Conference attendees released homing pigeons at the end of the first day of the conference in a session led by Susan Humphries and pigeon expert Bill Milestone. Releasing pigeons presents a wide range of potential curriculum ties including: geograph… — Conference attendees released homing pigeons at the end of the first day of the conference in a session led by Susan Humphries and pigeon expert Bill Milestone. Releasing pigeons presents a wide range of potential curriculum ties including: geography, the history of communication technology, flight aerodynamics, and biological homing mechanisms. It also presents opportunities to teach empathy and spark wonder, while having an enjoyable experience in a very memorable way.

Green Schoolyards America was honored to feature the work of our esteemed colleague, Susan Humphries, MBE, MA, at a two-day conference in the San Francisco Bay Area on September 27-28, 2019. Ms. Humphries traveled from England to share her expertise in how to use school grounds to foster children’s learning, play, and happiness. She brought a wealth of knowledge in teaching methods that are based on hands-on outdoor experiences and a deep understanding of both child development and the natural world.

The conference was held on the beautiful grounds of Golestan School in El Cerrito, California, which was an ideal venue for the 12 hands-on workshops over the course of the event. We extend a heartfelt thank you to Golestan School for warmly welcoming us and opening their grounds for this special event!

Susan Humphries shared her perspective and ideas with vibrant slideshows on each day of the event, and conference participants engaged in a lively discussion with her.

Learning from Coombes

Each morning, the conference began with a different keynote presentation by Ms. Humphries. She shared her experiences transforming the curriculum and grounds of The Coombes School in Berkshire, England, where she was the founding principal and led the school for almost 40 years. She explained that when she started her work at Coombes, the setting was very basic—just a wide open grassy field and a small patch of asphalt. Over the years, she and her students and their school community planted hundreds of trees on the 6 acre site, transforming it into a biologically rich woodland environment that offered endless opportunities for teachers to teach outside and for children to explore the natural world around them. The photographs below show this remarkable transformation.

views of the coombes school in 1971 and 1985 (above) show the change that occurred on school grounds over time, as Ms. Humphries, her students, and their school community planted hundreds of trees on the 6 acre site. Photos by Susan humphries.

Hands-on Workshops

After Ms. Humphries’s morning presentations, participants engaged in 6 hands-on outdoor workshops each day, related to the examples she gave during her slideshows. The workshops blended poetry, visual art, art display, and performance, with science, math, experiential history, and writing. Many of the activities emphasized hands-on investigation, observation skills, analysis, teamwork, and symbolism. Others highlighted the magic and wonder of the natural world, a sense of place, reflection, empathy, and peace.

The photographs below offer glimpses of the workshops in action. We will post additional blogs in the coming weeks that highlight the workshops in more detail.

New free publication

After the conference, Green Schoolyards America worked with Ms. Humphries to capture the essence of our hands-on workshops in written form. We are very pleased to be able to share a short new book of outdoor learning ideas, based on the conference’s workshops and Ms. Humphries’s work at Coombes. We hope that you—our readers—will try these activities with students at your own local schools.

Please click here to download your own free copy of this new publication entitled, Experiential Outdoor Learning in the Schoolyard. We also hope you will use these schoolyard curriculum ideas in conjunction with the additional schoolyard activities found in our companion publications available for free on the same webpage.

We greatly enjoyed Susan Humphries’s visit, and learned so much from her while she was here. We hope schools across the Bay Area (and beyond) will incorporate her educational philosophy and curriculum ideas into their own practice. As you try the outdoor learning ideas in this publication with your own students, please write to us to tell us about your schoolyard adventures.

Thank you, volunteers!

Green Schoolyards America would like to thank our wonderful, dedicated conference volunteers who helped to lead the workshops and ensured that the event ran smoothly! You are all amazing and greatly appreciated! Thank you again, Golestan School, for hosting the conference on your lovely school grounds. And thank you, Susan Humphries for coming to California to share your expertise and wisdom with us. We are grateful for our wonderful community of partners.

A heartfelt thank you to our wonderful Conference volunteErs and Collaborators! Left to right: Susan Humphries (visiting speaker), Mary Roscoe, Shari Wilson, Kim Walker, Richard Parker, Lisa Howard, Sharon danks (GSA Executive Director). Volunteers … — A heartfelt thank you to our wonderful Conference volunteErs and Collaborators! Left to right: Susan Humphries (visiting speaker), Mary Roscoe, Shari Wilson, Kim Walker, Richard Parker, Lisa Howard, Sharon danks (GSA Executive Director). Volunteers not pictured: Maryam Atai, Ayden Danks, Yalda Modabber, Wanda Stewart.