Finally getting outside

 Some rights reserved by Eneas

The past couple of weeks here have been "haze filled" so students couldn't go outside very often, this included recess. 

After reading Richard Louv and learning more about nature deficit disorder and experiencing these last couple of weeks, it's easy to see how a school needs their students outside. More than just running around or getting exercise, students need the connection to other living things.  

Many of the units we've been inquiring into have looked at how we organize ourselves in groups.  The younger students especially had a difficult time with this because they had little time to connect with other living things (at least that's what I think).  By building that empathy with other things we are more able to see ourselves as part of a system. When we see ourselves as part of a system we're more likely (I think) to see how we can work for the benefit of a group of things, rather than just ourselves.

We (as teachers) had never really thought of this aspect before the haze.  Now we are wondering how we can reshape our units, to really look at how other living communities organize themselves, and if that is true, than how can we organize ourselves to benefit the community. 

We definitely had some interesting discussions, and once our term break is over, we're all ready to finally get outside.