An Easy Way to Engage With Empty Classroom Day

On the 17th June this year thousands of schools across the world will be taking their pupils outside to engage in some outdoor based learning, play and fun. https://outdoorclassroomday.com It’s part of a growing phenomenon that we are witnessing in education in the UK pinned to an impressive body of research espousing the many benefits of learning outside.

We recently worked with Carrdus School near Banbury who were motivated to bolster their outdoor learning agenda and so set a specific date and allocated tasks among staff members. Their shared, organic and team led approach could also work in your school.

1. Make a commitment to take part or all of your school day outside on June 17th
2. Sign up to empty classroom day on their website https://outdoorclassroomday.com
3. Ask each staff member commit to putting together one activity for your pupils to undertake
4. Carousel all of your classes around each activity 

This formula is easy, shares the burden and is very time friendly during a hectic schedule.

For help and inspiration take a look at some of our previous blog posts on creating an outdoor classroom with zero budget, lesson plans to use outside, key low cost resources and many more tips.

Benefits to you and your staff team:

• Enhancing and building collaboration across the team
• Sharing an exciting goal 
• Providing an amazing and varied experience for your students
• Creating opportunities to witness your pupils in an exciting new context
• Creating a really memorable and positive day

Wherever you are on your outdoor learning journey purchase a copy of our LOC handbook which is jam packed with over 100 exciting outdoor lesson plans across 9 core subject areas.

Using Outdoor Learning to Encourage A Growth Mindset

We are increasingly aware that schools across the UK are embracing the work of Carol Dweck and integrating it into their daily lessons and school culture. This is a massive step in developing the thinking skills and self awareness in our young people that will prepare them for life in the workplace, which is of course riddled with challenges, difficulties and mistakes that they must have the inner wisdom to learn and grow from. Working with young people in the outdoors is filled with opportunities to illustrate the meaning of a growth mindset.

So to recap on the work of Dweck in the context of school learning. Of our two mindsets “growth” or “fixed” what we are aiming for as educators is encouraging our students to have at least the self awareness to recognise where they are at in terms of facing difficulty. Do they say “I can’t do it” and give up easily? Expressing a fixed mindset, this is rooted in a belief that intelligence is a fixed entity and can’t be developed hence discouraging these learners from trying when faced with difficulty. Or do they say “I’ll at least try and give it a go” or "I can't do it, yet" thus embracing a growth mindset harbouring a belief that hard work pays off! Their focus becomes about effort, perseverance and they get a thrill from improvement. Self awareness is the first step in this journey to developing a growth mindset

Mistakes Are Brilliant! 

Outdoor learning particularly lends itself to emphasising the importance of a growth mindset. When outside trying to complete any task we often go through a process of trial and error. For example, when constructing and operating giant weights and levers in an outdoor science lesson, difficulty rarely leads to a pupil stating “I’m no good at doing science outside!” Rather they haven’t done it correctly yet! With a little trial and error they will get there. It’s the same whether you are lighting a fire, building a shelter or creating a piece of artwork, the skills come with practice and effort rather then being innate or about 'natural talent'.

Try taking your lesson outside and illustrate the benefits of a growth mindset in this setting whilst drawing parallels to inside the classroom with for example maths, language or reading skills. Effort is the key to success. For lesson plans in how to use the outdoors for co-curricular teaching, take a look at our LOC handbook.

Dwecks’ studies conclude that world class professionals always apply more effort in their area of specialism than their peers, hence their elevated status. Even Einstein and Mozart were reputed to put more time into their subjects than their contemporaries. What's more, according to Hymer and Gershon, genome papers and other scientists have failed to locate any gifted gene or the existence of a fully talented zygote. This is inspiring for our pupils to grasp, success is proven to come with effort and not born talent.

Try asking this question to your young people:

When have you stuck to a challenging task that resulted in achieving something you valued?

Answers might include: learning to walk! Riding a bike or swimming, learning times tables, juggling, getting a job, a high test score etc.

Trial and error is always a key factor in their examples and you can do the same in your lessons, here are some activities you can use to give experiences of failure and success:

• Set a problem and give them free reign to try out different solutions
• Pupils work in groups on a problem. One records the trials and errors which come about.
• Encourage all pupils to include trial and error in their written work. 
• Model trial and error in front of the whole class, talking through as you go e.g. “this mistake has been helpful to me because…”

If you’d like a complete set of over fifty tasks and activities including lesson plans to enable this sort of development at your school then take a look here.

“I’ve missed over 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted with taking the game winning shot…and missed. I’ve failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." 

