Nature Journaling Tip #7: Into the Schoolyard and Back in the Classroom

Take your students and their journals outdoors. Don't forget your own journal! Your own modeling of observing and recording is important to your students' understanding of your expectations. Write the date, time of day, location, and a note about the weather, and model this for your students. Allow them time to do the same. Give special instructions if you want them to focus on something particular. Allow time to observe and record but keep it brief, especially at first. Some students may be easily distracted, while others may turn their attention inward in an attempt to make a "perfect" drawing. Keep them focused on:

• 1) their own firsthand observations and
• 2) what you want them to learn.

When your observation/recording time is done allow students to voluntarily share what they have done. Stress that their journal entries are their own individual records of what they have experienced; all are valid. If you feel you need to grade journal entries focus on effort; construct a rubric and share it with them beforehand so they understand what you expect.

Image by artist Derrel Blain. See more of Derrel's work. 

Next week's tip: Creating a Classroom Nature Center

Mark Baldwin is the Director of Education at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History (RTPI), a proud partner in National Environmental Education Week. Each year RTPI offers online workshops for educators interested in bringing nature journaling into the classroom. For more information visit www.rtpi.org.

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Kristie Jones
Posts: 7

Nature Journaling
Reply #4 on : Thu April 17, 2008, 13:40:19

I like to provide my students with an observation kit to help them make more thorough and careful observations. I include a hand lens, crayon for rubbings, and a small ruler for measuring in a small plastic bag. Students clip them to their clipboards and use them out each time we head outdoors throughout the year.

Christie
Posts: 7

Thank you!
Reply #3 on : Wed April 02, 2008, 14:06:51

Thanks Kelly for the great ideas! Between your thoughts and all the wonderful tips from Mark, I am SO excited to get the kids outside!

Kelly
Posts: 7

Nature or Discovery Journals
Reply #2 on : Wed April 02, 2008, 10:11:04

Try starting off small -- have your kids examine a one-foot-square area on the ground and write & sketch what they see, hear, smell. Bugs, soil, plant life, roots, dead leaf litter from last fall, seeds or nuts from previous seasons, etc. Then graduate up to the trees around them and any wildlife they see or hear, then up to the sky itself...clouds, weather, anything flying up there, etc. It's a way of expanding their ability to hone their senses in a step-by-step manner. Also, leaf rubbings and such can be a good departure from the traditional sketching, blind contour drawing, etc.

Book suggestions: anything by Clare Walker Leslie; also try Wild Days by Karen Skidmore Rackliffe.

Christie
Posts: 7

nature journaling
Reply #1 on : Wed April 02, 2008, 09:33:11

I teach at a magnet school in Minnesota, just 3 years ago we decided to become an Environmental Edcuation magnet. I am always trying to find ways to integrate EE into our core curriculum. I would like to start nature journaling this spring, and then would like to make it a year-long project next year. I would love some topic/focus ideas as I bring the kids out to observe. Thanks!