Research continues to show how beneficial spending time outside is for students’ academic and social-emotional learning. We know that just being outside can increase positive emotions and reduce anxiety. Learning outside has been shown to improve focus and concentration.
We go outside to have fun!
All students, including our middle school students, go out to recess every day.
We move our classrooms outside.
Our teachers love moving their classrooms outside (when it isn’t too cold). When the beautiful weather beckons, they teach classes outside that they were originally going to teach inside. Each year, we also plan at least two outdoor learning days, where the entire school moves our activities outside.
We go outside to wonder and be curious.
We encourage students to connect with the environment in a way that inspires them and drives their curiosity. They notice the beauty and the mystery of nature and they inspire the adults around them to notice it as well. It isn’t always about the answers – sometimes we just wonder together.
We go outside to apply our learning in real-world contexts.
When we learn something in the classroom, it is helpful to apply that learning outside. For example, when students were learning how to calculate volume, they went outside to calculate how many cubic yards of woodchips would be needed for the playground.
We go outside to learn about our environment.
Our students spend time outside learning about the environment and studying different elements of the environment.
We go outside to help.
We partner with community organizations to find projects that help our community. We plant trees in Horton Park, host trees to be planted in the neighborhood, spread mulch to protect tree roots, and adopt storm drains to protect our watershed.
We sit in silence outside.
Sitting in silence together, listening for truth, is important at our school. We find moments to be silent, and, in nice weather, we move our meeting for worship* outside.
Learning About the Outside While We Are Inside
Being outside is a really important component of an environmental education program, but it isn’t the only component. Throughout our K-8 program, we spend time in our classrooms learning about the environment and environmental justice.
Environmental Education Committee – Inspiring Our Staff
Our school has an environmental education committee. They encourage faculty and staff to explore new ways to study the environment, spend time outside, motivate students to enjoy the outdoors, and foster stewardship of the environment. This year, they brought in the Jeffers Institute during a professional development day. The Jeffers Institute focuses on helping teachers develop lessons that inspire students to curiously engage with the outside environment in ways that then inspires students to become stewards of the earth.
Embracing the Outdoors
In our mission, we use the word “embrace.” Embrace means to accept willingly or enthusiastically. As a school we embrace the many ways of being outside and we know how important it is for our students to spend time outside moving their bodies, learning, being more grounded, being inspired, and wondering.
At Friends School of Minnesota, our approach to outdoor education is not an afterthought. It is woven into the very fabric of who we are. We will always have a lot to learn from spending time outside and we make sure our students are ready for the lessons and the inspiration.
*Why do you use the word “worship” when you talk about sitting in silence?
