environmental studies – Page 2 – Outdoor Learning in the the Outer Hebrides

Resources – John Muir Award

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.

Exploring the Castle Grounds with Stornoway Playgroup

On a slightly wet morning Andrew (who has just started work as the Outdoor Learning team on a modern apprenticeship) and Tim met the young people of Stornoway Playgroup at the Golf Club for an adventure exploring the Castle Grounds. They enjoyed the cover of the trees to shelter from the showers.

All the young people were given a magnifying glass and we explained how to use it. This caused great amusement when they realised they could make other peoples eyes much, much bigger. Quickly they discovered they could use them to look at things and for small things.

Although the waterwheel wasn’t working they enjoyed looking it and it will give us an opportunity to visit again.

Working with Tong School

Tong School in the summer term of 2017 did a whole school project on outdoor learning, the team supported elements of this.

Tim provided a twighlight session to explore ‘how do I begin to soften the walls of the classroom’ with the staff.

This session led to taking several classes look at the ecosystem of the beach a short walk from the school.

The young people discovered the diversity of the ecosystem using the new resource boxes.

Another class wanted to look at fire; the local fire office came into the school to talk about fire safety, the young people particularly enjoyed seeing how a fire extinguisher worked.

Tim then came in with the fire pan for two sessions; one to reinforce the fire safety lessons and try different ways of lighting a fire and the second to cook on an open fire. The fire pan was set up under a tarp in the school grounds and the young people cooked fruit and vegetable kebabs followed by bannocks which they mixed themselves. After the session the teacher reported several of the young people had gone home made bannocks and asked for peppers with their dinner.

The English and Gaelic nurseries had a session exploring the school grounds which have a lovely stand of trees using the environmental resources boxes, with the magnifying glasses and the sample jars creating a huge amount of interest.

Particularly the large slug they found.

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