Not a Stick! Explorations with sticks in nature

One of the most abundant natural resources on our school grounds is the ever versatile stick.

Oh the shapes!  Oh the sizes!  Oh the possibilities.  I find that children have varied experiences with sticks.  Some have been taught that sticks are dangerous and should not be handled, others go straight to sword fighting.  Using sticks as a source of imaginative exploration and using sticks as tools are important parts of being a nature kid.  However, being responsible for kids that have different levels of spacial awareness does require teaching and a class meeting about safety.  I like to start with Not A Stick by Antoinette Portis.  This give the kids a bunch of ideas about what a stick could be.

Next we talk about and practice how to look around us and make sure there is no one in the "zone of possible accidents" that could be hurt if we swing the stick.  As the teacher, you will need to decide if stick sword fighting is allowed and how you feel about sticks being used as pretend guns.  I have seen sticks used in wonderfully creative ways like: fort building, walking sticks, fishing poles, magic wands, wizards staffs, skis and so much more.  Using sticks also helps students notice details.  Stick explorations led one child to discover different types of bark on the ground and explore the sounds the barks make when shaken.

Sticks can even be used to create letters and kid can be challenged to make their name with sticks.  Sticks are free, compostable and abundant.  They make excellent learning materials.  What's brown and sticky?  A stick!
 

Story Strolls and Heavy Work

 This post is meant to be about story strolls or book pages that  follow a path through our "Northwoods" learning forest.  First, however, can I address the kids in this photo and how proud they are to be able to work as a team and carry that big, heavy branch up and down the trail (and, for some reason, chanting "We are going to be famous!")? It must feel so good to their bodies to carry something heavy.  Angela Hanscom writes about the physical benefits of nature play in her book Balanced and Barefoot.  I can personally recommend this book.  It is eye opening and fully supports getting kids outside.

Now back to story strolls (pictured in the left hand corner and middle left side).  The one show is much more sophisticated than my personal connection, which consists of books, taken apart and put in clear baggies, or plastic sleeves or laminated (before I gave up laminating after learning about the environmental devastation of plastic.  Confessions of a former laminator junkie could be its own post). I put a loop of yarn through each page and hang them from trees to form a simple story stroll. 

The strolls in this picture are actually on loan from out public library system.  I highly recommend reaching out to your library and finding out if these exist in your area.  The book pages are laminated and attached with Velcro to a foam core "campaign" style yard sign.  The signs are attached to a metal stand and can be easily moved around to create a customized path/stroll.  These are a great way to get kids reading outside.  We invite the entire school to enjoy these.  It warms my heart to see the older kids engaged in reading these engaging picture books outside.  I am able to change out our story strolls twice a month.

It has been a while. Tea?

 Where have I been?  My last post was December 2016.  May of 2017 I found out that my position had been cut and I was moved to first grade in a different school in my district.  I both, needed the change and became buried in the task of learning a new grade level, a new team, a new school and a dizzying array of new web formats.   I forgot about my blog and, if I'm honest, I didn't feel like I had anything worth sharing anyway.  I was able to complete an accelerated master's program (Curriculum and Instruction with a concentration in Environmental Education).   Then COVID threw us all on a giant rollercoaster ride.  By the end of each screen filled day, my eyes were so tired and my body sore from sitting that any extra computer time was painful to consider.  Now I am at a crossroads again.  Like many school districts, mine is facing major funding cuts.  I don't know what I will be teaching next year, maybe first grade, maybe Kindergarten, possibly a combination of 1st and 2nd grade.  I do know this, I am weary of trying to "get through" the curriculum and failing.  I know that kids will focus and spend far more time and energy learning about a subject of their choosing, rather than following my/the districts/the curriculum's agenda.  I have seen the power of taking kids outside and letting them explore, question and discover.  I also teach in a community next door to Minneapolis Minnesota.  The issues of racism are very real and I am trying to be antiracist and learning how to have authentic discussions with my students about embracing our differences and caring about each other.  So begins another journey.  This spring I am stepping into the unknown and planning an outdoor immersion, inquiry unit.  I hope I can learn enough to teach this way going forward.  Thank you to Mrs. Meyers at Inquiring Minds .  You reminded me that I have a blog and blogs are a great way to share what we do.  Thank you for introducing me to inquiry with young children.  Thank you for reading this!  Please share with me how you are and what you find that sparks joy in teaching for you!