Victoria  0:04

Teaching science in elementary school is crucial for nurturing young minds. But, as educators, finding the time and resources to create engaging lessons can be a challenge. That's where this podcast comes in. Welcome to naturally teaching elementary science, the show dedicated to supporting elementary teachers in their quest to bring authentic and place based science experiences to their classroom. I'm Victoria Zablocki, a certified elementary teacher turned outdoor educator. With over a decade of experience coaching teachers and effective science teaching methods. I'm passionate about making science accessible, understandable and fun for educators and students alike. Join me as we explore strategies for teaching science in elementary school with practical teaching tips, insightful interviews, picture book reviews, and more. Whether you've taught for a long time or just started your teaching journey, this podcast is your trusty resource for enhancing your science curriculum. So let's grow together.

1:04

Welcome to the Naturally Teaching Elementary Science Podcast. This is episode two. And if you're back, thanks for coming back, if you're new to it, thanks for joining us. My name is Victoria Zablocki. I'm the host of the Naturally Teaching Elementary Science podcast and I'm so glad that you're spending your time with me today. So you may have come to this podcast looking for help to add more science to your classroom, not necessarily to learn how to take your students outside of your classroom. But I'm here to tell you that taking your students outside to learn will provide them many amazing benefits, including enhancing their science learning. So in this episode, I'm going to help you change your mindset about outdoor learning, and help you develop an outdoor learning environment that will set you up for success right from the start. But before we get into this episode, I wanted to remind you that to celebrate the launch of this podcast, I'm doing a picture book giveaway. I'm giving three people a physical copy of Worm Weather by Jean Taft, Miss Maple's Seeds by Eliza wheeler, or Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner. I'm also going to send an electronic copy of my coordinating picture book companion with science and ELA activities already ready to go with whichever book they choose. To enter this giveaway, write a review about naturally teaching elementary science on whichever podcast player you're listening on, screenshot that review, and then send it to me on Instagram at naturally.teaching, or to my email at Victoria@naturallyteaching.com. For a bonus entry, take a screenshot of your favorite episode and share it on Instagram and tag me. Entries will be accepted until June 23rd, 2024. And winners will be notified shortly thereafter.

2:43

So before we begin talking about how to take your students outside, I want to cover a few benefits to taking your students outside to learn. Outdoor education kind of had its moment in the sun during the pandemic. It was a buzzword that was used during a time of social distancing, and giving people as much space as possible so they could stay as healthy as possible. Some elementary schools would use outdoor education as a way to give students the space that they needed and to give them the fresh air to stay healthy. But as a byproduct, it also gave their students rich place-based learning experiences. Since the pandemic, outdoor education has kind of gone to the wayside. But there's still plenty of benefits to using it in your education. Anecdotally, I've seen outdoor education provide authentic observation and experiences, your students are getting into their actual nature and into their actual science in their school yard, having a connection with things that are happening right in front of their faces. And that leads me to the second part that I've noticed, which is place-based learning opportunities. Your students are going to care more about the things that are in their environment and in their own community. And by giving them those outdoor experiences and learning about the science in their own school yard, they're gonna have a connection to their community they wouldn't have otherwise. It also provides an opportunity for different leaders to emerge. In the classroom, we traditionally see students that sit in their desks, raise their hands, do everything that they're told by the teacher be the leaders of the group; people look to them because they're praised for their good behavior. While outside, different students tend to emerge as the leaders. Outside, we tend to see people that can speak their mind, help work through different problems, can critically think through something that might happen using certain natural materials. A lot of times students that have a hard time sitting at their desks are actually more engaged and more of a leader when they're outside. But research has also shown that outdoor education leads to better school performance, healthier students, well nurtured and supported students, it provides a sense of place like I was describing, it engages families and the community, and as a bonus, it is also fun. For more information about the benefits of outdoor education, check out my article, "Outdoor Education: How to Use Nature to Improve Your Science Studies" on my blog at naturallyteaching.com. And I'll make sure to put that link in the show notes.

