Based on the decreased risk of disease transmission in an open-air environment, outdoor areas on school grounds and in local public spaces — such as parks — can be venues for outdoor classrooms and school programming, including physical education, recess, or school meals. In order to bring the school day outside, you will need to plan the staffing and scheduling for the use of these spaces. You will also need to prepare teachers to teach outside, provide curriculum support, and provide guidance on how to manage students in what can be a distracting space. In addition, systems for having meals and conducting recess outside will need to be implemented. In this section, you will find information and resources to support your planning process in taking classes and other programming outside.

The decision to take school outside involves understanding your community’s needs, especially as those needs relate to teaching and learning. Your district may have completed a Racial Equity Impact Assessment or created a framework where decisions are made through the lens of equity. We encourage you to run any new decisions related to outdoor learning and programming through this lens. In addition, returning to in-person instruction after months of distance learning due to the pandemic will require attention to student social-emotional well-being and may need to include space for healing using trauma-informed practices. Outdoor environments can be especially helpful in creating a space for this work.

The resources provided in this section are intended as a starting point to help your community make informed decisions that are right for your own school and district context. Bringing your programming outdoors can help all members of the community stay healthy and engaged.

Land Acknowledgements and Authentic Place-Based Learning

As you begin to engage in outdoor learning, cultivating a sense of place at the center of your approach to curriculum and instruction can be important. As a part of this process, you may choose to include land acknowledgements in your work. Your school district may already have a connection with local Indigenous peoples in your area. For those districts that may not have a formal relationship, consider reaching out to local tribes to cultivate a connection and learn about why land acknowledgements as well as indigenous knowledge could be part of your planning process for ensuring an authentic, place-based outdoor learning program.

GUIDE TO SECTIONS IN CHAPTER 4

Click on the links below to navigate directly to various sections of Chapter 4, or simply scroll down to browse.

• Management and Mindset

• Science Materials

• Professional Learning

• Enrichment Classes, Programs, and Activities

• More Resources

• Pandemic Planning Strategies (Including Staffing, Scheduling, and Instructional Plans)

Outdoor Classroom Management
This article outlines useful strategies and tips for successful teaching and learning in an outdoor classroom.

Tips for Creating a Positive Outdoor Experience for Students
Being outdoors in nature is not always familiar or easy for every student. Creating and maintaining a sense of security should be a priority and this article outlines some helpful tips for doing so.

Taking Curriculum Outside
Fortunately, you don’t have to start from scratch when it comes to planning your scope and sequence outdoors; there are many curriculum resources from which you can draw inspiration or use right away.

An Approach to Walking Field Trips
Wouldn’t it be great if students could build science, literacy and math practices while outdoors? They can! Here is an approach to create school site maps that highlight walkable destinations and routines organized for every grade and for grade spans, K–5.

Short Stand-Alone Science Activities
Educators looking for stand-alone and quick (up to one hour) outdoor science activities that are engaging and need little to no preparation will find the following resource helpful.

Extended Science Activity Sequences
Teachers and schools that are looking for an in-depth, multi-day sequence of outdoor learning activities will find the following resources helpful.

Enhancing Adopted Science Curricula for the Outdoors
Teachers and schools looking to go outdoors to enhance an adopted science curriculum will find the following resource helpful.

Professional Learning for Teachers
There are tried and true methods for providing quality professional learning experiences for your teaching staff that will better prepare them for teaching outside. See this article for guidance.

The BEETLES Project — Outdoor Science
The BEETLES Project, at the Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California, Berkeley, designs research-based professional learning resources for school and program leaders to use with teachers and field instructors.

Life Lab — Garden-based Education
Life Lab offers a variety of professional leaning workshops and resources for schools and districts that want to provide high-quality garden-based learning experiences for their students.

Out Teach — Early Science Experiences
Out Teach works directly with schools and teachers to support their teaching outdoors. Their program is embedded into schools and districts and provides support not only for teaching, but also in creating outdoor teaching spaces.

Taking Library Programs Outside
Library programs serve their entire school community, and many library functions can be moved outdoors. Here are a few initial ideas.

Bringing Outdoor Learning Home! — Explore Art in Your Backyard or Neighborhood
You do not need to look far and wide for fun and creative art projects. Here are some simple ideas you can do right in your own backyard or neighborhood and with materials you likely already have.

Explore the Art of Archimboldo in Your Schoolyard
Many paintings of Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1526-1593) were portraits rendered using the forms of vegetables, fruits, and other plants to convey the subject. Learn how to create temporary vegetable portraits inspired by Arcimboldo’s style and process.

