As educators we talk a lot about providing children with real-world problems to solve, yet right before my eyes, children were identifying their own problems and began to solve these problems using design approaches and trial and error, while listening, watching and helping each other.
— Brenda Hartshorn
ECO’s goal is to help children and their schools to develop a lasting relationship with the natural world and foster a sense of place and stewardship in our local Vermont communities. ECO works with schools on a weekly and biweekly basis to help meet Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards outdoors while introducing children to the natural community right outside their classroom. Our program is tailored to each classroom’s unique needs and goals.
By using city parks, public lands, and other local green spaces, ECO helps teachers get their students engaged in natural inquiry-based learning. The surrounding environment becomes a co-teacher as we explore the fields for insects and build bear dens in the forest. ECO capitalizes on the opportunities of learning outdoors that support social and emotional learning such as group dynamics, work projects, learning to take care of others and how to take care of our environment.
Teachers, students, and ECO staff spend two to four hours weekly exploring a forest, wetland or field, playing games, engaging the senses, journaling at sitting spots, sharing in a community circle around a fire, and engaging in cooperative learning through guided discovery. We practice these core routines continuously throughout the school year.
The routines that are embedded into our ECO schedule provide the walls of our outdoor classroom. These routines are practices for learning in nature that help to cultivate a lasting relationship with the natural world and foster a sense of place. Below is an example of a typical ECO session.
This is a place in the classroom that sets the stage for the day, serving as an area for students to explore aspects of the natural world by using their senses. Objects in the museum may be brought in by students from a time spent outside with their class or from home. Field guides, feathers and plant materials or rocks can be contributed to the nature museum. These items change seasonally or with a new unit of study. It is vital to our curriculum that students view nature as a tangible extension of their classroom.
Morning circle brings everyone together to discuss dressing for weather, what to pack in your backpack and to review safety agreements on how we care for ourselves and others. Students can share what they have noticed in nature recently or make predictions of what they may find outside today. Meeting as a class builds community and prepares students to be active participants in the plan for the day.
Let’s move our bodies and use our senses to play some games! This is a great time to release energy, practice gross motor skills and apply some basic science concepts through creative movement. Playing tag to learn predator-prey relationships or coming together for a group challenge are some of our favorite games.
We take care of ourselves outdoors by eating a hearty snack and drinking warm tea we have made over the fire. As we sit in a community circle a teacher tells a story or provides a read-aloud. The story can inspire the lesson of the day or help to make classroom connections.
It’s time to have some fun learning! A standards-based (NGSS, Common Core) lesson is introduced to the students and they set off to build, explore, gather, create or record. Back in the classroom, teachers expound upon and assess student learning from the field.
A favorite part of the ECO day, Forest Choice is a time for students to work on building projects, use tools in the workshop area, cook over a fire or explore and play in the forest. This time allows for students practice engineering, creativity and explore risk-taking with the support of teachers and their peers.
Each student selects their own special place that they will return to throughout the year. Students take some time to reflect upon what we’ve learned and observed during our ECO time. We may write in our journals at our sit spots or simply sit and observe.
ECO aerial
Our time outdoors has come to an end and students and teachers gather together to reflect on our learning. We may share something we are grateful for, something we noticed at our sit spots, or a part of the day we want to share with the whole class. Before leaving, we always say thank you and goodbye to the land that hosts us for ECO.
Educating Children Outdoors is a resource for educators interested in spending time in nature with their students. Bringing over two decades of experience working outdoors with teachers and students, ECO founder Amy Butler offers curricular guidance on nature-based lessons that align with K–12 standards and build on the innate curiosity and wonder children have for the natural world.
With twenty-five lessons in five units of study spread out across a seasonal school year and appendixes that offer templates for learning, Educating Children Outdoors is essential for educators looking to harvest the benefits of a nature-based curriculum. Become part of the movement to support children in becoming reconnected with the natural world and the places they call home!
We are called to assist the Earth to heal her wounds and, in the process, heal our own—indeed, to embrace the whole of creation in all its diversity, beauty and wonder.
— Wangari Maathai