Taking our Learning Outdoors

I can finally say that I think not spring, but summer, has finally arrived!

With all of this nice weather that we have been enjoying, we take our students outside a lot for outdoor learning.

 

Why...you might ask?

Well, there is so much to learn from playing outdoors, students don't like being stuck inside the four walls of our classroom all day long, they need some fresh air, and just want to have plain old fun!

 

We load up our "Wonder Wagon" and head on out.

Sometimes we just stay in our own kindergarten playground and other times we venture to the big field.

 

We bring out our tree blocks donated by Mrs. P, one of our parents, since building outside leads to new creations and inspirations.

This student is using the blocks to start a tower.

More friends have joined her and they are being very careful to not let their tower fall!

Here's one student using the iPad to document the tower.
We often tell students that they can take a photo or sketch something that they have created to remember it and recreate it another time.

Mrs. C, our EA, is playing tag with a group of students.  She was fast...but the students were even faster!

We bring out lots of outdoor toys too...like skipping ropes and hoola hoops.

There is so much inspiration outdoors that the children love drawing nature around them!

There are only 3 tricycles in our yard so it's important that the students learn how to share and take turns.  To be fair, we show them how to line up and wait, go around once on the "road" and then give the trike to the next friend.

A few students thought it would be fun to make stop and go signs using the colours found in a stop light while riding around! 

For some reason, using the Lego outdoors to create is "much better than inside"!

Our students eat a "self-regulated snack" at our snack table indoors each day - which means that whenever they are hungry they can stop their play and grab a bite to eat.
Since we were outside, we invited them to choose a place to sit and enjoy snack.
I think that a large plastic tablecloth laid out on the floor would do the trick next time too!

 

We started an "outdoor garden" with the students...it's still small, but we have carrots, beans, cucumbers, tomato plants and some flowers growing.

There are some students that check to see if our things are growing on a daily basis, and water them, or just sit and watch them grow!

 

And, of course, we love being outside because you never know who will come to visit us in our yard!