“Local learner”
Primary/Junior Educator, Andrea Russell, shares
her strategy for taking kids outside, and some ways to deepen learning.
Week One
Local adventure
“Snow Day”
So it decided to snow during the first week of spring!
Even though that might interrupt our plans, the plants and animals all around us are all still active & busy - let’s see what they’re up to! Take a neighbourhood walk and see what you can observe. There are signs of animal neighbours everywhere, and if you look closely, you can find glimpses of them in the snow. Some might be obvious, but many might be mysterious. If you like treasures hunts, this is the day for you! You might just discover a neighbourhood friend that has been hiding all winter long.
First, observe & practice wonder/questioning
*Parent-Teacher Tip: Develop a schedule of the school-day with your child(ren). This helps gives them autonomy, regain a sense of control, and develop their priorities.
Revisit the schedule weekly and decide together what is working and what needs to change.Allow unexpected weather days to be opportunities to model resilience and how to manage disappointment & change. Identify with your children, and problem solve ways to adjust and get outside in a new way!
Give space for your child to explore and ask questions, discovering their own unique voice.
Use one or two of the below prompts to get them started. Challenge their thinking and help them wrestle with why and how they have come to an idea, and what they should do about it. Use the “Questions to Deepen Learning” above.
I wonder what made that track in the snow? How can we find out?
Are they bigger or smaller than our footprints? How do you know?
Where was it coming from? Where could it be going?
Is this critter alone or with a friend? Why do you think that is?
Let’s draw a picture of what we think it could be!
Use the below resource to start identifying and adding to your animal tracks guide. Maybe even make your own, specific to your neighbourhood!
What do you do once you’ve collected observations, questions and ideas?
How do you consolidate and make decisions about what to explore next?
local adventure
“Tree-Friend”
As we explore our surroundings, we will be drawn to familiar places & landmarks. Nature is a big part of that, not just for us humans but for all wildlife on the planet. We need trees to live, but most of us only know a few of these giants by name. Since we can’t start by getting to know every single species, begin getting to know just one. It could be in your front or back yard. It could be in the park nearby or in that part of the woods you like to wander. If you live in an urban environment, maybe it’s the new sapling in the common courtyard.
Whatever, and wherever it is, it invites you into a sacred and shared space.
so First off, get to know one another.
*Parent-Teacher Tip: Give space for your child to explore and ask questions, discovering their own unique voice.
Use one or two of the below prompts to get them started. Challenge their thinking and help them wrestle with why and how they have come to an idea, and what they should do about it.
Do you know the name (kind/species/origin) of your tree? How can you find out?
What does it look like? What are all the parts? Explore ways to represent it.
Does it have leaves or needles? Why?
What does it feel like? Smell like? Is it edible or poisonous? How can you find out?
How old is it & is it native to the area? Where can I find more of my tree in the world?
How big/tall/wide/deep is your tree? How can you measure it?
Is it home to any animals? Is it a neighbour to any other plant life?
If someone you care about wanted to find your tree, how would you tell/show them? A map? A story?
What does your tree provide for you, the neighbourhood & other living thing? Can you write a letter of gratitude? Can you investigate where it came from, and what would happen if it suddenly disappeared?
How is it the same or different from neighbouring trees? How is it the same or different from you?
What questions do you have for your tree? How can you find out more about it?
Secondly, visit one another.
Return to your tree each day during the week.
Begin and end your outdoor exploration by meeting there.
(read a book side by side, recite a prayer or poem, take shelter from the elements.)As the seasons progress, how has your tree-friend changed? How have you? I wonder how you might represent your new findings with language, art or even mathematical design?
As you get to know one another, continue to record new inquiries & observations. Notice any misconceptions, and ask deepening questions to extend your learning together.
extending learning
anything that you can do in a traditional classroom, you can do outside!
Use a sketchbook to collect sketches, document a young child’s observations & questions, and offer opportunities for scientific drawings, writing & theories. Find out more about your neighbourhood friends, together!
And using art & language to represent your tree friend is always much more engaging with fresh air on your face, dirt under your feet and the bird songs around you. Allow your child to label and sketch their tree, making sure to take time to walk around it, touch it and ask questions about what they are drawing - it will give you clues as to what is important to them, how they see the world around them, and what are properties and characteristics of living things that you can introduce to deepen their understanding.
Drawings will be revisited using different lenses like:
How big is your tree-friend? How can we find out? (Using traditional/non-traditional measurement & design properties) Why is your tree-friend there? How does it help it’s neighbours? (These drawings will have different labels that correspond with purpose, identity, interdependence with all living things)
observation, problem-solving & patterning in language development & literacy.
Teaching and raising responsible and caring citizens of the world is of utmost importance, yes! But learning in and with the natural world also provides a unique opportunity to fine-tune necessary skills like observation, problem-solving, creativity and pattern-recognition. These are foundational qualities when approaching math, science, musical and language literacy (just to name a few)!
sacred, shared spaces
read aloud, “Secrets of the Apple Tree”
Week Two
“LOCAL learner”
Durham Master Gardener & George brown College Curriculum specialist,
anne van De Velde takes us on a tour of her neighbourhood
looking for signs of spring!
technology & birds
The Cornell Lab “All About Birds” website is a helpful tool to discover neighbourhood friends near and far.