- Michael Jordan

Is Your Outdoor Learning ‘Blood Stream’ or ‘Bolt On’? 7 key indicators

We visit and work with many schools installing facilities and providing resources and staff development for outdoor learning. One of the things we try to establish is the degree to which their outdoor learning is embedded and culturally normal within the teaching and wider curriculum within the school. We ask the questions and try to establish if outdoor learning is ‘bloodstream’ or ‘bolt-on’. We offer 7 points below which might indicate where your own school might be on this spectrum.

School Outdoor Learning provide resources, training and creative learning installations to inspire teachers to take their learning outside the classroom, click here to learn more.

Does it take place regularly (even daily), in all weathers across all 3 terms, both on the school site and beyond? 

Or…. 

Is it an occasional, purely fair weather activity predominantly taking place during the summer term!

Is it genuinely co-curricular and mapped across all areas of teaching and learning at your school?

Or….

Is it extra-curricular and seen as an ‘outlier’ or separate part of your teaching and learning?

Is it the responsibility of all staff at your school and coordinated by a small core team that spans different age groups and teaching disciplines?   

Or…. 

Is it mostly practised by and the responsibility of one or two enthusiastic teachers that the school relies on?

Is it common practice and spoken about at staff meetings? Would it be a key observable part of your teaching and learning during an inspection?

Or….

 Is it quite a rare event and seen as out of the ordinary, to the point where it becomes a talking point in and out of the school when it happens?

Does it feature on your school website and social media channels? Is it spoken about during open days and parents’ evenings? Is it a key part of your offer to prospective parents and children?

Or….

Is it used more as a PR piece, mainly to ‘show off’ the school grounds? Is the communication of core messages led by staff or purely the Head/SMT

Is time built into the school timetable to allow for the planning, preparation, teaching and evaluation of your outdoor learning? Are teaching staff encouraged to take their teaching outside the classroom, supported and praised when they do?

Or….

Is outdoor learning practice only a one off event (termly of half-termly) that is heavily planned for, themed and scheduled to ‘force’ participation across the whole school or a particular year group? The rest of the time is it left ad hoc and entirely at the discretion of individual teachers?

Does co-curricular outdoor learning take place for children of all ages at your school?

Or….

Is it purely taught at younger years through Forest School or equivalent and then abandoned due to the pressures of delivering an academic curriculum.

Please comment and let us know where you as an individual or your school are at on the journey of learning outside the classroom.

School Outdoor Learning provide resources, training and creative learning installations to inspire teachers to take their learning outside the classroom, click here to learn more.

Applying the ‘KISS principle’ to Outdoor Teaching and Learning

Many schools we visit and work with are very serious about taking their teaching and learning outside of the classroom and we see some fantastic practice and highly creative methods. Often, however there is a misconception that we require specialist and costly resources, facilities and apparatus in order to be effective. During our staff training we bring along a range of simple, low cost resources that can be easily acquired by schools to make this a reality. We offer an idea below that help provide a huge range of learning activities.

School Outdoor Learning provide resources, training and creative learning installations to inspire teachers to take their learning outside the classroom, click here to learn more.

  Chalk This Way!

 Yes, chalk! Big, chunky outdoor playground chalk in different colours. All that’s then needed is a hard surface such as playgrounds, paths, car parks (without cars in obviously), the walls of buildings. Obviously you can also place blackboards on walls and fences or simply apply a couple of coats of blackboard paint to an existing surface. This opens up a world of opportunities for simple resources that lead to powerful learning.

 Collecting, counting and more complex data analysis of items collected from the outdoor environment. The simple drawing of tables and boxes for categorising. Charts and graphs for more complex data recording and analysis can also be very easily created. The range of options can event extend to models, symbols and graphic representation of the solar system, the human circulatory system. We have also seen schools using chalk representations of the periodic table for students to fill in over a period of time and creative teachers posting maths problems in chalk for students to take on during breaks and lunch periods.

So although thermoplastic playground markings and elegant blackboards are a nice to have in our outdoor areas they are not always necessary when so much powerful teaching and learning can take place with much simpler approach.

Do remember, take photos, write up your approach and share great ideas and methodology with colleagues.

Applying the ‘KISS principle’ to Outdoor Teaching and Learning

We follow on from our previous theme about keeping it simple in our approaches to teaching and learning in the outdoors. Many schools we visit and work with are very serious about taking their teaching and learning outside of the classroom and we see some fantastic practice and highly creative methods. Often, however there is a misconception that we require specialist and costly resources, facilities and apparatus in order to be effective. During our staff training we bring along a range of simple, low cost resources that can be easily acquired by schools to make this a reality. We offer an idea below that help provide a huge range of learning activities.

