It Not "Just Recess" Anymore!

Teachers often heave a sigh of relief when they take their students out to recess. Finally! The children can burn off the pent up energy they had been accruing for the past few hours indoors. But what if we change our outlook on outdoor play time? What if we create an outdoor environment that offered all of the learning opportunities that one would typically find indoors? What if children could run out to a well-planned play yard to find experiences in math, science, nature, dramatic play, water, building and construction, sensory activities, physical development, art and music? What if they play yard developed critical thinking, discovery, problem solving, and cooperative skills? The result would be that we wouldn't have "just recess" anymore. We would have The Outdoor Classroom!

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Long Time No See!

It is hard to believe that I haven't posted since summer! My excuse? Hmmmm. Well, life I guess! During the summer, my family and I went on vacation for a few weeks and moved into a house. If that wasn't busy enough, I accepted the position as director of the preschool where I work. This was a VERY exciting time, but of course, very hectic. And so, my blog fell behind. It is my hope to get it back up and running. But, now that I am the director, I don't have quite the hands on development of the outdoor curriculum that I did last year. Thankfully, one of our fabulous teachers filled that role and she has taken our Outdoor Classroom to an entirely new level. That said, I now feel compelled to treat everyone as equals, so I will be posting ideas from across the center and from everyone's classrooms. I may even take a few INDOOR photos, LOL.


So, I hope you will come to see me here and there! I am speaking at the ACSI convention in Anaheim, CA next week, so my next post will be resources that I created form my seminar: "En-GROSS-in Sensory and Science Activities for Young Children."







-Kristin

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