PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Growing Up WILD: Exploring Nature with Young Children,
Ages 3-7
Workshop Fall 2014 and Spring 2015
Preschool teachers, KB and SL, attended the October workshop at the offices of the Department of Natural Resources in Annapolis. In March the educators from DNR will some to St. Martin’s, and that workshop will be attended by all other preschool teachers: AB, LC, KD, CL, LS, CW, KW, by Kindergarten teachers, DP and HB, and by the 1st and 2nd grade teachers, KW and ES. That is a total of 13 teachers from a faculty of about 20 to 25 teachers.
“We had so much fun,” said SL. The workshop directs teachers through the curriculum and activities that the young students will experience. The purpose of Growing Up WILD is to educate young people in awareness, appreciation, and wise use of Maryland’s natural resources. It is presented by the DNR and the Council of Environmental Education.
Workshop attendees were provided with resources, fact sheets, observation recording sheets, life cycle displays, and a spiral-bound resource book filled with lesson plans and ideas. The emphasis is on outdoor learning, backed up by indoor activities. At the workshop, teachers moved between indoors and outdoors. It was very active and involved lots of movement. DNR has kits; large bins that contain items and artifacts that children can touch and play with.
Four plans appealed to the Preschool 3s teachers in particular: Lunch for a Bear; Looking at Leaves; Spider Web Wonders; and Who Lives in a Tree?
Spider Web Wonders, which preschools 3s are planning for Fall 2015, is typical of the lesson plans. Outdoor activities, art projects, music and movement, mighty math, helping hands (creating a spider refuge), and healthy habits are all integrated into the unit.
Because of this professional development throughout the preschool, we anticipate an academic-year-long implementation of this curriculum in 2015-16, with growth into Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades. The curriculum would be mapped so that as students progress through the grades they would have new experiences.
Growing Up WILD: Exploring Nature with Young Children,
Ages 3-7
Workshop Fall 2014 and Spring 2015
Preschool teachers, KB and SL, attended the October workshop at the offices of the Department of Natural Resources in Annapolis. In March the educators from DNR will some to St. Martin’s, and that workshop will be attended by all other preschool teachers: AB, LC, KD, CL, LS, CW, KW, by Kindergarten teachers, DP and HB, and by the 1st and 2nd grade teachers, KW and ES. That is a total of 13 teachers from a faculty of about 20 to 25 teachers.
“We had so much fun,” said SL. The workshop directs teachers through the curriculum and activities that the young students will experience. The purpose of Growing Up WILD is to educate young people in awareness, appreciation, and wise use of Maryland’s natural resources. It is presented by the DNR and the Council of Environmental Education.
Workshop attendees were provided with resources, fact sheets, observation recording sheets, life cycle displays, and a spiral-bound resource book filled with lesson plans and ideas. The emphasis is on outdoor learning, backed up by indoor activities. At the workshop, teachers moved between indoors and outdoors. It was very active and involved lots of movement. DNR has kits; large bins that contain items and artifacts that children can touch and play with.
Four plans appealed to the Preschool 3s teachers in particular: Lunch for a Bear; Looking at Leaves; Spider Web Wonders; and Who Lives in a Tree?
Spider Web Wonders, which preschools 3s are planning for Fall 2015, is typical of the lesson plans. Outdoor activities, art projects, music and movement, mighty math, helping hands (creating a spider refuge), and healthy habits are all integrated into the unit.
Because of this professional development throughout the preschool, we anticipate an academic-year-long implementation of this curriculum in 2015-16, with growth into Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades. The curriculum would be mapped so that as students progress through the grades they would have new experiences.