Tag Archives: alternate environments

Movement Journal – Week 6

I really enjoyed this week’s lesson by Jackie, Lexi, Katy, and Brianna. They had a great lesson and did a wonderful job of not just telling us, but showing us some examples of outdoor environment lessons. Lexi’s station with “mine field” is a great team-building activity that could be done indoors, but moving outside brings a new level of fun and excitement. It’s so important for students to have an opportunity to go outside and be active throughout the day. This encourages both physical and mental health.

I also loved that we learned how to incorporate other curricular areas into alternate environments. Katy’s station with the planes could incorporate science or math, while still allowing children to be outside and active. Jackie’s station was a great way to include art, environmental studies, and physical education within a lesson. We all know that Physical Education classes are important for children…I liked that this week’s lesson focused on the importance of physical activity and being outdoors across all classes. As teachers, we should try to bring classes outdoors as much as we can. I remember as a kid, we were rarely allowed to go outside during class, but I always loved class whenever we did. Moving class to alternative environments is a great way to make students more interested and involved, while also allowing students to include more physical activity in their day.

MOVEMENT JOURNAL WEEK 6

Wow, you guys. Awesome job this week! I feel like the bar is raised for each group teach we have. It was so inspiring to be outside, and be able to use our bodies and brains out in the fresh air. You guided us through such an interactive and fun lesson where we were able to appreciate and make use of our local, natural environment in new and engaging ways. The balloon activities espoused teamwork and strategy, while the blindfold activity promoted trust and communication. Gathering leaves and natural materials to create art showcased the cross-curricular potential of outdoor education. We are extremely fortunate to have UBC as our playground, there are tons of exciting spaces to explore and utilize. The questions that arose for me, had to do with how to make the most of local environments that are perhaps less immediately inspiring. I was glad to have the opportunity to discuss this in class, and appreciated the input everybody had on the topic. Ideas like painting hop-scotch on the concrete outside urban schools, or using sidewalk chalk to create creative learning spaces outside inspired that this is an approach we can implement across the board. I think the key to this approach is to maintain the holistic and inclusive focus that Jackie, Brianna, Katie and Lexi employed on Friday. To me, that is the advantage of alternative environments – to engage different perspectives and experiences that encompass the whole student. As we saw, if structured appropriately with clearly presented expectations and instructions, these lessons can run just as smoothly as traditional indoor PE classes.