"Natural" Ways to Infuse Well-Being

Walking in Teachers’ Shoes With a New Lens

Is There a Window in Your Classroom?

What:

• Once birds “find” a new food source, their presence can provide an inspiring way to do the following:
  • Bring your students to the present moment by having them silently narrate the behaviors of the birds. For differentiation, allow some to write or sketch what they see.
  • Discuss the changing seasons through charting (what birds visit the feeder and when), patterns of migration, habitat, and more.

How?

• Bird feeder/house. Window-mounted bird feeders start at $8.95 and can be found online. Does your school have a woodworking class or shop? Mini-courses for middle or high school could teach students to build very simple birdhouses or feeders. This also offers a multi-age opportunity for younger students to learn from and with older students.
• Bird food. Use your favorite search engine to learn native bird species in your area and what they eat. Pick up a bag at your local grocery, hardware store, or local Audubon or other birding supply store.
• Bird identification poster or book: Posters from state wildlife agencies are usually free. Your school library may have a bird identification book. If not, your local library certainly will.
• Do your students have access to iPads or other similar devices? Download the free app from Cornell University’s Laboratory of Ornithology: Merlin Bird ID. Have your students check out eBird (ebird.org), Cornell’s database of bird sightings, to learn what birds are being seen in your area.  

Other Results:

• Mother Nature will deliver. If she doesn’t, that can also spur learning. For example:
  • What factors could be repelling our feathered friends? A calm, safe environment is something parents seek to raise their young; why might this site not feel safe to birds?
  • Discussions on habitat and human impact could ensue, not to mention the critical thinking and problem-solving skills called to task.

Is There a Tree Close to Your Classroom?

What & How:

• As a writing prompt (with some well-being sneaked in): have students take clipboard, pencil, and paper.
  • As students walk to the tree, have them pay attention to their inhale and exhale, clearing their minds of all else.
  • Sit in a spot near or under the tree. Using as many different descriptive words as you can think of, describe this tree.
  • Once prior knowledge vocabulary is exhausted, offer students the option to sketch the tree.
• As a math/science activity (upper elementary/middle school):
  • As students walk to the tree, have them pay attention to their inhale and exhale, clearing their minds of all else.
  • Have students estimate the height of the tree using a ruler, pencil, and partner. (See box below.)
  • In the fall, have students visit their tree weekly and estimate what percentage of the tree’s leaves have changed color. Chart it.
  • Technology option: Use or create a simple app to track data. To identify the tree on-site, consider using the free app: Leafsnap.

Measure a Tree

• Each student has a partner.
• One student stands at the base of tree holding the bottom of a ruler in his or her right hand so it points up.
• Student extends right arm and closes/covers left eye (ruler should be lined up with tree).
• Student carefully walks backward (with guidance from partner) until the ruler appears to be the same size as the tree.
• Other student measures the distance between the student’s feet and the base of the tree.
• That distance is about equal to the height of the tree!
• As a math/science activity (preschool/lower elementary):
  • As students walk to the tree, have them pay attention to their inhale and exhale, clearing their minds of all else.
  • In spring, visit the tree once a week, and count the number of buds/flowers. Chart progress.
  • In the fall, place a large sheet under the tree; catch and count fallen leaves.
  • Technology option: Consider using the free app: Leafsnap.

Other Results

• You can’t walk to the tree, but you can see it out of your window? Consider this:
  • As students observe the tree, have them inhale and exhale. For five inhales and exhales, wonder how the tree has changed since the last observation.
  • Write down and/or draw observations.
  • Use this tree to illustrate and track the changing seasons. Although the activities listed above can be done from afar, that would lack the physical/emotional benefits of walking outside.
  • Technology/research option: Use an appropriate search engine to identify the tree based on students’ observations.

Do You Currently Provide a “Show & Tell” Opportunity? Could you?

What & How:

• Tell your students you are starting a Natural Science Museum in your classroom, and you want them to be the scientists.
• Share an item you brought in, and model for them what you expect them to do.
• Let’s say you bring in a brightly colored leaf. You can tell them you found it in your front yard. You were drawn to its beautiful color. You looked around to see where it came from. There is a tree nearby with similar leaves, so you hypothesize that it came from that tree. Ask the students why it’s brightly colored.
• Depending on the age of your students, this leaf could lead to a conversation on the changing seasons or the fact that leaves change color because the chlorophyll has drained from the leaf signaling the end of its life and the beginning of a new season. You may have the students write a poem about the leaf, or the tree, or the fall or … well, you get the picture.
• Task students with finding something from the natural world at their home or on the school campus (e.g., a leaf, interesting rock or stick, old bird’s nest).
• Have them bring it to class.
• Set up a small area of your room to be the Natural Science Museum. Students can bring things in, but they have to learn about the item and then teach their peers about it.
• At the end of the week, all items are returned to nature because a dead leaf decomposes to provide rich soil for the next generation of trees, feathers provide calcium for the squirrels that gnaw on them, etc.

Potential Results:

• You’re encouraging students (and possibly whole families) to go outside when they are away from school. Think of it as “homework for well-being.” Kids and parents are going outside, talking, sharing, and connecting — even if only for five or ten minutes.
• With your set expectations (ideas listed above), a framework is created to attain success while also allowing for student-driven curiosity.
• Your expectations of what knowledge they bring to share should increase with students’ age.
• This is also an opportunity to discuss the research process. What is a credible source? How do you know that the information you found online is accurate?