Do you remember the book Play With Me, (Viking Press, 1955), written and illustrated by Marie Hall Ets about a child observing wildlife? Including Play With Me, five of her book are Caldecott Honor books. I also love her book, Gilberto and the Wind. In Play With Me, a young child seeks to play with animals [...]
Both the NSTA journal Science and Children, and the NAEYC journal Young Children, were especially riveting this month, March of 2012. I quickly look through the journals to get a feel for the issue, and then put them in my reading bag or pile, unless I happen to be sitting down to the rare quiet [...]
At the end of the school year I gave each preschool student’s family (about 58 of them) a note and a self-addressed stamped envelope in the hopes that they would write to me to let me know about any explorations their child experiences over the summer. Any exploration—deconstructing chalk on the driveway, blowing bubbles on [...]
Last weekend, I did volunteer work at a county park nature center. Many people were taking advantage of the beautiful weather: walking the trails, birdwatching, biking, running, and picnicking. When a family came in to the building to see the displays, I said hello and asked if I could help them find something. The little [...]
In preschool the lessons about environmental science can be about becoming familiar with and enjoying the environment through outdoor exploration and play, gardening, and fieldtrips, and noticing connections such as, roly-polies and slugs are usually found in cooler damp places and when the grass turns brown. Caring for the environment relates to what is within [...]
Take a look at The ChildCare Information Exchange’s current “Insta-Poll” (a casual poll of readers) on their views on the Highest Priority Teacher Training Topics. “Connecting children with nature” is fifth in priority today when I looked at the poll, mentioned by 19% of the 263 people who had so far responded and “Science” is 42nd, tied with [...]
I read Jean Craighead George’s My Side of the Mountain at just the right time in my life—young enough to believe that I could live in the woods like Sam and old enough to try some of the living-off-the-land strategies he used (while I still lived comfortably at home). Her writing and illustrations taught me [...]
Thanks go to all the children who made it possible for their parents to attend the NSTA national conference by coming along with them! In addition to being a reminder of why we were there, these children often added to our experience by modeling activities in the presentations. This one even got his hands dirty helping Lisa [...]
The melting snow piles outside NSTA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, provide daily reminders of the D.C. area’s record 2010 snowfall (locally dubbed Snowmageddon). Like many teachers in other parts of the country, we’re watching for green shoots and planning for spring. What better way to spend the remaining days of winter than planning how to [...]
By now many of you surely have heard of Richard Louv and his book Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. I looked at his blog, Field Notes From the Future, to see what he has to say lately. He reports the nonprofit Children & Nature Network, which he chairs, “has [...]
