Forest School/Reggio Emilia

The Reggio Emilia approach is an emergent curriculum because it is developed and shaped by the interests of the child, through negotiations between the child, parents and teachers. This is done in a Reggio classroom by in large and small group projects in which the children engage. The projects involve planning, hands-on activities, research, and representation through a variety of visual media. The observant teacher collects documentation which is a vital component of the Reggio philosophy in the form of written anecdotes, samples of children's work, photographs and videos. This information is used to reflect on the

“The developed world deprives children of a basic and inalienable right: unstructured outdoor play. Children today have substantially less access to nature, less free range, and less time for independent play than previous generations had.” This quote is from the research based paper titled, “Where the Wild Things Should Be: Healing Nature Deficit Disorder through the Schoolyard." This article touches many aspects of how children now a days need more exposure to nature like it was on the older days. Currently, there are many playgrounds around the United States and even more the world. This article is trying to bring awareness to the problem of if playgrounds do not have enough nature or is too safe then it is

In his 2008 novel, Last Child in the Woods, journalist and natural idealist Richard Louv demonstrates the effect that separation from nature has on children. Using a variety of rhetorical strategies, Louv reminds the different parents, as agree cohort which adapted alongside new technology, of the benefits they received from nature prior to the technological revolution. Louv persuades them to instill an appreciation of the natural world in their children, even if such appreciation deviates from societal norms.

Why is it important for a child to play? In one article, it is stated that free, unstructured play is important for a child’s brain development (Anonymous, 2016). It allows for the child to not only

The two boys showed they were confidant and knowledgeable about gardening, for example they knew how to use a rake to mulch the garden and how to care for the plants (Elliott, 2014). As a future educator this example can be facilitated into a lesson by developing children’s knowledge on the environment, weather, and season pattern changes that cause the leaves to die and fall off trees (ACARA, 2015). Additionally, children also learn about composting and how these leaves provide essential nutrients to the soil for plants to grow and provide shelter and cover for animals and living things (ACARA, 2015). Children can also develop their science inquiry skills by questioning and predicting various trees and leaves and identify and analyse similarities and differences in the leaves by also using their senses to explore. Most importantly, by engaging children in the process of gardening, they begin to show respect for the environment and understand the importance of maintaining

* To be involved in the setting up and clearing away at the start and end of each session, bearing in mind activities are appropriate for child’s stage of development.

I would recommend this book to all those who are fond of nature. More likely those who take passion in the environment and helping preserve and conserve; I think this would be perfect for an environmental class. Since trees are a major part of our ecosystem it would make sense for them to read this book, and creates a personal relationship with nature. This book could be for all ages, but it’s directly focused on teenagers and up, because they tend to take

On the day of the training session, I tried to use that opportunity to glean as much information as possible from the park naturalists. I learned that some teachers do not take into consideration how much planning and preparation it takes to go on a field trip and what to do when they get there. Teachers have the responsibility to reach out to the location they want to bring their students and figure out necessities such as lunches and where to put them, locations of bathrooms, and how to use their time. Teachers should attempt to be as organized as possible because then students will have more time to maximize learning opportunities. The naturalists explained practices they have seen good teachers use such as brightly colored name tags or t-shirts to identify children, placing students into groups before getting to the park, and simply setting clear expectations for student behavior. Teachers should make students aware ahead of time that classroom rules still apply outdoors.

Finding ways to keep students interested in schoolwork and increasing their cognitive abilities has been a constant struggle for teachers. It is common knowledge that when a child’s interest wanes, it becomes harder for them to learn and retain knowledge on the subject. One tool that can be used to combat this issue would be the use of an outdoor classroom or learning outdoors. During the late 60’s and 70’s outdoor education was highly recommended in curriculum guidelines to enrich educational experiences, but later declined in the 80’s (Eaton, 1998). Today, outdoor education only plays a small role in children’s education experiences, despite the benefits it could provide. Teachers should take advantage of outdoor education to increase children’s cognitive skills, provide physical and emotional benefits, and decrease the bio phobia many children seemed to have developed.

There are a whole lot of programs or curriculums out there that try to talk about the environmental and academic needs of children. In this paper, I will try my best to discuss the five components of the

This document is designed for a Childcare and Education Student to explain how Oak Tree Nursery Class provides a positive environment for its children.

2012). The environment and classroom space are separated into ten center areas that help enhance hands on activities with learning materials and manipulatives. These centers include: blocks, dramatic play, toys and games, art, sand and water tables, library (reading center), discovery (science), music and movement, cooking, and outdoor activities. Activity areas are designed to support the specific learning objectives. Similar to Reggio Emilia’s approach teachers assess the students learning and base curriculum off their interests and pace. The creative curriculum approach measures incremental progress to communicate the child’s growth through benchmarks through the learning objectives.

Grigg and Lewis (2016, p. 19) define learning outside the classroom as “children learning about people, their heritage and the natural environment, largely through play and first-hand experiences, in a wide range of contexts beyond the classroom.” Learning outside the classroom enables teachers to bring the curricula alive by integrating the school grounds and the local landscape into their teaching (Beames et al., 2012). It is important that children are given more opportunities to explore the natural world as there is no doubt that there are many benefits to outdoor learning. Furthermore, according to the Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto:

I am appealing to you as a conservationist. I believe that the natural resources of the forest can be of great help to us. As we experience this oil and gas crisis in the US, we are forced to import oil from foreign countries. Thus causing the cost of

Students, parents, guardians, individuals and agencies invest in educationon the understanding that it brings enlightenment and helps theindividuals to develop profitable skills needed for development. On thisnote, the Nigerian national policy on education had aimed to inculcatenational consciousness and the right type of values and attitudes for thesurvival of the individual and the Nigerian society as a whole; to train themind to understand its environment and the world around; and toencourage the acquisition of appropriate skills, abilities and competencies needed to live in and contribute to development (Okeke, 1981; 2001). Theforestry profession has enormous potential for satisfying theaforementioned needs and the craze for non-forestry jobs is unjustified inlight of Nigerian problems and priorities.Akande and Larinde (2004) depicted a dim future for forestry education inNigeria unless some reform agenda are put in place. Their survey showedthat the schools demonstrating significant aggressiveness in student recruitment efforts have employed defined strategies ofbroadening their programme base while establishing specialized schoolsto administer the programmes. This brought in greater dynamism andcredibility as students can identify better with programmes adopting environment, rural development, toxicology, ecotourism, horticulture, landscaping etc as market attractants rather than when institutions stick to orthodox