Extending the Break

Last week something crazy happened in schools all around the country and if you are a teacher, I am sure you already know what I'm talking about. Schools have closed their doors for weeks, months, or even the rest of the year. But what does this mean for teachers, students, and families?

In my school, we have been told that after spring break, which is this week, we will be out for another week. I teach at a private school, but we follow the county that we are in. As of right now, they are taking two weeks, including spring break.

After a week of spring break, we are to make a plan for online work for the students for the remainder of the time we are out. We are figuring out what that looks like. There will be internet programs to use, of course. I have seen a lot of teachers posting freebies for teachers to print out for their students who will be out of school and I am joining the bandwagon.

In my master's degree program, I studied outdoor education, which to some may seem like glorified recess, but that's not it at all. In our culture, so many children do not connect with nature or go outside much at all. Children these days have what some are calling "nature deficit disorder." Many children are even scared of being in nature. My program is something that can help to combat this trend. It teaches students about nature across the curriculum. This is not just something for recess. You can teach science, reading, writing, social studies, and yes, even math using outdoor education strategies. I encourage you to learn more about it. You can even find the book about Nature Deficit Disorder on Amazon.

In light of COVID-19 and being out of school, I would like to offer a free resource for getting your child out into the sunshine, which by the way has been proven to kill bacteria and help reduce the time or even chances of being sick. This resource has two different nature journaling pages. One is designed for early elementary and includes a spot for drawing and prompts for writing about the nature a child sees outside. The other page is taken from one of my nature journaling resources. It is designed for older students to allow them a place for drawing their observations as well as a place for writing about them. I hope you enjoy using this resource. You can find it here.