This is one of the best times of year to bring your class outdoors and get exploring. Over the past week and I have had each of my groups outdoors at least one. The activities that we took part in ranged from decorating a tree, planning a tree trail, collecting conkers and planting some sedum. We decided that for Tree Day we would decorate a tree in the front of our school. We asked the members of a skills exchange group if they would be interested in helping us. The Skills Exchange Group takes place once a week and is made up of a group of women that have an interest in sewing, jewelry making, knitting and crochet. We used recycled ribbon and broken jewelry to create decorations for the tree. The Skills Exchange group made some beautiful knitted bunting, a tree sleeve and some very colourful mobiles. The tree looked fantastic and both the students and teachers were very excited when they saw it. We also started a school nature table this week. On it we placed a piece of floral oasis with some leaves and seeds. When I looked at the table the following day there were some conkers on it. The following day there were more conkers and some leaves. With each day that passed the table began to fill up with things the boys found on their journey to and from school. They even found what they thought was a nest and began to fill it with conkers. It is great to see the boys taking charge of it, they have even started to make posters for the table. I wanted to show the children how some plants and vegetables can regrow. We cut the stalk off some spring onions and placed them in a jar of water. We marked the level of the water and dated the mark on the jar. The spring onions grow extremely quickly and are very easy for the children to see this growth. We received our Rowan tree from the Tree Council of Ireland. It was a bit bashed when it arrived but we still planted it. We are hoping that with some care and attention it will grow. This week I also brought one student outdoors to collect some conkers. We collected 13 conkers from one tree. We completed a few activities including counting the conkers, pairing them up and then counting them in 2's and then ordering them from biggest to smallest. Bringing students outdoors doesn't have to be as daunting as it may seem. Here are some sample activities you could do with whole class or small groups:
-Bark rubbing -Leaf rubbing -Collect leaves for art projects -Listen to bird song -Play eye spy -Decorate a tree -Tree trail -Maths trail Don't forget to check out my Pinterest board to see some more ideas!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI have been teaching for several years and hope to share some of my ideas and experiences with you. Archives
March 2020
Categories |