a child hurts another child?
Learning Management
Do the children move freely from the indoor environment to the outdoor environment?
How do you know which children are out and which are in?
What percentage of your day is teacher-directed activities vs child-chosen activities? The teachers have carefully discussed and chosen the learning experiences for the children so we are confident that whatever activities the children choose, they will be learning valuable knowledge and skills. We have a play-based program so over 90% of the time, the children are choosing what to explore. If you have ever carefully watched children play, you will have noticed there is a cycle to their play.
Where do you get ideas? I was a Girl Scout as a child and a professional Girl Scout as an adult. Some of my ideas come from Girl Scouting. I have been teaching for over twenty-one years. Many of my ideas are learning experiences I used to do indoors that are actually better suited to do outside. It’s much more fun for students to look for colors in the natural environment for a data handling math lesson than do a boring survey of their peers indoors, for example. And, of course, I scour the internet for ideas. I rarely create a lesson or learning experience completely independently. There are so many wonderful websites and blogs out there -and so many knowledgeable educators to learn from and network with!
What do you do in January when you can’t plant, hunt for bugs and enjoy nice weather? Please click on “January 2019” on the right.
If the children are just playing, how do you ensure they have mastered the skills they need to learn? We design play provocations and play experiences that require/inspire the children to practice skills. We intently observe the children when they are playing and write observational notes about their ability and progress (formative assessment). From these formative assessments, we plan their next steps of learning. Children perform so many complex skills when they are playing. Playing is the best way to get them to practice skills! If a child decides they need tickets for their customers to board the airplane, that child is going to be highly motivated to make marks on paper. A child that can gently catch insects without smashing them has excellent fine and gross motor skills. I have been inspired by children who draw detailed pirate treasure maps; act out and explain fantastic imaginary tales; and spend hours playing in the mud kitchen measuring, mixing and “baking” an assortment of delicacies!
Parental Support
How do your parents feel about outdoor learning? How do you get buy-in? They love it. When parents visit our school, the admissions department explains our program. If parents choose to sent their child to our school, they have already bought into the program.
What do you do when a parent says their child has a cold and should stay inside today? Our school policy is if your child is not well enough to participate in outdoor learning, they are not well enough to be at school. Outdoor learning is a requirement of our program.
What do you do when parents don’t send proper clothing for outdoor learning with their children? We provide outdoor learning suits, but parents must provide hats, scarves, gloves, warm socks and warm footwear. Parents also send to school a change of clothing incase of toilet accidents. If a child is missing gloves, for instance, their hands get cold. We remind them to tell their parents that they need gloves. Sometimes we have a spare pair of mittens or gloves, sometimes not. The temperatures here are not so extreme to cause injury. If a child is cold one day, they bring gloves, a hat and a scarf the next day. We remind parents when we see them at the end of the school day.
Curriculum
Do you have a curriculum for outdoor learning? We are an IB World School. Our Primary Years Programme Units of Inquiry are suitable for outdoor and indoor learning.
Do you have scope and sequence documents?
What are your benchmarks for outdoor learning?
Assessment and Reporting
How do you assess the children?
How do you record observations outdoors?
How do you report to parents?
Equipment
Where do you get the (outdoor learning) suits? Do you wash them? How long do they last?
Check back on May 31st for the first blog post in this series, “Who’s in? Who’s out?”
