Excellent Teaching Guide is Available - The Guide is called "Into Nature: A Guide to Teaching in Nearby Nature"

I'd like to thank the Ontario’s Back to Nature Network for releasing this excellent guide - which we at Discovery Child Care fully endorse -  The Guide is called "Into Nature: A Guide to Teaching in Nearby Nature", a new guide for teachers from kindergarten through grade 8. You can download it here if you wish - http://www.back2nature.ca/resources-research/education

 

Into Nature has been created to enable teachers to use the outdoor learning space to teach all curriculum subjects.

 

The guide is written by and for teachers with the goals of: 1) offering a fresh perspective on teaching; 2) providing learning approaches that strengthen the relationships teachers have with their students; and 3) communicating simple and practical ways to help teachers use outdoor learning spaces in creating rich opportunities for student learning.

 

Into Nature is packed with useful tools for teachers new to the experience of teaching outdoors in nature, but is also useful for those practiced in using the outdoor learning space.

Section One offers excellent information on why and how to teach in nature, including sample letters to communicate with Administrators and Parents, a materials list, and a readiness checklist that has room for post-lesson reflections and can be kept as a record of each experience.

Section Two, which forms most of the guide, contains a large variety of learning experiences. To start, “Nature 101” is a series of five phases that begins with a class-created nature contract, gradually moves the class outdoors, and culminates with an activity to create a designated outdoor learning space. A group of 50 “Nature2Go” activities are short, curriculum-connected “hits” of nature that can be completed in under 30 minutes each, or extended further if desired. Finally, the “Lessons” component offers five lessons for each division, primary, junior and intermediate.

Into Nature can be downloaded as a free pdf file on the Back to Nature Network website at http://www.back2nature.ca/resources-research/education. A French-language version will be available for download at the same location in January 2013.

Discovery Child Care - www.discoverychild.on.ca - Program Philosophy: Discovery Child Care brings nature into the classroom and takes the classroom into nature, offering an environmentally aware foundation of early learning for children, from infants to school-age. We follow an Emergent Curriculum philosophy which means: Your child will be provided with hands-on, play-based learning opportunities that will encourage active exploration, autonomy, choice, problem solving and plain old fun! Your child’s individual interests, abilities and needs will be considered when planning our indoor and outdoor programs.