{"id":145426,"date":"2022-01-12T12:00:45","date_gmt":"2022-01-12T16:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecornerstoneforteachers.com\/?p=144469"},"modified":"2022-03-17T09:29:48","modified_gmt":"2022-03-17T14:29:48","slug":"benefits-of-teaching-outdoors-even-in-the-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/benefits-of-teaching-outdoors-even-in-the-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"How you can teach outdoors (even in the winter!)"},"content":{"rendered":"

My class circled up on the playground as I walked around, passing out little cups of hot herbal tea. Hands went waving in the air, shouting, \u201cCan I have some?\u201d<\/h2>\n

Today it was raspberry \u2014 their favorite. Some children unpacked little blankets to sit on to protect themselves from the cold snow. Others, bundled up in their snow pants, preferred to sit on tree stumps we had placed in a circle to serve as outdoor seating. I brought out a new read-aloud I knew the kids would love about the beauty of winter trees. Then we were going to look closely at the pine and hemlock trees that surrounded us. We were studying their features to discover similarities and differences so we could write about them. The kids had their nature journals attached to clipboards with prompts, \u201cI see\u2026\u00a0 I think\u2026\u00a0 I wonder\u2026\u201d, which we use to guide many of our nature studies. With its canopy of tall evergreen trees above us, this winter playground was the setting of our science class for the day, and we were all excited to begin.<\/p>\n

Moments like these remind me how transformational teaching during a pandemic has been for me. Like many teachers, I found myself doing things I never could have imagined doing before. One of those things has been bringing my class outside for outdoor learning<\/a>. Initially, I did this because it seemed like a healthier environment for my students to learn together during a pandemic. But what I found was that the benefits from teaching outdoors<\/a> are many. As a result, I picked up one new teaching strategy to build upon and share with others.<\/p>\n

Even before the pandemic, teaching outdoors was an idea I had been harboring for a while in the back of my mind hoping to try someday. My school sits on a beautiful campus surrounded by woods, so I had been thinking for quite a while, why not use it? This was the environment my students were growing up in, and I wanted to take advantage of the natural resources around us.<\/p>\n

Then COVID struck. I found myself staring into a computer screen to see my 6-year-old students staring back at me from their muted Google Meet squares. And suddenly I knew \u2014 it was time. I knew there had to be a better way to teach them when we couldn\u2019t all be together safely indoors. So that is when I opened the door and said, let\u2019s go outside.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t know what I was doing in the beginning. I am not a science teacher or a naturalist by any means. So I started small, searched for resources to help me, and found them readily available. I found out I was not the only one trying to make this happen for students. Many schools<\/a> around the country were also implementing outdoor education as a safe way to bring students back to school and keep them safely together at school.<\/p>\n

When the 2021-2022 school year began, my school returned to in-person learning with everyone wearing masks indoors. I knew I wanted to continue outdoor learning as an ongoing part of my curriculum for many reasons. So I committed to having a Wednesday In The Woods <\/i><\/b>program, <\/b>where my class would spend most of the day together outdoors on Wednesdays, which is a half-day of instruction at our school.\u00a0 I also planned on including other outdoor lessons into our schedule throughout the week whenever possible.<\/p>\n

Compiled here are some of the benefits I\u2019ve found from teaching outdoors, along with resources to help you get started. It doesn\u2019t take much to begin. Just a willingness to try<\/i> and the ability to be resourceful in finding what you need. Chances are you’ll have happy, skipping children behind you, ready for the adventure.<\/p>\n

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Benefits of teaching outdoors<\/b><\/h2>\n

Research shows<\/a> there are many benefits to children\u2019s academic learning, personal development, and environmental stewardship from outdoor education. Here are a few that I have found to be most valuable.<\/p>\n