 Tarpaulin Teaching 

We strongly advocate the use of the humble tarpaulin. They can be bought in all different sizes for just a few pounds from DIY or hardware stores (and even cheaper on-line). All that is then needed is a permanent marker pen and some long straight edges with which to create a grid or x and y graph axis. Then, finally, some metal pegs to hold them down and you have a hugely versatile resource for outdoor, large scale, collaborative teaching and learning. 6 x 6, 8 x 8, 10 x 10 patterns (and more) are all useful according to the activity and age group you are working with. 

Just a few of the activities that can then be undertaken are as follows:

• Bar charts, pictographs and other large scale data analysis activities
• Crosswords, giant scrabble and other spelling activities
• Co-ordinates and direction finding (in English or an MFL)
• Mazes and other problem solving activities

I’m sure you can think of many more. Do remember, take photos, write up your approach and share great ideas and methodology with us and your colleagues.   

Legacy Leavers

As we approach the last term of the academic year and your top year students ready themselves to leave the school to move on to the next exciting ‘instalment’ of their school careers. Try this exercise to help them creatively collect and capture their memories, thoughts emotions about their time at the school and the transition they about to embark on.

These lesson plans and activities are taken from our LOC Handbook. Please see our web page for more details www.schooloutdoorlearning.com/loc-handbook  

  

Activity Title: Legacy Leavers

Subject: Computing (with links to English and Literacy)

Age Group: KS 2/3

Overview of the Activity

For each pupil to produce a short film about their time at the school, their favourite memories and their feelings about leaving and the new school they are moving to. 

Main Activity

The purpose of this activity is for all of your top year pupils to spend time producing a short ‘legacy film’ before leaving. First get students to spend time thinking about and writing down ideas about some or all of the following:

• What the school has meant to them.
• Their feelings and memories of first arriving.
• Favourite memories.
• Greatest achievements whilst at the school.
• Teachers/staff who have had the greatest influence.
• Their feelings about leaving the school.
• What they most/least look forward to at their new school.

They should write down and capture these thoughts and ideas in the form a short story or script that they can then tell to camera. The film should be short; no more than 1 -2 minutes. 

They can then go into the filming part of the activity. Working in pairs or threes (one to be filmed and the other(s) to do the filming). Encourage them to travel to different parts of the school where anecdotes will have most relevance/meaning.

Once the footage has been shot they can then spend time editing the film and cutting out the extraneous elements. With simple software they can also add music, credits, additional photos, etc.

Finally prepare for playback to their peers and others.

There are a variety of simple software devices and Apps that allow for video capture, editing and playback together with really creative means of being able to add features such as opening and closing credits, music, special effects etc. Examples are outlined above. Discourage overuse as it should be more about them and the story.

Equipment Required

Simple camera equipment (smart phones and tablets can be best). Film making and editing software such as imovie, Filmic Pro and Voddio. Access to tablets, laptops or PCs for playback. The editing can be done directly from the tablet or hand held device. External, handheld microphones can be a useful addition to your equipment and will create much better sound quality when outside. 

Learning Objectives

• To sequence a short story through recounting and writing (initially) in appropriate detail.
• To practice putting ideas into words and to use clear structure to organise writing.  
• To clearly articulate (after practice) and record a short story to film.
• To practice and develop skills in film making and editing using a variety of hardware and software.
• To work collaboratively in small groups

Set Up

This activity will need to be done over a series of lessons/sessions involving the creation of each student’s story, the production of the initial film footage followed by the editing and completion. Encourage a positive and celebratory tone to the films and the stories to be told.

Plenary

There can be many conversations and discussions about the technical/creative elements of the activity as well as the emotional/feelings aspects of the process. Both are worthy of investigation through careful questions. Be cautious about the emotional aspects of this process and how pupils might be feeling about the future changes they are about to experience and the impact that it might have on them. Focus on the celebratory elements of the stories and the task achievements wherever possible.

Extension Activities

Pupils could include a part of their film that requires them to interview other people (staff and/or other pupils) about them and what they have appreciated about their contribution to school life.

Once completed the pupils can sit for a grand viewing of each other’s films. Consider having a competition to select the best and upload some (or all) to the school website.

You could spend time producing a collective film of the whole year group with different shorter parts of their individual films to be put onto it along with other connecting parts.

All pupils should leave with a copy of the films on a CD or memory stick as a memory of their time at the school. The best films can also be posted on your school’s website which can be a great promotional tool.

