Take Learning Out

Not only do worms improve soil drainage, eat plant debris, and fertilize the soil, they can also inspire curiosity, teach collaboration, improve observational skills and challenge us to seek greater understanding. That's a mighty creature indeed!

Using Wonderful Worm Stories to Ignite Natural Curiosity in Students Worms are wonderful. They improve soil drainage, eat parasites and plant debris, and fertilize the soil with their castings. My students love digging in the dirt searching for worms. You are the wi…

Happy New Year! I'm looking forward to another great year teaching and learning outdoors! Thank you, Juliet Robertson, for the inspiration to reflect on my practice.

Looking Forward to a Great Start in 2023 Art made with local natural materials by second grade students A big thank you to Juliet Robertson, whose blog post from December 29th, 2022, inspired me to reflect on my practice since August. The…

is here! Find a comfortable spot outside to a !

Literature for Appreciating Nature Happy World Book Day! Silent reading and reading books aloud to our students is something we often do indoors. It could easily be done outside, too. Why not? Pick a lovely day and read outside. Som…

"The children just play all day so what do you do?" Here's just a few ways we support children's play at my school.
https://takelearningout.com/supporting-childrens-play-outdoors/outdoor-learning/ Angela Hanscom

Supporting Children’s Play Outdoors Our Reception program (3, 4 & 5 year olds) is play-based and is heavily influenced by inquiry and constructivist learning philosophies. We use the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Prog…

We're getting ready for World Book Day 2020!
https://takelearningout.com/stuck-on-reading/outdoor-learning/

Stuck on Reading World Book Day 2020 is celebrated on Thursday, March 5th. I love children. I love nature and I love books. Put it all together and you get: children reading books outdoors! FABULOUS! Don’t wa…

Quality children's literature can be used as a vehicle to inspire children's outdoor play.

Reading in the Rain I liked the alliteration of that title. However, if you are going to read books to your students in the rain, I suggest you have a covered area. It’s hard to read dripping, ripping soggy page…

The needs of developmentally delayed children can be met in an outdoor learning environment. Here are just a few ideas:

Meeting the Needs of Children with Developmental Delays in a Play-Based Early Years Program Harvesting, smelling, washing & tasting radishes are memorable sensory experiences. In Spring 2019, I took the Intro to Exceptional Learners course from Florida Gateway College in Lake City, Fl…

Looking for a way to motivate your students use calendars? Make planting calendars with them!

Planting Calendars Looking for a way to motivate your students use calendars? Make planting calendars with them!

Potatoes are easy to grow so they are a great starter plant if you are new to gardening or new to growing vegetables with children.

Sprouting Potatoes The Spring planting season has officially begun! Potatoes are easy to grow so they are a great starter plant if you are new to gardening or new to growing vegetables with children. We bought seed p…

Snow Construction Play - Part 2
It didn't snow on Thursday night. So how did we finish our snow fort? Check out my blog to find out!

Snow Construction Play – Part 2 On Thursday, the children and I began building a snow fort. Click here to see Snow Construction Play – Part 1. On Friday, we returned to school to find a sagging, melting fort. And no new sno…

Snow Construction Play
Got snow? Go outside with your students and start construction on a snow fort!

Snow Construction Play I’ve waited five long years for this day! Woody guards our construction so no one breaks it. We finally got enough snowfall, and more importantly the right kind of snow, to begin building a s…