And for a pocket version as you’re on a nature-walk, enjoy their app, which includes information, bird sounds, and downloadable bird-identifying packages for each geographic North American region.
Bird documentaries are fascinating, but none will dazzle you quite like “Dancing with the Birds.” Colour, behaviour patterns, and variety of nest-building techniques, this short film will fill you with wonder and appreciation for these small designers & architects.
Your Nest is your bed
Read aloud, “mama Built a Little nest”
Every living thing needs a home. And there is no “right way” to make one! Birds are master-designers, expert-architects and intentional artists, who use whatever is available to them to create intricate, beautiful and purposeful dwellings.
Science, architecture, measurement, spacial awareness & design properties are all the tools that children reach for when they are given a problem to solve, a project to tackle, or an imaginary world to create. And play consolidates knowledge into understanding. A few scaffolds like a question or two, some collected materials, a story to ignite wonder, and an uninterrupted amount of time and space is all they need. For older children, consider inviting them to put together a project plan, including measurements, a materials list and timeline. Continue revisiting designs, encouraging imaginative play, and even introducing a problem or two (like increasing winds, rain or local predators.)
“I am a Weaver-Ostrich Bird and I’m making an ‘X’ to start my nest. I have to tie it tightly together in case the wind comes. We’re neighbours and bird-friends, so let me know if you need anymore bark and we can share. If predators come and I can growl at them.”
“My nest is made of string, moss, shells, eggs, stick, leaves and wood chips. But my real bed is made of pillows, sheets and stuffies”
diverse building materials
Birds & animals use a variety of materials to build their dwellings. Use exploration walks, books, and online resources to make a list together with your children of all the diverse materials and tools used to make “home.”
Pick a few non-conventional materials or ones that are new to you and try using them to build with!
This hornet’s nest makes for an interesting shape study, as we consider the intricate ways paper is used to construct this home.
Week Three
making connections
start with an acorn & see where it goes!
Where does it come from?
Who eats it?
Where does it go from there?
Blue Jays love hanging around in Oak trees to eat the delicious acorns they produce. We camp out beside a local Oak, and draw our neighbourhood friend. Scientific drawings combine observation & interpretation. Children’s drawings help make their inner voice known.
Your bird-of-choice produces an egg as unique as she is!
Our green & purple eggs make it safely from rock-beach, to art studio, to moss-lined nest. Fostering empathy, emotional intelligence & an understanding of the interdependence of all living things happens in relationship, through the medium of play. Children will want to redesign their dwellings, protect their eggs from predators, and check on them every day to see if they’re ready to hatch!
Science, art & spring eggs
making predictions & encouraging
scientific literacy.
Choosing fruit, veggies, spices & tea out of your kitchen can be a fun way to introduce the scientific process & begin to reveal the mystery of colour pigment in food & in bird eggs. Enjoy bringing wonder to common (and uncommon) food!
What could make green?
What could make purple?
What colour does this make if we rub it on paper?
What colour will the egg turn out after the experiment?
What do you think?
Why?
documenting results & integrating learning post-experiment
Some eggs might turn colours that remind your children of birds eggs they’ve seen before - what a wonderful opportunity to return to familiar books, and make organic connections. Colour is found everywhere in nature - from the nest to the fridge!
Did the eggs turn the colour you expected?
If not, what colour did they turn out instead?
Was this surprising?
How could we change our experiment in the future to get a different result?
watercolour painting
After the egg-experiment is finished, save the colourful dye for watercolour painting. Take in the food-smells, enjoy mixing colours, and marvel at how you and your children are both painting with natural pigments found all around you. This brings connection and accessibility, relationship and appreciation for natural, living elements in all areas of life!
Week Four
IMAGINATION & CONSOLIDATION
The diversity of materials found in nature is a wonderful provocation to inspire mixed mediums in visual art forms. After children learn about their neighbourhood songbirds, it is a fun and play-based project to have them dream about their own local bird species. What does it eat? What colours does it have in it’s feathers? Does it have friends or predators? What does it sound like? How does it make it’s nest? The principles, characteristics and patterns observed and participated in over their study will give them new knowledge to guide their creative processes.
In this example of Rainbow Sunshine Sparkle Bird, my daughter explained that this species is “like the Kiwi bird that doesn’t fly and makes it’s nest on the ground instead.” Her bird also had a lot of colours, sparkles, and feathers that each had an individual design.
Bird Song
While exploring bird songs, calls and sound-recognition, we were led to writing and recoding a song that expressed our personal beliefs and connections with the earth, her beauty, and the Creator of all living things. We experimented with different sounds that mimicked various birds and made sure to add them into the landscape of the melody.
Enjoy this little original expression and consolidation of our bird-discovery, using various art forms & the endless limits of imagination!