Teacher Preparation

Overarching learning goals: The aim of this three-part lesson is for students to connect with nature for their own health and wellbeing, to develop activities where others can reconnect with nature and to share these activities.

Teacher content information: There is an emerging body of local and international research linking childhood contact with nature to a wide range of intellectual, physical and mental health benefits.

Intellectual benefits: Contact with nature can provide a wealth of learning opportunities and improve academic achievement.
Physical benefits: Research has shown a link between body mass index (BMI) scores in children and their access to “green” areas and levels of outdoor play. BMI is often used by health authorities and researchers to indicate healthy weight ranges. In addition, natural environments improve balance and coordination in children and can have a positive impact on eyesight.
Mental health benefits: Contact with nature helps reduce stress in children and provides calming and stabilising memories that they can draw on during stressful periods later in life

The Wild Child Enviroweek Action is designed for students to reconnect with the natural world around them. Young people are encouraged to switch off their appliances and spend time in nature; running, climbing trees, getting dirty or just sitting quietly in the natural world. By doing this action, young people are taking action to improve health and emotional well being through outdoor experiences and as a result, improve indoor learning. Furthermore, switching off appliances and heading outside for some nature time also saves on carbon emissions and reduces our ecological footprint.

Student and classroom organisation

Part 1: Tune In - Surrounded by Nature

In this activity, you will take your students on a walk to the “wildest” part of your school yard, or to a nearby bush area.

Safety – Confirm that your students understand they are not to climb anything to obtain photos or samples. If it is out of normal reach then it can’t be photographed or sampled.

Take your students for a walk around your school, visiting the trees and shrubs that are on the school grounds. Take the list of prompts to help direct their observations.

If possible, find the “wildest” area of your school grounds. Organise the students so that when they get to a place of interest they all form a straight line or a circle looking out or looking in. They need to be silent and close enough to you they can hear your prompts. This is a focusing activity, for students to use their observation skills and get “up close and personal” with the plants. Ensure that they watch where they are walking and do not step on low growing plants.

Encourage students to focus on one plant by photographing:

The entire plant
The leaves
The trunk or branches if present
The base of the plant where it grows from the ground
Flowers if they can find them
Seeds if they can find them.

In one plastic bag, collect an example of one leaf from every different plant that can be found. In other plastic bags collect samples from several different plants (e.g. their leaves, flowers, seeds, fruit and bark).

Back in the classroom

Make an image bank of the images taken on the walk on the school's intranet so students can access them. Students can choose to do a filing, naming or sorting task with the images. Ways that the images can be sorted or filed include:

For each plant (note that there may be many examples of the same plant), compare features such as leaves, flowers, bark, trunks, fruit and seeds.
Sort the plants by size (this can be difficult as there is no scale).
Sort into colours.
Any other sorting methods students can think of.

Discuss with students different ways they could sort the images for example, make new files, rename images so they can be ordered, paste into a Word document, make a slide show, use other software).

Sort the material in as many different ways as students can think of. How many different ways can leaves be sorted?

Tree walking observation prompt sheet

Organise the students so that when they get to a place of interest they all form a straight line or a circle looking out or looking in. Use these prompts to focus students’ observations:

What can you smell?
What can you hear?
What do you see?
Are the trees alive or dead? How can you tell?
Find the biggest tree. Find a smaller tree. How far does a student's neck need to stretch to see the top of the big tree?

Focus on individual plants. Observe:

Leaf shape, size, thickness, texture, colour and how it is suspended from the branch.
Look at the shape of the branches and trunk if it has one. What is the bark like?
How is the plant anchored to the ground?
How are the branches spread out?
Do any of these shapes or textures remind you of anything else?
Are there flowers? Where do they grow? Are any insects hanging around the flowers?
Are there seeds? How are the seeds protected?
Is there fruit or evidence of fruit (for example, inedible berries or nuts)?
What is growing below the plant?
Are there any animals hanging around the plants?
Is there evidence of animals eating the plant or making it their home?
Do the fallen leaves on the ground match the leaves in the tree? What has happened to the leaves on the ground?

