Think of the books that children enjoy, from Oxford Reading Tree to the novels further up the school. Often, they are largely set in the outdoors. This course explores how we can use the outdoors to teach reading, writing, talking and listening. It doesn’t matter if your playground is a small tarmac area within the inner city or a huge green space in the countryside, there will always be ways it can be used to aid literacy.
Talking and Listening – we will explore some of the different ways the outdoors can aid children in developing their talking and listening skills.
Reading – we will explore how books can be linked to the outdoors and link a range of class books to activities which are easy for a teacher to deliver to a full class.
Writing – from poetry to creative stories, letters to instructions, the outdoors provides a wealth of stimuli for writing.
Staff should leave the session knowing:
- A range of approaches they can take to help manage the teaching outside
- A range of activities which they can easily implement when back at school
- Theories of outdoor learning
- How to make the most of their playground to help the children make real progress in learning
Duration: 1 day or 2 twilight sessions
Please be aware a large part of this training is delivered outside, regardless of weather conditions. Participants should dress appropriately.