Establishing Outdoor Learning Routines
If you are taking your students outside and they are too excited to listen or participate in a group learning experience, please don’t give up. Here are some tips that might help.
Our Meeting Place
The more you go out, the sooner they will settle into the routines you establish.
Just as you have indoor classroom routines for everything to run smoothly, you need outdoor classroom routines.
You should consider establishing your own outdoor learning routines for the beginning of the outdoor session, how to care for resources, how to stay safe, how to tidy-up and for the end of the outdoor session. When you have established clear routines, your children know what to expect and teaching them becomes easier.
BEGINNING OF THE SESSION
One routine I teach my students is that we always go the “meeting place” first. At the beginning it’s hard for them. They want to stake their claim on the sandbox or mud kitchen or tree swing right away.
As a provocation, I put something in the middle of our black mat to spark their interest.
Our Craft Hut
Our meeting place is simply some log stumps placed in a circle. Click here to read a previous post about the meeting place.
For years, we went to the meeting place in sunshine, rain, wind and snow. In those days, the weather strongly influenced the length of time spent at the meeting place and the resources we could present.
Three years ago, we received a covered structure. The children named it the “craft hut” because that’s where they do crafts on wet days. Claire, my co-teacher, and I were especially thankful for this space because we can now meet more comfortably for longer periods of time in inclement weather without our resources becoming completely soaked or being blown away.
Click here for a previous blog post explaining our routine regarding who goes outside and when they go out.
Our rainsuits
When they go out refers to the time of day – not the kind of weather we’re having. Because we go out every day in all kinds of weather, we provide rainsuits for the children. We have unlined suits for warmer weather and lined suits for the winter months. Even with the lined rainsuits, it’s still necessary for the children to dress in layers and put on their winter coats, hats, scarves and gloves in the coldest weather.
It’s routine to put on our suits. When children wear a suit, they can play freely with sand, water and mud without worrying about soiling their clothing.
CARING FOR RESOURCES
Children can access resources independently.
“A place for everything and everything in it’s place.”
That’s still a good rule to live by. We introduce the resources to the children slowly over time. We also teach the children where to find the resources they need and to put them back when they are finished. Children can quickly become interested in a different activity. We’ve all seen them drop what they have (literally throw it on the floor and walk away) to scamper off to the next great thing. We support the students to develop the habit of putting away toys immediately. If these routines become ingrained, then tidy-up time is done in a snap!
STAYING SAFE
It is routine to learn the safety rules for playing with the tree swing, for observing the plants and animals at the pond and for using tools. Stay tuned for multiple blog posts on this very important topic.
TIDY-UP TIME
Take the time to teach the children how to put away all resources.
I am relentless. Through consistency and repetition the children learn my expectations do not change. It’s very tiresome at the beginning, but I don’t give them or myself any slack. If I do this right at the beginning of the school year, the middle and end of the year will be as smooth as butter.
Day after day it’s the same. We tidy-up together and check that we have put all of our resources in their correct place. I work right beside my students always modelling how to tidy up. I used to stand over them telling them what to do. That just didn’t work as well as tidying up with them. I do what I expect them to do. It just works much better that way.
Be sure to allow enough time to tidy-up properly. Don’t let this learning opportunity be rushed or stressful.
END OF THE OUTDOOR SESSION
Consider gathering for a few minutes at the meeting place to end the outdoor session. We come together to talk about what we discovered, share what we enjoyed, to sing a song or to gather ideas for the next session outside. You can also use this time to “slow the flow” of the children going indoors. If I stay at the meeting place with the children, Claire goes indoors with two children to assist as needed as they take off their outdoor clothing. Claire gives me a signal and two more children go indoors. This prevents a stampede to get inside, pushing, shoving and the adults becoming overwhelmed with too many young children clamoring for assistance at once.
Even if it doesn’t go as smoothly as you would like at first, please keep taking your children outside to learn. Find your own routines or procedures to help with the rough parts. Your creativity and efforts will be rewarded with happy, engaged, skillful, knowledgeable students.