These lesson plans and activities are taken from our LOC Handbook. Please see our web page for more details www.schooloutdoorlearning.com/loc-handbook  

  

Habits of Mind and Outdoor Learning

Do your students give up easily? Do your students interrupt you and each other? Do your students blurt out answers before thinking?

The 16 ‘Habits of Mind’ from Art Costa represent, in our view, an excellent framework for a range of attitudes, behaviours and practices that can be extremely useful for teachers and students to adopt. According to the framework the three questions above would suggest the students need to learn to persist, to listen with understanding and empathy and to manage their impulsivity.

In addition, Character Education, Building Learning Power, Growth Mindset, and ‘I can’ strategies for teaching enable students to learn and apply techniques for resilience and tenacity, dealing with failure and setbacks as well as how to manage their impulsivity.

Although they can apply to all areas of teaching we also feel that they can be brought alive very successfully through outdoor, experiential and collaborative learning activities in schools. You might explore any of the “Habits of Mind” during a particular lesson using any of our outdoor lesson plans.

Fundamentally one might say that the real lessons here are about learning how to learn and taking responsibility for learning. We offer a summary of the 16 Habits of Mind below and urge teachers to take a look (or a fresh look) at how these skills and approaches could be incorporated into teaching and learning at your school. We also provide a couple of URLs for you to read about and discover more about how to use them.

http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/108008/chapters/Describing-the-Habits-of-Mind.aspx 

http://www.habitsofmindinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Getting_Started_witih_HOMfinal.pdf 

http://www.habitsofmind.co.uk/teaching-habits.html 

HABITS OF MIND

(Arthur L. Costa and Bena Kallick)

The Habits of Mind are an identified set of 16 problem solving, life related skills, necessary to effectively operate in society and promote strategic reasoning, insightfulness, perseverance, creativity and craftsmanship. The understanding and application of these 16 Habits of Mind serve to provide the individual with skills to work through real life situations that equip that person to respond using awareness (cues), thought, and intentional strategy in order to gain a positive outcome.

1. Persisting: Sticking to task at hand; Follow through to completion; Can and do remain focused.
2. Managing Impulsivity: Take time to consider options; Think before speaking or acting; Remain calm when stressed or challenged; Thoughtful and considerate of others; Proceed carefully.
3. Listening with Understanding and Empathy: Pay attention to and do not dismiss another person's thoughts, feeling and ideas; Seek to put myself in the other person's shoes; Tell others when I can relate to what they are expressing; Hold thoughts at a distance in order to respect another person's point of view and feelings.
4. Thinking Flexibly: Able to change perspective; Consider the input of others; Generate alternatives; Weigh options.
5. Thinking about Thinking (Metacognition): Being aware of own thoughts, feelings, intentions and actions; Knowing what I do and say affects others; Willing to consider the impact of choices on myself and others.
6. Striving for Accuracy: Check for errors; Measure at least twice; Nurture a desire for exactness, fidelity & craftsmanship.
7. Questioning and Posing Problems: Ask myself, “How do I know?”; develop a questioning attitude; Consider what information is needed, choose strategies to get that information; Consider the obstacles needed to resolve.
8. Applying Past Knowledge to New Situations: Use what is learned; Consider prior knowledge and experience; Apply knowledge beyond the situation in which it was learned.
9. Thinking and Communicating with Clarity and Precision: Strive to be clear when speaking and writing; Strive be accurate to when speaking and writing; Avoid generalisations  distortions, minimisations and deletions when speaking, and writing.
10. Gathering Data through All Senses: Stop to observe what I see; Listen to what I hear; Take note of what I smell; Taste what I am eating; Feel what I am touching.
11. Creating, Imagining, innovating: Think about how something might be done differently from the “norm”; Propose new ideas; Strive for originality; Consider novel suggestions others might make.
12. Responding with Wonderment and Awe: Intrigued by the world's beauty, nature's power and vastness for the universe; Have regard for what is awe-inspiring and can touch my heart; Open to the little and big surprises in life I see others and myself.
13. Taking Responsible Risks: Willing to try something new and different; Consider doing things that are safe and sane even though new to me; Face fear of making mistakes or of coming up short and don’t let this stop me.
14. Finding Humour: Willing to laugh appropriately; Look for the whimsical, absurd, ironic and unexpected in life; Laugh at myself when I can.
15. Thinking Interdependently: Willing to work with others and welcome their input and perspective; Abide by decisions the work group makes even if I disagree somewhat; Willing to learn from others in reciprocal situations.
16. Remaining Open to Continuous Learning: Open to new experiences to learn from; Proud and humble enough to admit when don't know; Welcome new information on all subjects.

