Post by Tawnya Finney
“The
woods were my Ritalin. Nature calmed me, focused me, and yet excited my
senses.” ~Richard Louv
“Mrs.
Finney, are we going outside today?”
This is typically the question that is asked by my Appalachian Trail Club
students as they walk into my room on club days. Most days the answer is yes. Many times, I have a learning activity in
place, be it LNT activities, collaboration with Ms. Hade’s high school
students, or engaging the five senses.
Students learn some new piece of information about nature and hopefully
apply it and make it meaningful to their life.
There
are some days, though, it is great to have the students enjoying and connecting
to nature without the confines of a “formal lesson”. They enjoy getting out, breathing fresh air,
and running. The American Academy of Pediatrics states that “Sixty minutes
of daily unstructured free play is essential to children’s physical and mental
health.” While
the club is only 45 minutes, I feel like there’s been an element of good health
added to my students’ lives on those days.
I have found that my students want to be outside,
despite the weather. If it’s a beautiful,
sunny day, we can certainly say that it was enjoyable. However, it can be cold and dreary, and
students are still enjoying themselves outside.
Students also want to be “doing.”
Another question that usually follows the inquiry of outside, is the question
of “What are we doing today?” They find
enjoyment in looking for different leaves and identifying them. They get excited about looking for different
colors and shapes in nature. They get
really inquisitive if we find a different bug (like the wheelbug).
There have been occasions where I’ve had a meeting in my
classroom after we’ve been outside for clubs.
My co-workers often state that it smells “gamey” in my room on those
days. My reply is that it smells of kids
enjoying the outdoors and nature.
I
spent most of my free time as a child outside.
I loved the outdoors, even if it was reading a book in a lawn
chair. My love for the outdoors guided
many decisions growing up…who I married, hobbies, volunteer time. If we are to encourage a new generation to
volunteer in their communities and to care for their environment, we must get
them outside and get them active! A
study by Nancy M. Wells and Kristi S. Lekies (2006) found “The most direct route to caring for
the environment as an adult is participating in ‘wild nature activities’ before
the age of 11.” While most of my Appalachian Trail Club
students are over the age of 11, I’ve found that there is still a vivid
interest in the outdoors and “wild nature activities.” For their health and for the health of the
environment, let’s do everything that we can to get kids out and get kids wild
about nature!
