I have been a Girl Scout troop leader for 12 years. During this time I have taken my troop camping, hiking, fishing, horseback riding, rock wall climbing, canoeing, kayaking, and more. My girls know how to start a fire, cook over a fire, set up a tent, identify plants and insects, and follow blazes on a trail. But more importantly, they have grown a greater appreciation and respect for nature and each other. As we experienced each new adventure, I began to love spending time in nature even more. I began to notice that I was paying attention to the beauty around me. I began to notice how it was making me feel. I felt at peace, less anxious, and more in tune with the moment.
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Figure 1 My Girl Scout troop backpacking at Elk Neck State Park, October 2018. |
If the time we were spending in nature was providing my Girl Scouts with hands-on, authentic, learning experiences and helping us feel less stressed about the everyday chaos, what might this do in the classroom? As I started my transition back to the classroom, I wanted to bring nature with me. I began reading more about the benefits of nature in education and scoured the internet for every teacher-based opportunity I could find. I discovered the Eastern Region Association for Forest and Nature Schools (ERAFANS) and participated in their first online nature-based teacher certification program in the summer of 2020.
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Figure 2 Level 1 Nature-Based Teacher Certification, proudly displayed in my classroom.
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Although most public schools remained closed for virtual learning in the fall of 2020, I was lucky enough to secure a position at a private preschool that was opening a kindergarten program for families that wanted an in-person option for their rising kindergarteners. There was a great shift that encouraged teachers to get students outside more often and schools across the country were taking advantage of this opportunity to get their students outside to learn and explore. The director at the preschool I would be teaching was very open to any and all opportunities to get the children outside, so we created an outdoor classroom with donated tree stumps in a big grassy field just outside our classroom door.  |
Figure 3 My outdoor learning space for my kindergarten class in Glen Arm, MD, 2020-2021. |
We would encounter many days where the weather was not cooperative, and since all the children did not always have the appropriate gear, we ended up staying indoors. Bringing nature inside my classroom allowed the children to continue with hands-on exploration and exposure to natural items.
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Figure 4 Our decomposing pumpkin. |
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Figure 5 Natural, local fall items to explore. |
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Figure 6 Nature sharing shelf. |
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Figure 7 Students building with tree blocks. |
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Figure 8 Students building a bamboo forest during our Panda unit. |
The school where I now teach is a Title 1 school in a low socioeconomic, urban community in Baltimore County, Maryland. The children I work with live in a community very similar to the one I grew up in, so I have a deep desire to provide them with opportunities to experience the familiar nature right outside their home and school. I want them to see that nature does not have to be hiking trails or mountains. I grew up in the city, with sidewalks, concrete backyards, alleys, and neighborhood parks. The park was the only place in my community with grass and trees, so I never really thought I had the full nature experience growing up. Unknowingly, I was immersed in nature my entire childhood. As a child who grew up in the 1980s, I recall spending most of my time outdoors catching lightning bugs, racing stuff in the water that flowed in the gutters during a rainstorm, and growing flowers and vegetables in containers. I experienced the natural world that my neighborhood offered.
I hope that this blog finds other educators across the country who are looking for simple ways to reconnect their students to nature. My goal is to share my own experiences in the classroom with nature, outside of the classroom in nature, as well as my early childhood environmental education journey. We have to start somewhere, so take that first step and just go outside.
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Figure 9 Quote: "Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." Note. Start where you are [clip art], by Sermon Quotes, 2015, SermonQuotes.com (https://sermonquotes.com/sermonquotes/1114-start-where-you.html).
References
Sermon Quotes. (2015). Start where you are [clip art]. |
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