I just got a new cat and luckily this cat enjoys walking on a leash. Now, walking a cat is not like walking a dog. Let's get this straight. The cat is walking you aka it's a cat led walk.
As I'm an advocate for child led learning, I started to make a connection between cat led walks and child led walking. The cat wanted to climb a tree, there she goes; she wanted to watch a squirrel play, she did that and so on. When I started to teach kids, I would take them on nature walks but I kept telling them 'no' don't do that, stay with us, don't go that way etc etc.. However, when I started to let go of the reigns and let my kids lead the way, it was easier. We would have a plan but instead we'd get pulled into looking at a specific tree the kids liked or they wanted to climb it and as they got more relaxed into the tree, they would say things like 'this is great', 'I love how this tree supports me'. When I basically stopped having an agenda, and let the kids do their thing, that's when the magic happened. So, walking your kids around in nature is basically like walking cats. Don't think about directing their route or telling them to sit and stay still. Let them wander onto an unknown path, make sure they are safe, but don't have an agenda and just see what happens. Cat walk your kids and let the adventure begin! Try it out and comment below :)
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Due to poorly ventilated public school classrooms where some windows are even painted shut, with old HVAC systems, and over-crowded class sizes; you should start planning for more outdoor classes as much as possible. When I look at a public school from the outside, I can imagine a lot of learning experiences despite wire fencing, large amounts of pavement, and little to no trees. I have a can-do attitude and see this as an opportunity to problem solve with out of the box thinking. Here are some resources I have found for turning your asphalt pavement wasteland into learning opportunities.
Let's start with what we have. A lot of pavement. Many teachers have told me that there entire schoolyard is a big slab of concrete and therefore feel that they can't teach outdoor education. Wrong! Concrete and pavement offer a plethora of learning opportunities from studying surface heat, to permeability, to frying an egg on the surface. The opportunities are endless. I even did an entire unit on graffiti and the students spray painted our concrete sidewalk outside of the school. Instead of seeing concrete and pavement as an obstacle to outdoor learning, use it as a tool for curiosity. Pavement and concrete surfaces are really cool :) Here are five ideas you could try out. 1. I found this new science resource for elementary teachers, Mystery Science. It looks great and they’re offering a free subscription to a few thousand teachers this week. Sign up! Below is a cool lesson involving hot surfaces. Find a cool shady space to read a story to your kids. As an extension, walk around your schoolyard and find out which places are cooler and which places are too hot. This is a great way to create a sense of place, getting students to feel temperature in their body is a sensory awareness activity, and it also teaches them survival skills for where to find shade on a hot day. While on the walk, encourage them to feel different surfaces, pavement, soil, grassy areas, and to inquire along the way. Why is this surface hotter than that one? Why was this surface the coolest? Why is it cooler under the tree or where there is more access to wind? Have fun with it and be sure to comment below if you try it. https://mysteryscience.com/watching/mystery-6/sunlight-heat-earth-s-surface/160 2) Permeable pavement. This is from a cool website called teach engineering and stem developed by the university of Colorado. In this activity, students investigate how different riparian ground covers, such as grass or pavement, affect river flooding. They learn about permeable and impermeable materials through the measurement how much water is absorbed by several different household materials in a model river. Students use what they learn to make recommendations for engineers developing permeable pavement. Also, they consider several different limitations for design in the context of a small community or school. https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/cub_rivers_lesson01_activity1 3. ‘Go With The Flow: Teaching and Taking Action for a Healthier Watershed’ is a resource for teaching students from kindergarten to grade 12 how the planning, design, land use and stewardship of our school grounds impact the flow and quality of water through our local watersheds. https://www.evergreen.ca/downloads/pdfs/GoWithTheFlow-StormwaterGuide.pdf 4. Take a spin to learn about friction. You can do this on the asphalt, grass, and concrete school surface outdoors. Grab packages of tops from the party favor section of the store. Have the students choose several surfaces that have different textures. There's a variety of surfaces outside so they can test them all out. Have the students time how long the top will spin on different textured surfaces and record how long the top spins on different ones. Then you can inquire as to why it spun longer on some surfaces vs others. https://www.weareteachers.com/inexpensive-science-experiments/ 5. In this lesson, students will investigate life as a pavement ant, by exploring physical and behavourial characteristics, life cycle, and habitat. The activities are designed to take place in an urban schoolyard or local habitat during the fall or spring seasons. They can be taught over the course of a week, or extended for a more in-depth exploration https://ecoschools.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Grade-2-Nearby-Nature_-Investigating-Pavement-Ants-PDF.pdf Well, there you have it. At least 5 lesson plan ideas to use involving pavement and concrete as an inspiration for inquiry. There are many MANY other ideas for exploring and inquiring using schoolyard surfaces; even if you don't have an inch of green grass on the schoolyard. Your student will likely feel engaged in these lessons as they can move around more and have more autonomy to learn at their own pace. Check out the resource trail for more lesson plans and resources linked to curriculum topics and grade levels. All of these lessons can be conducted in your concrete schoolyard. |
AuthorI'm a teacher, outdoor educator, forest school practitioner and all round nature lover. Archives
February 2022
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