5:14

So now that we know a little bit about the benefits of outdoor education, let's talk about setting up an outdoor learning environment for your classroom. This is going to happen before you even start taking your students outside. As we talk about developing your outdoor learning environment, we're talking about the planning stages of outdoor education. So, you may be wondering what outdoor learning looks like. And I'm here to help you with the overwhelm that can come with beginning the journey to outdoor learning with your elementary students. But the first thing that I want you to remember is that outdoor education is just another way to teach using all the same skills you already have. You're just taking them outside. That's all it is. And today, we're going to build your confidence to help you get outside and create an outdoor learning environment that will help your students flourish. The first thing we're going to talk about is setting up your routine and your expectations. You do that inside already, we're just going to think about what you want your learning outside to look like with routines and expectations. So you'll want to take the time to set up your expectations for routines, rules and learning outside just like you do inside. This will help make your students more responsible for their own learning, as well as save you time later in the year. Practicing these expectations takes a lot of time at the forefront of the year. But it will ultimately make the rest of the year go quicker and smoother, and they have a better understanding of what's expected of them. So, make your first few lessons outside short experiences that are designed to help your students practice routines. As an example, you could put together a scavenger hunt, where you meet at your gathering space, something we'll talk about later. And they run out try to find something, come back to the gathering space, cover up that spot with a leaf or a wood chip or a rock. And then they try to run out and find something new that was on their scavenger hunt, come back to the gathering space, cover it with a rock, cover it with a leaf, what have you. Another example could be that you go to your gathering space and you could read a book together. And then you go back inside. Easy, simple things that will allow your students to practice your routines and your expectations. And you want to think about your first week of school or your first week of introducing outdoor education as an opportunity to practice routines. You want routines that will answer the following questions? Where will your students meet you? A meeting location is super helpful when it comes to outdoor learning that sets the stage that this isn't recess. This is in fact a time for learning. So just like in your classroom, you likely have a rug on the floor, or you have desks or you have a location that you have your students meet you when they first walk through the door. Think about where you want that to be when you're doing outside learning. Do you have a stump circle? Do you have a pavilion? Do you have benches? Do you have a corner of a basketball court that you can have your students meet you or walk to together?

8:20

And that leads me to the next question. How will they transition from inside to outside? Do you want your students walking in a line like they do in the hallways? Or are they allowed to run ahead of you to the meeting location as long as they're keeping everyone safe? The next question is: how will you get their attention while you're outside? Do you have an attention getter in the classroom? If you do, great, use that outside. If you don't, you could come up with something different. I've seen people use whistles. I've seen people use an animal call. There's a variety of ways that you can get your students' attention. So these three questions are all things that you need to answer before you even take your students outside. And then, once you have those answers, it's good to practice those routines with your students the first week that you're using outdoor education. It's really beneficial for your students to have crossover from the classroom, especially if you have younger students like preschool, kindergarten or first grade students. When there's crossover from the classroom to outside, these rules and expectations will help your students have a better understanding that this is not recess time that it is learning time. And if your rules and expectations are appropriate for your students to learn outside successfully, then by all means, use the same rules and expectations from inside to outside. Again, that crossover is really going to be helpful for younger students. So again, before you begin introducing outdoor education to your students, make sure you take the time to think about these questions. Where will they meet you? How will they transition from inside to outside? How will you get their attention while you're outside? When you have those answers, start practicing those routines and expectations, and it'll be easier for your students, and they'll be better for it. One thing to keep in mind is that the transition to outdoor learning may take some time since it's likely new to your students. But over time with practice, your students will understand your expectations and will learn just as well, maybe even better in nature than in your classroom. And remember, you already have the skills you need to implement outdoor learning. It's what you do inside, you're just taking it outside.

