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Outdoor Classrooms: A Handbook for School Gardens is ideal for teachers and home educators who want to incorporate education at all levels of the school curriculum with an emphasis on: setting up edible gardens teaching children about growing food food security and economics human and planetary health permaculture and sustainabi.
Schoolyards have come a long way from the barren playgrounds that many people remember. Today's school campuses often feature gardens in which students can learn about native plants and wildlife, grow vegetables and fruit, explore cultural traditions, practice reading and math skills, and use their imaginations to create fun play spaces. And for a growing number of urban students, these schoolyard gardens offer the best, if not the only, opportunity to experience the natural world firsthand and enjoy its many benefits. This book is a practical, hands-on guide for creating a variety of learning environments in the arid Southwest. Filled with clear, easy-to-use information and illustrated with photographs, drawings, and plans, the book covers everything necessary to create schoolyard gardens: An introduction to schoolyards as outdoor classrooms and several types of habitats, including art gardens, cultural history gardens, ecological gardens, literacy gardens, and vegetable gardens Design theory, including a history of garden styles, and design principles and design elements Beginning the design process, including identifying participants and writing a design program that sets out goals and requirements Conducting site research and synthesizing design elements to arrive at a final design Design essentials, including project funding and design features, maintenance, accessibility, safety, and project evaluation and revision Wildlife ecology, including elements needed for survival such as food and shelter Creating gardens for pollinators and other wildlife, including hummingbirds, butterflies, bees, moths, bats, and flies, as well as pest control Lists of native plants for various kinds of habitats and nurseries that sell native plants, as well as books, web sites, and other resources for learning more about native plants and wildlife This guide will be essential for landscape architects, school personnel, parents, and students. Indeed, its principles can be used in designing schoolyard habitats across the country, while its information on gardening with native plants and wildlife will be useful to homeowners across the Southwest.
Jack the cat gets much more than he bargained for when he decides to build the perfect nest to attract the perfect chicken, who will lay the perfect egg, which will make the perfect omelet.
Designed to provide teachers and administrators with a range of practical suggestions for making the schoolyard a varied and viable learning resource, Moving the Classroom Outdoors presents concrete examples of how urban, suburban, and rural schools have enhanced the school site as a teaching tool. --from publisher description.
The outdoor environment is now an integral part of many early years settings and schools, but is it being used to its full potential? Providing extensive, challenging and ever-changing outdoor play experiences is an essential and valuable aspect of early years education. This book offers comprehensive guidance on how the outdoor environment can be used to teach and challenge all children across a range of settings drawing on forest school practice. Following a month-by-month format, each chapter provides a selection of theme-related play experiences alongside planning and evaluations of how the ideas described were carried out, and reveals the impact that they had on the children. Including detailed information on the role of the adult, the environment, planning and using children’s interests to guide their learning and development, the book features: over 100 full-colour photographs to illustrate practice diary entries that reflect how the planning was delivered, what changes were made and how aspects of learning were recorded and assessed examples of practice as well as comprehensive resource lists and safety guidelines links to indoor play and opportunities at home. Written by a leading authority on forest school practice and full of practical ideas that can be adapted to suit individual children’s needs, this book aims to inspire practitioners to make the most of the outdoor environment throughout the year.
Teaching Off Trail describes the transformation of Peter Dargatz, a national board-certified teacher, and public school coordinator, from an anxious assessor to a fair and fun facilitator of learning. It shares his personal professional journey detailing his evolution as an educator while simultaneously offering strategies for readers to implement Peter's unique teaching philosophy to increase opportunities for play, creative expression, and personalization in both the indoor and outdoor classroom. In his own classroom, Peter brought learning outside by creating a nature kindergarten program that emphasizes community partnerships, service learning, and meaningful and memorable experiences in the outdoors. Teaching Off Trail aims to inspire educators, administrators, and parents across all levels to turn their outrage for today’s educational system into outreach that promotes passionate and purposeful problem-solving. He incorporates techniques often seen in private educational settings like Reggio and Montessori—student-centered, self-directed experiential approaches to learning) and shows how they work within a public school system.
Create an outdoor learning program Transform outdoor spaces into learning environments where children can enjoy a full range of activities as they spend quality time in nature. This book is filled with guidance to help you plan, design, and create an outdoor learning program that is a rich, thoughtfully equipped, natural extension of your indoor curriculum. Loaded with practical and creative ideas, it also includes information to help you Understand how outdoor classrooms benefits children’s learning and development Collaborate with other teachers, administrators, and families to make your outdoor classroom a reality Create development and action plans to strategize and implement changes Evaluate your outdoor environment, program, and practices Cultivating Outdoor Classrooms promotes the idea that if you can do it indoors, you can probably do it outside as well. Eric Nelson is the founder and director of Child Care Planning Associates, the consulting and training division of the Child Educational Center, Caltech/JPL Community, which he established with his wife in 1979. Eric's consulting specialties include building and playground design and renovation, child care needs assessment and feasibility studies, development of employer-related child care, and staff training and development. Eric’s understanding of the value of the outdoors is grounded in a lifetime of hiking his beloved Sierra Nevada Mountains in California since he was a young child.
David Sobel’s follow-up to Nature Preschools and Forest Kindergartens walks readers through the nitty-gritty facts of running a nature-based program. Organized around nine themes, each chapter begins with an overview from the author, followed by case studies from diverse early childhood programs, ranging from those that serve at-risk children to public preschools to university farm programs to Waldorf schools. Sample newsletters in each chapter show how real programs have tackled tough questions and sticky situations. The programs featured in these newsletters are from across the United States: Maryland, New York, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Alabama, Connecticut, Illinois, Vermont, California, Michigan, Rhode Island, Louisiana, and Indiana.
