Reading and Writing in Nature

Remember the blog I shared with all of you a couple weeks ago? The one listing people from our past who appreciated nature and became great leaders in our country? Lets revisit that... Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Therau, Frost, Twain- imagine any of these men. What do you see? At least one image is probably of them sitting under a tree with pen and paper.

Now lets think about kids. What do they love? I don't know about y'all but at school, if they can't get outside sometime within the day, the jitters takes them over! On some days I ask students to write or draw or read in class and for whatever reason, they are too jittery. Now, my classroom is different to start with. In my room we are cattle- we roam. So for students to not be able to sit still is common, and when this type of jitters sets in it's extreme because they are already roaming. If I move them and their jitters outside to complete the task, then it's painlessly done 100%. Kids love sitting outside to work!

So, if it's nice out push them out the door! Throw a book or two and a journal in their hands, and let their minds roam naturally! They need some structure, a tool box of things to do though if we want them to think higher and be in an academic mindset while outside.

Questions- give your child standard questions to generate thinking before, during, and after reading/ writing. Questions could include:

• Who is the story about?
• What is the story about?
• What happens to the character?
• What does the story remind you of?
• What if you changed the end of the story?
• What do you think they were smelling/ tasting/ hearing/ feeling/ seeing?
• When does the story happen? Season/ time of day...
• Where does the story happen?
• Why do you think the author wrote the story?
• How does the character feel in the story?
• Is the story fiction/ non-fiction? How do you know?

How do we read? We read in 3 ways:

1. Read the pictures.
2. Read the words.
3. Retell the story.

While reading the pictures students should be making predictions and thinking about the questions above.

Reading the Words- I have students read at least 2 times before retelling. While reading use post-it notes to mark answers to the questions listed above. 

Retelling Activities- there are plenty out there, but here are a few outdoor friendly activities that are the favorites of my students.

• draw or paint a picture of your favorite part of the story
• rewrite the ending
• acting out the story
• news casts
• creating a song/ poem
• writing using their senses (great for poems and adding description into writing)

For more great ideas about reading and comprehension check out these blogs!

• Kids Activities Blog- 10 ways to help them understand what they read. This blog shows practical and time considerate activities.
• Retelling Beach Ball Activity- This beach ball has questions on it. Students catch it and answer the question that they catch.

When I let me kids read and write while sitting outside, I always get a better product and they seem to learn more during the process. So give it a try!