A large part of holistic education for me as an educator is to incorporate as much time outdoors for learning and activities. There are so many great activities children can do outside that can correlate to any subject matter. A cool idea I found on Pinterest that you see a picture of is taking the students outside to draw a map of the United States. This activity incorporates holistic education, integrates the arts across the curriculum and ties in subject matter, in this case, geography.
Another great outdoor activity that involves physical activity as well as subject matter is this sight word hopscotch.
1. You can play with letters to help aid recognition
or practice letter sounds
2. Use numbers to aid in number recognition.
3. Use colors to help with color recognition.
4. Play with spelling words. Have child read word,
then look away and practice orally spelling the word.
5. Play with vocabulary words -
child tells you definition of word they land on.
A great outdoor activity for the fall to get the kids outside. The teacher brings in a variety of leaves from nearby trees and students discover what trees the leaves come from.
Seven Arrows Elementary School located in the Pacific Palisades offers outdoor learning activities that cater to students from kindergarten through sixth grade. Here are examples of their outdoor learning curriculums:
Kindergarten: The kindergartners participate in a series of weekly hikes in Temescal Canyon exploring the basics of ecology in a riparian community. Each week students experience and study a different aspect of the flora and fauna of our local Santa Monica Mountains.
First grade: This class participates in field trips along the watershed of La Ballona. The trips begin in the winter to the La Ballona Wetlands, a traditional fly-through zone of migrating birds and concludes during the spring at the environmental non-profit Tree People’s site on the Santa Monica mountains, which is the origin of the La Ballona watershed. The students will experience the vast distance, similarities and changes within one watershed community.
Second grade: Second grade students study the marine ecology through coastline activities. They begin by experiencing the coastal communities through the eyes of coastal Native Americans, the Chumash at the Chumash Cultural Center. Students continue to study marine ecology through the Heal the Bay Institute and culminate their field experience by participating in labs on board a Long Beach Marine Institute vessel.
Third grade: The third grade class will compare and contrast the ecosystems of Temescal Canyon and Bell Canyon. Each canyon has unique characteristics, yet they share the common bond of location within an urban setting. Temescal Canyon will be studied through a day hike, Bell Canyon will be studied with the help of wildlife field biologists while overnight camping at the Audubon’s 4,000 acre Starr Ranch facility.
Fourth grade: Environmental Education returns to the ocean for the fourth grade by participating in an in-depth study of Catalina Island at the USC Wrigley Marine Institute on Catalina Island. There they will conduct marine ecology studies including snorkeling, tide pooling and nighttime pier trawls. They are housed at the dormitories of the Marine institute for 3 days and 2 nights.
Fifth grade: The fifth grade class environmental experience takes place at the Yosemite Institute’s Headlands campus in the San Francisco Bay area. The Institute’s innovative and rigorous program is guided by a core educational framework interconnecting a study of and awareness for the environment, scientific areas of study, personal growth and stewardship. Students experience the rugged coastal headlands, the John Muir woods and cloud-covered hilltops through activities promoting a balance of processing skills—such as observation, questioning, and communication—with science or ecology based content areas. Living in barracks for the week, Seven Arrows students are immersed in the land and the pursuit of environmental stewardship through a rigorous scientific lens.
Sixth grade: The sixth grade Environmental Trip heads north to the home of the Sequoias. For 42 years the Yosemite Institute has provided unparalleled outdoor naturalist experiences to thousands. Through the guidance of field biologists, students will observe and study the forest ecology of either the Yosemite Valley or the Muir Woods and Marin Headlands. This 5 day / 4 night excursion is known for its unique and hands-on approach to forest and headlands ecology.
http://sevenarrows.org/curriculum-overview/outdoor-education/
Outdoor education is a wonderful experience schools should integrate into their curricula. If it were possible I am sure many more schools would be willing to adopt this holistic approach, yet their budget may not be able to support this approach, nor can their academic structured curriculum allow the time needed to dedicate to outdoor education. Schools in urban areas have hardly any outdoor space that isn't lined in pavement, therefore making it difficult to have a garden when there aren't environmental means for producing one. That's why it is important to incorporate as many life-forms, such as plants as I mentioned earlier, into the classroom. Even the most urban schools can incorporate this approach and teach students about gardening and plants even from inside the classroom.
