...Get "Out of the Classroom and into the world"!

There is no greater, more authentic, or more meaningful classroom than the world around us. Spending time outside, learning from the local landscape and community, engaging in collaborations with local organizations, digging in the dirt, climbing trees, and breathing fresh air are all significant to the classroom experience. Time spent outside is as supportive of student engagement as it is of student health. Depending on the community of learners and their learning needs, students in my classroom typically spend anywhere from 2 to 4.5 hours of the school day outside. During this time we engage in outdoor education and the learning of basic wilderness survival skills, playing, exploring, investigating, reading & writing, integrating core academic experiences, and involving ourselves in many kinds of artistic and creative endeavors.

SOME OF THE WAYS WE GET OUT...

• integrated field trips

• hiking & exploring

• wilderness/survival skill building & practice

• observations & recording of the surrounding community

• natural environment

• developing keen observation skills: using our five senses

• architecture studies

• mathematical studies - shapes, size, sorting, mapping, etc.

• literacy studies - phonemic awareness & phonics games

• ecology & geology studies

• animal studies - habitat, behavior, food

• integrated scavenger hunts

• visits & collaborations with community partners

• exercise - group games, athletics, movement breaks

• play, play, play, and more play