Are you a teacher passionate about getting students outdoors?
Do you want to share your experiences and inspire fellow teachers around the world? Then why not embrace outdoor learning and play and the many benefits they bring to children.
Outdoor Classroom Day is a global campaign to celebrate and inspire outdoor learning and play. On Thursday 18 May 2017, thousands of schools around the world will take lessons outside and prioritise playtime. Thousands of teachers across 58 countries have already registered over 340,000 children to take part.
Outdoor Classroom Day
To celebrate the day – and encourage others to give outdoor learning a go – Project Dirt is working with Teacher Toolkit to give one lucky participant the chance to have a blog published on this platform for 100,000s of other teachers to see. All remaining entries will be published in the news section of the Outdoor Classroom website.
All you need to do is:
- Register your class – or whole school – to get involved.
- Enter the prize draw.
- Get outdoors on 18 May!
- Record and share your day by writing a blog post.
To help get you started, here are our top tips for reporting on your Outdoor Classroom Day
1. Use Photos/Video
Sharing images and videos of children getting involved are a brilliant source of inspiration to others. Take photos of children smiling and laughing, concentrating and studying, imagining and wondering. Try and take photos of children playing and learning naturally, rather than staged shots.
2. Prepare Questions
First-hand accounts from children provide a powerful narrative. Prepare some probing questions ahead of the day and talk to children whilst the experiences are still fresh in their minds. Examples include: ‘Describe what you did today, what did you learn?’ ‘What did it feel like to be outside?’ ‘How much fun have you had, from one to 10?’
3. Talk About Impact
There is a wealth of research that shows the power of hands-on learning and the benefits of outdoor play for children. Recording impact will help you make the case for regular time outdoors at your school and help other teachers persuade their heads to give it the green light. You can find some links to useful research and some interesting statistics here.
4. Involve Leaders
A quote from your head teacher/principal, governors and other decision makers will add weight to your account of the day. Outdoor Classroom Day is a grassroots campaign led by teachers, but involving leaders will help grow the movement and create a global change in culture so children play and learn outdoors every day.
5. Include a Call to Action
Your lovely images, quotes from children, examples of impact and a word from your school leader will already have your readers hooked! To make sure they know how take action, be really clear about what you want them to do – sign up to get involved in the next campaign day and get outdoors!
To register for Outdoor Classroom Day, visit outdoorclassroomday.com and enter the competition here today!
Outdoor Classroom Day is led globally by Project Dirt and supported by Unilever’s Dirt is Good brands.
