outdoor classroom

9-18-17

On Monday we spent our first afternoon in the woods. Before venturing to our outdoor classroom, we revisited expectations from our conversation the previous week;

We enter the woods quietly, as it is the home of animals.
We observe living creatures carefully, but don't pick them up.
We explore and play with sticks, but keep sticks pointed down.
We take care of our own needs and work together to take care of our natural space.

The children helped to carry bins of materials for the kitchen space, paper and pencils for observation and nature drawing, white lanterns to hang from the trees in our gathering space, and a list of choices for the afternoon. Upon entering our classroom, we walked the perimeter, discussing the different areas to play in and explore. 

Similar to Choice within our classroom, I shared with children a list of choices for our time in our outdoor classroom - building large or small structures, working in the kitchen, using pencil and paper for nature drawing, or engaging in dramatic play. The pencil and paper were quickly scooped up, as the artists and scientists gathered in small clusters on the moss covered rocks. A handful of Kindergarteners transformed into Ninjas as they skipped, jumped, and darted through the trees - their Ninja script encouraged the release of movement and energy. Many children chose to build, downed branches were balanced against a tree to create a fort, while some children used sticks to help define our gathering space! It was a warm, joyful, and engaging afternoon. Sandy and I had the opportunity to listen and observe, to engage and step back, to be present amongst the trees with the children. At the end of our time in the woods, I invited the builders to share their fort with their peers. They carefully explained how they made their structure stay up by first balancing larger sticks against the tree. I wonder if the Ninja script will continue into next week's outdoor classroom? Is there something developmentally intriguing about a Ninja? This was a similar script to last year's Kindergarten class! Many children asked for additional art explorations. I plan to bring a large piece for nature weaving into the woods, encouraging children to work together while using natural materials as their medium. When choices and ideas come from the children and scaffolded or encouraged by the teacher, the engagement and learning is meaningful and rich.  


Kindergarteners use paper and pencil to draw the rocks, sticks, and pinecones covering the forest floor. IM builds a small fairy house and then draws her structure - her idea will be an invitation for our next Monday afternoon in the woods; building fairy houses. The Choices will come from the children's interests and developing theories and questions about the natural world.

 

 

AM uses sticks to help define our gathering space.

OC and AR work together to balance the largest sticks against the tree, the strong foundation for their fort. DM walks past and declines an invitation to build, he is preparing to engage in the Ninja play happening throughout our classroom.

 


On Tuesday morning I used our morning message as an invitation for an additional reflection from the woods. The children drew or wrote about something they saw in the woods and added their work to our message. The following day I posted their work along with my invitation in our classroom, surrounded by pictures from our experience. The Kindergarteners referenced and talked about the images and their reflections all week long!

 

celebrating ten days in school!

On Wednesday we celebrated being in school for ten days. Using the morning message as an invitation, the children practiced counting items and recording how many. We talked about how number scientists use strategies to count a group of ten. Some of these strategies (or tools) include;

- using a ten frame
- using a number line to support your counting and knowledge of counting sequence
- recounting to check your work

 

 

 

Following our morning message work, I modeled collecting ten items from our outdoor space. Each Kindergartener had a small paper bag. We talked about the size of the items, they could be small or medium - they had to fit in the bag. The items did not all have to be the same. Ten frames and number lines were available for the children to use to check their work. While this experience was a hands on and interactive way to develop, practice, and reinforce counting to ten, it was also about following specific directions. In the morning sunshine, the Kindergarteners searched for wood chips, rocks, sticks, leaves, and flowers. They slowly and carefully counted and checked their work as they placed items in their bags!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Following our morning, I invited children to draw and record their findings. Some children traced each item they had collected, numbering the pine cones and leaves on their paper. Other children tried to draw the shape of the items. We talked about how mathematicians record their work and share their thinking. Following their independent work time, OM shared his writing. I attached their work together to make our first class math book. ML eagerly designed the cover and chose our title; The 10 Book. It was a day rich with opportunities to develop counting skills, to learn and practice math strategies, to represent and share thinking with one another, and to bring our math workshop into the natural world and the natural world into our classroom!

 

 

 

geo boards

This past week I introduced another math tool to support the children's exploration of and work with shapes - geo boards. During our math workshop, I have been encouraging children to make connections. We have talked about and explored how you can represent stories with shapes. Children used rubber bands to build and manipulate various shapes.

Observation

AM rushes to the chrysalis hanging in our large window.
"Look, I used the rubber bands to show the caterpillars changing in our room!"

AM points to the chrysalis she represented using a white rubber band.

 

Some of the Kindergarteners created shapes within shapes, counting how many squares or rectangles. Below, I encouraged OC to count how many squares he had created - 16! I offered him a sticky note to record his findings. When he wasn't sure about writing a 6, he quickly rushed to our days in school chart, taking the number card 6 back to his table. I observed as he looked at the number and carefully drew the number six on his sticky note.

 

a little hike

9-11-17

At the end of the day on Monday, we had our first exploration within the woods. We went on a small hike, looping through the forest. We talked about how we enter the woods - quietly, as we are entering the home of the animals that live there. We practiced staying together, with one teacher in the front and one teacher in the back. We made predictions about what we might find and carefully observed along the way. Children collected leaves and found frogs. I had hoped to finish our hike in our outdoor classroom, but our time went quickly. 

Next Monday we will hike to our outdoor classroom and spend our afternoon exploring and playing within the space. This will be a structured time similar to Academic Choice within the classroom, as children will have the opportunity to choose what they hope to do in the woods. As the year progresses, the choices will be driven by the children's interests and my observations. The curriculum within the woods will change and develop based on each experience!

 

 

self-portrait work

Monday, 9-11-17

During our Morning Meeting we talked about self-portraits. We defined what a self-portrait is - a drawing of yourself! - and talked about how representing one's self is a further way to celebrate one's unique identity. I read the book Ish, a beloved story about drawings that look "ish-ly" instead of exactly right. Representing yourself takes courage, the children eagerly embraced this opportunity.

I modeled using a small mirror to look at my reflection and notice details. I then introduced white boards and dry erase markers as tools to practice representing, because artists practice. Using the white boards provided an opportunity for the Kindergarteners to practice drawing their self-portraits. This experience also provided a meaningful way to introduce another classroom tool that we will use for writing; white boards and dry erase markers! As children looked into their mirrors and represented what they saw, I heard a chorus of, "It looks me-ISH!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


In the afternoon, we talked about how after artists practice, they draw a final piece. The children took the afternoon to plan and design their final self-portrait for the beginning of Kindergarten. Using our special black pens and thick art paper cut into a circle, the children carefully drew small versions of themselves. Crayons provided color, texture, and detail to their representations. As they finished their work, we lined up the drawings. We talked about the difference in our skin color, eye color, and hair. ZM shared her work with the entire community.

"I used orange to color my skin, because I didn't have a crayon that's my skin color. I made my hair squiggly. I looked at my dress again and again and then drew it. I drew three hearts, because I missed  Ms. Cassidy for three whole days!" - ZM