Outdoor Explorers: First Grade Makes the Forest their Classroom
My students need quality rain coats, rain pants, and muck boots to safely and comfortably support their weekly forest learning experience, regardless of the weather or the season.
Authentic growth happens from the inside out, and our elementary school is fortunate to have leaders who foster student-centered learning. Each day children race to be the first into my classroom, clamoring to know what curiosities we'll investigate. During first grade, children experience the magic of growing into readers, writers and mathematical thinkers.
My first graders' greatest joys, however, can be seen when they are given the opportunity to explore, the time to discover and the respect to develop their own understandings.
Our small town is populated with parents who are Pfizer scientists and General Dynamics submarine engineers. Parents are invested in their children's education. It is my privilege to guide their children on their early learning journeys. Our challenge is to keep the learning meaningful and transferable, and to value social skill development as much as we value the academics.
My Project
Our school is surrounded by forest, meadows and ponds, yet students spend their days sitting at desks inside cinder block walled classrooms, reading about the environment without experiencing it. These five through seven year old children have an amazing opportunity to step outside the school building to develop lasting understandings of and connections with their natural world.
One day a week, all day long, every week of the school year, my first graders will take their learning outside.
We'll explore local habitats, push ourselves to take risks and develop new skills. With quality rain gear for all children, weather will be no obstacle! Forest explorers now; environmental stewards in the future.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Norman and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