Building Lessons Around the 16 Habits

Choose one or more of the Habits that you think will be most appropriate for your students and for the situation you are offering.

• You might want to pre-teach related vocabulary or have a short conversation about how the Habits help children succeed at what they are doing and how they get along with their friends.

• Build vocabulary related to the Habit of Mind (E.g. Striving for Accuracy = check it again, specific, correct, craftsman-like, proof, flawless, quality, refined, etc.)

• Have the students talk about what it would look like and sound like if they were using the Habit and in what situations might it be important to use that Habit of Mind.

• Invite them to draw or paint pictures of the Habits of Mind in action. Post the pictures around the classroom and the school.

• Have students practice the skills within each of the Habits. Practice good listening skills. For example, talk with students about what to do when you get stuck and need to persist. Discuss what it would sound like if you were thinking flexibly. Remind students about the ways that the animated characters behave when they are using the Habit.

• Offer activities such as group work, sharing, games, or projects outside the classroom and observe students using the Habits.

• Talk with the students recognising some of the positive examples.

Build in the Habits over a period of time (perhaps one per week or fortnightly) and, of course, you can be selective in prioritizing those that you feel are most important and will generate the best outcomes for you.

As always please comment and leave us your thoughts, feedback and experiences.

School Outdoor Learning provide resources, training and creative learning installations to inspire teachers to take their learning outside the classroom, click here to learn more.

Treasure Hunt 365

Geocaching has become a hugely popular activity for families and individuals over the last few years. Many schools actively take part in this fun, challenging and collaborative activity. Lots of co and cross curricula-learning can be generated for students of all ages. Here we espouse the idea of schools developing their own activities within their own school grounds.

These lesson plans and activities are taken from our LOC Handbook. Please see our web page for more details www.schooloutdoorlearning.com/loc-handbook  

Activity Title: ‘Caching In’

Subject: Computing (with links to Design and Technology)

Age Group: KS 2

Overview of the Activity

This activity is derived from the world-wide popular phenomenon of ‘Geocaching’. Geocaching is an outdoor treasure hunting game where hidden containers (caches) have to be searched for and found using a variety of different navigation processes such as maps and GPS devices. These notes will enable you to create different versions of Geocaching in your school grounds.

Main Activity

The format, duration and degree of complexity of the activity can be varied enormously but here are a few options.

Getting to Know the School – It’s an interesting and fun way for students (particularly new arrivals) to get to know their school and grounds. You can include information on certain teachers and teaching areas, historically interesting and quirky facts or even what to do in the event of an accident or fire. This could build to a full historical tour.

GPS vs Orienteering – Have some pupils look for the cache using traditional orienteering methods via grid references of marked points on a map of the school site. Whilst others can do the same using way point co-ordinates put into a GPS device if you have one (if not you can use an ‘app version’ on 

ipads/phones or other mobile devices). 

Create a Quiz – Using several caches at different locations have pupils complete the answer to a puzzle, conundrum or tricky question before they move on to the next. The answer could give them a number which could be the co-ordinates or grid reference of the next cache. 

Build a Story – Create a route whereby they must add to and build a story, line by line with each group adding to what has been written previously.

Understanding Nature – Site caches at places where pupils must look, read about and bring back samples from nearby flora, fauna and/or information on habitats and ecosystems.

Think about imaginary items to put in the cache containers as well as places to hide them.

Equipment Required

Maps of your school site, watertight containers, GPS devices or GPS apps (optional), information cards and other items to go into the containers.

Learning Objectives

• To orientate pupils to the school site, main features, go and no-go areas.
• To develop navigation, direction and mapwork skills.
• To develop ICT skills in graphics and design.
• To explore problem solving skills in small teams.

Set Up

Time will need to be spent sourcing good quality containers and it will require you to set up routes, markers and cache sites in advance. However this is something that the students can do themselves, perhaps one class or year group on behalf of another. You will probably need to spend time developing navigation and map reading skills.

Plenary

Ask what were the real success factors for this exercise? Which clues or cache locations were most challenging?

Compare answers to clues and the items brought back.

Extension Activities

Create versions of the activity that you can take to different locations such as nearby parks and forests.

Create a version for students and parents to do together on open days. 

As allows please leave your comments, experiences  and feedback. Happy Easter!

These lesson plans and activities are taken from our LOC Handbook. Please see our web page for more details www.schooloutdoorlearning.com/loc-handbook