What: During many parts of the school day, students work in small groups. In some cases, students are working in multiple small groups in the classroom with just their teacher; in other cases, there are reading specialists, special education teachers and teacher aids who are also working with/leading groups. These instances where multiple adults are in the room are excellent opportunities to take parts of or the whole class outside.
How: Think creatively about how you could bring small group work outdoors. If you begin doing this at some point during the week from the beginning of the year, children will learn the routine and expectations for working outdoors. If you have small group learning with adult support 3-5 days a week, choose 1 day a week where you do the lesson/work outside. This would involve making a plan in advance with partner teachers/aids.
Lesson Considerations
Decide if you will continue with the academic lessons or use the time outdoors as an opportunity to develop a new skill. For example, if you have a reading intervention group you could simply bring your books/materials and do the lesson outside OR you could teach a comprehension strategy using the outdoors like cause and effect, or sequencing. Doing a lesson on expanding vocabulary using the senses would be an excellent match for the outdoors and would support student writing skills.
Who Will Go Out
Consider if all small groups will go outside at the same time or if some go out on one day, leaving a quieter working space for the groups that remain inside. Then switch and have the groups that were inside go outside on another day. If you have adult support in your room, utilize it and be creative with scheduling to support your students’ needs. If students need quiet to work, having some groups work outside provides this quiet space.
Set Schedules/Routines
Setting up a regular routine and schedule will make taking children outside during small group time most effective. In the beginning of the year, decide which day of the week all or each group will go outside and when. Then teach the routines for how to work effectively in small groups outside. As the year progresses, students will be able to attend to their work both indoors and outdoors. The regular schedule will also alleviate constant planning/coordination with teachers. If there is inclement weather, have a plan to do small groups indoors as you would on the other days. If it is cold or snowy, bundle up and consider going outside anyway or find a way to incorporate movement into the small group lesson to keep kids warm.
When: Times in your schedule when you have small group work occurring or when you have additional adults leading small groups (reading and special education teachers, teacher aids).
Who: Teachers need to coordinate with their support staff to confirm scheduling. Administration can support this work by encouraging teachers to take children outside for work time. They can also support the construction of work spaces outdoors such as picnic tables (great for small groups), stumps, shade sales, etc.
Materials: Students/teachers can take what they would typically use for small groups lessons outside such as a writing notebook, a reading book, pencil, etc.
Why: Small group time provides easy opportunities to take students outside, as there are often additional support staff/teachers in the room or working with students. Sometimes students already transition to a specialist’s room for a small group and instead could head outside for their group thus not adding any additional transition time. Having some groups work outside while others work inside can create a quieter learning environment for students both inside and outside. Utilizing times when multiple adults are in the room provides added support for behavior, transitions and supervision of outside time.
Barriers addressed: Class Management; Fairness Across Students/Classes; Scheduling; Services; Time/Space in Standards