10:34

So the next thing to do to develop your outdoor learning environment is to take advantage of outdoor learning spaces. So, when I say outdoor learning spaces, I think of two different things, one, man-made outdoor learning spaces, and two natural outdoor learning spaces. Some examples of man-made outdoor learning spaces could be things like pavilions, a group of picnic tables, benches, a stump circle, cultivated gardens, a basketball court, and more. These sorts of outdoor learning spaces are great to use for gathering spaces, like we talked about with setting up expectations. If you have one of these man-made locations, then you can point to it and say, "this is where we're going to meet at the beginning of each of our lessons." And then students will have that visual and physical cue to know that, "yep, it's learning time, we're going to be learning outside. And we're gathering in this space where we'll get an introduction, and then we'll get the chance to go and have our activity." If you don't happen to have one of these man-made outdoor learning spaces setup, don't worry. This is definitely something that can be added over time. And if you have volunteers or a PTO, this is a great project for them to work on for you. But it's also important to note that it's not make or break for developing your outdoor learning environment. If you don't have a man-made space, you can always just pull up a piece of grass and sit down with your students. On the flip side, natural outdoor learning spaces are one of the most important parts of your outdoor education or outdoor learning. This is going to be what enhances your outdoor learning experiences. Some examples of natural outdoor learning spaces include a section of soccer field, a shade tree on your playground, a small forest behind your school, a ditch with cattails, an unmowed area of your school yard, maybe even vernal pools in the forest behind your school if you're lucky. Any of these naturally occurring locations are going to be those natural outdoor learning spaces that you're going to use for your studies. They tend to be areas that you don't have to do much to maintain, but they provide you with opportunities to study nature or have space to create experiences for your students.

12:42

The next thing to consider is how you think about nature. The third part to setting up your outdoor learning environment is to start to view nature as an outdoor lab. Nature is one of the most rich and inviting science labs that you can come across. And one of the best parts about it, it is free. So if you change your thinking and consider the possibilities that nature can provide to you as an outdoor lab, your transition to outdoor education and elementary school will be so much easier. Nature isn't just an outdoor lab for Earth and life sciences either. I want you to start thinking about this differently. I know that we can think, okay, I can go find a lifecycle and I can find pollination. And I can go find rocks and I can go find examples of weathering and erosion. All of these things are true and nature's a fantastic way to find real life examples of these aspects of science. But you can also go outside and teach magnets; you can go outside and teach forces; you can go outside and teach sound waves, the possibilities are endless. Another thing to consider about nature and it being the perfect lab space, is that it's ever changing. And it provides more opportunities for your students to work and learn together. It has a natural ebb and flow caused by cause and effect relationships. And the natural rhythms will provide your students with lots of opportunities for critical thinking, experimentation, and analysis.

14:07

So to recap, for you to get started taking your students outside, I highly encourage you to think through and plan what you want your outdoor learning environment to be like. The three things we talked about today, were setting up your routines and expectations, starting to take advantage of outdoor learning spaces, both man-made and natural, and to view nature as an outdoor lab. And remember, you already have the skills you need to be successful to take your students outside to learn as this podcast grows, and as time goes on, we're going to be adding to your outdoor education toolkit. So, today we're changing our mindset about the ways we look at nature and outdoor learning, including the expectations we have of our students when we go outside to learn. So thanks for joining me today on the Naturally Teaching Elementary Science podcast. And if you have any questions, any wonderings, or wonderful success stories, I'd love to hear them. Get a hold of me on Instagram at naturally.teaching, or you can send me an email at Victoria@naturallyteaching.com. And before I let you go, don't forget about that picture book giveaway. Remember, I'm giving three people a physical copy of Worm Weather by Jean Taft, Miss Maple's Seeds by Eliza Wheeler, or Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner. I'm also going to be sending an electronic copy of my coordinating picture book companions with science and ELA activities already made to go along with the book of your choosing. Remember to enter this giveaway, all you have to do is write a review about Naturally Teaching Elementary Science on whichever podcast player you're listening on, screenshot that review, and then send it to me on Instagram at naturally.teaching or to my email at Victoria@naturallyteaching.com. And for a bonus entry, take a screenshot of your favorite episode and share it on Instagram and tag me. Entries will be accepted until June 23rd, 2024, and winners will be notified shortly thereafter. Thanks again for joining me today. And until next time, keep exploring, keep learning, and keep naturally teaching.