Outdoor Learning is taking shape!
Once upon a time, a very wise first-year teacher said to me, “When I plan my lessons, I think how would a five-year-old want to learn about this?”
I had been teaching for over ten years at that time, and I was stunned. And frankly, a little embarrassed. I wasn’t planning my lessons with the perspective of the student in mind. Why had I never thought of that?
When I first became the outdoor learning educator at my school, I wanted to ensure my students were exploring math outside. We are an IBO World School, so I got out the PYP Mathematics Scope and Sequence and spent some time thinking about how my students could achieve as many of the learning outcomes in Phase 1 in each strand (Data Handling, Measurement, Number, Pattern & Function and Shape & Space) as possible outside – in ways that the children would enjoy.
Children use many shapes in their play outdoors.
This is for those of you who want to see curricular connections. Click here to see some of the ways the children experience shape & space in the outdoor learning environment throughout the school year.
So what do you think? Would young children rather learn about shapes using little manipulatives on a tabletop indoors? Or would they rather use big shapes outdoors in their play? Why couldn’t they do a bit of both?
Why couldn’t they learn about shapes indoors and then get outside to
build a bike route with cones,
throw or kick some spheres around,
build a house for the third little pig with some rectangular prisms,
and when they’re tired from all that learning, have a seat on a cylinder?
Take your students outside to learn about shapes and space. Today is a great day to plant another tree in your school grounds – GEOMETRY!
