Take It Outside!
Hello, Parents of 9MFP–
I am excited to be working with the 9Mile Family Partnership, in bringing outdoor learning as an option for middle school students. I wanted to introduce myself and let you know a bit about my thoughts for this new venture.
My passion and my career have focused on increasing awareness, knowledge and connection to the natural world. My work life has included stints as interpretive ranger for both the National Park Service and Washington State Parks, teacher at elementary and middle school levels in AZ, executor of an overnight outdoor school program on the west side of the state, and naturalist and Nature Center director in Wyoming. My roles as hiking guide, teacher workshop facilitator, outdoor preschool leader, and outdoor program consultant have made for a very fulfilling and rewarding career.
My intent for the “Take It Outside!” program with 9MFP middle schoolers is to make science and social studies come alive through experiential outdoor lessons. We will spend our time developing observation skills and formulating questions and learning about the past inhabitants of this place and how they lived on the land. Although science and social studies will be our main focus, I tend to bring in other subjects as well in sometimes rather unconventional ways.
Some things to know:
- ●We will be outside for about 2 hours every Tuesday afternoon. There is an abundance of research that supports the benefits of being and learning in the outdoors, which I will be happy to provide.
- ●We will gather outside for an opening circle, then do various lessons and activities and have a closing circle.
- ●There is an indoor space for storing things and if the weather dictates for safety reasons, but students should be prepared to be outside most of the time.
- ●Appropriate clothing will be the key to student success. Close-toed shoes are a must for safety reasons. We will not be staying on pavement or the groomed playground area. I suggest having a pair of old shoes/boots, jackets, hats, gloves that they keep at the school. I can help with having extras on hand (although they may not be fashionable and “in”) and space to safely keep them.
- ●I will let you know our week’s lesson focus each week in the 9MFP weekly newsletter
- ●If there are announcements or reminders to be sent, I’ll send those through Mrs. Fuller and the Remind app.
- ●I will welcome your questions thoughts and involvement in this new adventure
Sincerely,
Wanda Peters