Doing Math Outdoors Using Nature Materials
Here are a few ideas to help kids of all ages get outside—in their backyard or local green space—to play with math concepts while they enjoy the natural world.

International School Grounds Month Activity Guide
Learn about how to encourage artistic expression using schoolyards as the backdrop and inspiration. See the chapter in this guide on art, featuring examples fro around the world, on pages 15-33.

Living Schoolyard Activity Guide US Edition
Living school grounds provide settings and inspiration for creative projects ranging from writing to drawing, painting, mosaic, nature art, sculpture, dance, theater, and more. See the chapter in this guide on art, featuring examples from around the country, on pages 23-41.

Music Classes Outside (coming soon!)

Celebrate Your School Grounds! Green Schoolyards America believes school grounds are very important to children and youth, and shape their experience of the world around them. If you agree with us, we hope you will take some time in May during International School Grounds Month and Living Schoolyard Month in California, and year round, to go outside on school grounds with students of any age, to engage in outdoor learning, play and other activities. Click here to read about how to use these wonderful resources.

Experiential Outdoor Learning in the Schoolyard: Featuring Curricula by Susan Humphries (PDF)
This book of 13 hands-on activities was developed following Green Schoolyards America’s September 2019 conference, featuring the work of our esteemed colleague, Susan Humphries. These ideas compliment the other books on this page.

Books and Resources for Creating and Managing Outdoor Spaces for Children
Need more information, ideas, and strategies for teaching outside? The outdoor and environmental education, green schoolyard, and school garden fields have decades of experience to share.

District Pathway
If you are a school district just getting started with outdoor learning, this resource is designed to help you launch a district-wide program. It was written with input from district-level outdoor learning experts from across the country.

Start-up Toolkit for Schools
If you are a school looking to get started — this tool will help you visualize and plan for outdoor learning — whether you are looking for low-cost immediate options, using what you already have, or if you are planting seeds for permanent, long-term campus improvements.

Planning for Staffing and Scheduling
Schools and districts will need to sort out staffing needs and scheduling as the first step to taking education outdoors. This article outlines the high-level planning considerations.

Staffing Using Community-based Partners
Museums, zoos, aquariums, and environmental or outdoor education nonprofits can be a valuable asset as schools and districts reopen for in person instruction. This article outlines options for using community-based partners to support your outdoor programming.

Guiding Questions for Securing Community-based Partner Staffing Support
Many school systems will find it difficult to expand their staffing capacity without additional support from community-based partners. This article outlines a set of guiding questions for securing support.

Sample Community-based Partner MOU
This PDF is a sample MOU created between a school district and a community-based partner that is providing staffing support for learning outside.

Staffing Case Studies
Here we provide several case studies highlighting the use of community-based partners to support staffing needs as schools reopen. (Coming soon!)

Staffing Vignettes
The BEETLES program conducted interviews spotlighting the ways outdoor and environmental education organizations have partnered with schools. Click here for more.

Scheduling Considerations for Outdoor Instruction
Here we review the numerous considerations for creating a schedule that incorporates outdoor learning that works for particular school instructional models.

Changing the Schedule at Your School
Once you have reviewed the considerations for scheduling and the example schedules below, this step by step guide will help you shift the schedule at your school or district.

Outdoor Spaces Scheduling Template
This Google Sheet automates the scheduling of outdoor spaces for use during the school day. Follow this link to view the document, make a copy, and try it yourself.

Small In-Person Cohorts for Elementary
This PDF is of a learning hub schedule when school is 100 percent remote learning. It is designed for Kindergarten through sixth grade elementary schools with sample instructional time blocks.

Hybrid 2-Day Concurrent Instruction for Elementary
This PDF is of a hybrid schedule where three cohorts of students are taught concurrently by the classroom teacher. Outdoor spaces at the school site are utilized to support alternating cohorts and groups of students.

Small Cohort Instructional Plans
This tool is intended to support district and school leaders to develop plans for robust, high-quality outdoor teaching and learning that is integrated into small cohort instruction at the school site for their most vulnerable students.

Hybrid Instructional Plans
This tool is intended to support district and school leaders to develop plans for robust, high-quality outdoor teaching and learning that is integrated into any approach to hybrid instruction at the school site. 

Full In-person Instructional Plans
The many health and learning benefits of being outdoors make it a desirable feature of an in-person instructional plan. This approach illustrates how educational leaders can build district capacity to integrate equitable, high-quality, outdoor learning experiences into their in-person instructional plans.