Take Me Outside Day #5
For this week’s reflection, I used a Venn diagram from Pathways to Understanding: Patterns and Practices in the Learning-Focused Classroom by Laura Lipton and Bruce Wellman, to reflect on these two Take Me Outside Day experiences. This tool helped me compare and contrast my two Take Me Outside Day experiences, one at Kootenay Orchards Elementary and the other with a Grade 2 class at Gordon Terrace Elementary.
Venn Diagram I created using Canva
Using the Venn Diagram helped me visualize how both experiences prompted collaboration, curiosity, and outdoor learning, but in two different ways. The KO experience was more about going with the flow, requiring more attention and a lot of repeating yourself because you were constantly getting a new group of students. The Gordon Terrace experience enabled deeper connections with your small group of students and provided more individualized attention. Both experiences encouraged students to connect with the outdoors and demonstrated how learning can happen beyond the classroom walls. However, the settings, structure, and level of guidance were quite different.
Kootenay Orchards Elementary Take Me Outside Day
At Kootenay Orchards, i worked with two other teacher candidates. The entire school participated with this Take Me Outside Day experience. We set up our own I Love a Challenge stations around the school field. Students from kindergarten to grade 6 came out at different times and got guided to which station they needed to go to. They were supposed to stay at a station for the full 30 minutes but the younger kids had a hard time and short attention spans so we had to switch off with another station to give the students some other activity to do. Our task was more open ended and we just kind of went with the flow depending on what the students wanted to do, allowing for creativity. For this Take Me Outside Day the students before hand did a story walk of the book “OK.” We found out that some students did not do it or maybe didn’t remember the book and also did not know what I Love a Challenge was so I think that was the only challenge we had. other than that it went really well and the kids had a blast. The Grade 4-6 had the most fun at our station especially when i told them a student could stack 10 bean bags on his head and i told them to see if they could beat that record and they got right into it and took up the full 30 minutes working together trying to stack 11 beanbags on their head to beat the record.
Gordon Terrace Elementary Take Me Outside Day
At Gordon Terrace, the experience was smaller and more guided, focusing on a single grade 2 class. I worked with one other teacher candidate, and we had an amazing group of three grade 2 girls. We left the school property with the class and walked down to Elizabeth Lake. When we got there, the students completed a nature scavenger hunt and then, after that, created leaf art, connecting back to the book they read in class, “Leaf Man.”
One of our students leaf art.
This day was more structured but also allowed students to make strong connections between nature and creativity. Technology was also used during this activity. We used ChatterPix, which I talked about in my last reflection post. Overall, this experience was a lot of fun and in a way less chaotic then the first, the students knew about this day for a long time their teacher told us and they were really excited and had so many ideas for their leaf art creations. I think also because this class read the book together the students knew the leaf man book, other than the KO experience where some students explained to us that they did not read the book.
Looking forward, I can see how these experiences could extend into classroom learning. Students could write reflections about their outdoor experiences, create a digital project inspired by nature, or continue exploring environmental topics through art, science, or literacy. Both of these days showed me the value of outdoor education and how it fosters engagement, imagination, and community connection.