Finish up by asking students to sit or stand quietly for a few moments, just taking in all the sights, smells and sounds of this area. Ask them to take note to themselves about how it makes them feel.

Part 2: Act - Enviroweek Wild Child Project Action Planning

The aim of the Wild Child Action is for students to switch off and spend some time outdoors. There are many different activities that students can do to achieve this outcome. The fun part of Enviroweek is allowing your students to plan your school's activities. This places students in charge of their own learning and enables them to learn in a real-world context. Students will follow a project-based learning style that allows them to develop skills from a range of educational areas.

Step 1:

Introduce the Wild Child Action to students outlining the aims, the starting date of Enviroweek, and the specific environmental benefits of taking part.

Step 2:

Talk to your students about the many different activities that can be undertaken for this action. Use the table below as a guide for students to select their desired activities. For this challenge, the important thing is that students turn off electronic devices and spend some time in nature. As they plan their activities, encourage students to think outside the box, but ensure that the details are aligned with SMART goal planning principles: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time Bound.

Students can plan their Enviroweek action for their whole school, one year level, one class or just for their group. As students plan their activities, they can use the Student Worksheet to guide them.

Step 3:

Organise your students into small groups and encourage them to take on different roles that suit their strengths and learning styles. Set a timeline for their group's planning to be completed. Ensure that this is done well before the date of Enviroweek so you have time to seek approval, advertise the event and solve other organisational issues.

Ideas for Enviroweek

Play hide and seek in the most natural area in your school yard or nearby park.	Playing hide and seek sounds so old-fashioned that many of us forget how much fun it is. We tend to notice interesting things about where we are when we are hiding - as we get up close to trees and plants in a way we would not otherwise do.
Sit quietly in a “wild” area and make up a story about it. Imagine what happens there on a moonlit night…	There are many story starters you could use. People might want to start writing, sketching or outlining while sitting outdoors for inspiration.
Find some fallen leaves and flowers and make a pattern for a mandala.	Research what mandalas are, and see if people come up with stories about what their mandala means to them.
Lie on your back and watch the clouds. What shapes can you see?	This will only work when the weather is fine, but it’s a fun activity that puts everyone in a creative, reflective mood. Bring blankets to lie down on.
Find a pet rock and set up a rock picnic for it (using stones, leaves and twigs).	Put your creative juices to use!
Create your own stick sculpture from fallen sticks and branches.	Bring materials, such as string, to attach sticks to sticks. Please don’t disturb large logs, they are probably animals’ homes.
Hunt for animal droppings, burrows and diggings in a “wild” area.	Use field guides to work out what to look for.
Indoor or outdoor classrooms?	Do you perform better academically inside or outside? Devise and conduct an experiment to find out (e.g. take an English test outside.
Under and over obstacles	Build an obstacle course in your yard and time the students as they race through it.
Exercise outside	Where possible, take PE activities to someplace with a bit of nature.
Mindfulness in nature	Practice mindfulness and take it outdoors. Why mindfulness should be taught at schools.

You may not be able to achieve all the ideas that students come up with. Decide as a class which ones you can implement. Don't forget to document your Enviroweek journey with pictures and videos!

Part 3: Share

Create a Nature Colour Wheel

Students are guided through a creative task in which they complete a colour wheel that presents the colours found in the outdoor setting.

They will work through Steps 1-7 (detailed on the Student Worksheet) to represent the colours of the natural setting they explored on a colour wheel. Students will need printouts of four of their colour photographs, printed on recycled paper (high quality paper is not required). Alternatively they may refer to onscreen images of the photos.

They will need one A4 page and one A3 page on which to complete their work. Students will also need access to a compass or other circle drawing tool and coloured pencils or pastels, scissors and paste.

Other ways to share

Feature an article in the school newsletter or local paper

Enviroweek - Connecting With Nature

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