Outdoor Learning in the the Outer Hebrides
The work of the Outdoor Learning Team in the Outer Hebrides; developing Learning for Sustainability and helping soften the classroom walls
Juliet Robertson makes some great recommendations for being outside with early years and primary school pupils in this video.
The comment we like is ‘weather is an adult’s perception not child’s perception’ (8’50”). From the comfort of your desk it looks like a terrible day but when you are out it is rarely wet all day. Preparing to be outside is the important thing.
Hopefully you find her comments as useful as we did. For more information on Juliet her web site is Creative Star
We are in the middle of the busy season, with the team out and about working with schools and young people in the outdoors. There are often questions about ticks and Lymes disease, we thought it would be useful to post some information about what to do if you are bitten by a tick and things you can do to prevent being bitten.
It is important ticks should not stop you going outside but to take a few sensible precautions to prevent being bitten and if you are, what to do about it.
Lymes disease if carried by ticks which latch on and then take a blood meal. The Comhairle have produced a leaflet with information on the disease (CnES Tick leaflet). More information can be found on the Lymes Disease Action web site.
There is an excellent YouTube video produced by NHS highland on how to remove a tick with Dr James Douglas
There is also good advice from the NHS Scotland web site:
Ticks are small spider-like creatures that can be found on bushes and undergrowth in Scotland’s countryside, parks and gardens from spring through summer and well into autumn. Most ticks that bite people are unlikely to be carrying the germ that causes Lyme disease, but there’s no way of knowing at the time. So, it is best to:
You can reduce your chances of being bitten by ticks by:
Various resources arrive in our in-tray, here in our hidden office, some of them we think are worth sharing. So occasionally we will put up short posts on things we think are worth a look at.
We received an email from the John Muir Trust about their Literacy and Nature Resource Guide. It is a file with some good links out to other sites and files, what we think useful to teaching staff here in the Outer Hebrides, is the John Muir Award and the CfE document which has details of how the John Muir Award can be linked to the Curriculum for Excellence.
There is their promotional film explaining the Trust and the Award:
If you would like to use the John Muir Award please contact the Isi or Tim and we can help you to set it up and deliver it.
Stornoway Playgroup took the opportunity to visit the Waterwheel building out in the Castle Grounds to use the building as a different space for story time. The story they enjoyed when they were there was the Gruffalo written by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.
They took a leisurely stroll exploring the things they found on the way and when they arrived they had an illustrated story time.
This was made even better because they had taken the Gruffalo with them …
After the story it was a nice walk back into town.
The Outdoor Team and the Stornoway Trust are really pleased the building is being used and if there are other groups who would like to use it contact either Tim or Isi on the Outdoor Team to book it.
As autumn has turned Stornoway Playgroup wanted to go and explore the Castle Grounds again. The story of our first journey can be seen here.
The journey this time took us up passed the water wheel over the golf course, with the great view of the town, into the broad leaf woodland, towards the college and the Caste where we found some shelters another group had been building. Then back past the Castle under the horse chestnut trees (Aesculus hippocastanum) to look for conkers. Finishing upstairs in the Sawmill café for a snack and a drink, which is always a treat.
Although the conkers they found were small they were perfect for little hands. The different berries and fruits on the trees and bushes allowed us to talk about how the plants were able to spread their fruit and get other trees to grow, to touch on how things in nature are interconnected. We found and tasted blackberries and played with sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) ‘helicopters’.
The next trip the Playgroup are going to take into the Grounds is to the water wheel building, when they are going to walk out and use the space as a place to ‘story time’ before walking back.
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