Greening Our Schools

Image Credits: Ognen Teofilovski / Reuters

What if instead of being stuck inside four walls for hours on end every day, our kids were able to learn in a more natural setting part or all of the time? This September, 2016 article, "Kindergarten, Naturally", in The Atlantic talks about benefits and logistics of learning outdoors. They even go as far as to introduce free-play time in the woods daily. Imagine that. Kids doing what kids do naturally. Really not such a far fetched concept but one that unfortunately we don't explore much here in the U.S.

Yet, the greening of our classrooms is perhaps slowly catching on. More posts on this topic to follow as I am very interested in researching the potential for natural education. Here in the U.S. there are schools trying to introduce this concept as well. There are many examples scattered across the U.S. of schools that have included outdoor learning as part of their curriculum. However, Mother Earth School, in Portland was the first U.S. All Outdoor Kindergarten in the U.S.

There are so many benefits of outdoor classrooms in schools. Dedication, motivation, and support are needed from teachers and parents alike. Hopefully the movement will grow and someday this will become the norm. Until then, let's keep ourselves educated on the topic so we educate others.

You can visit http://classroominnature.weebly.com/ to find out more about the benefits of greening our schools and getting connected to the natural world through our education system.