Another Fun Day
Woohoo!!! I love cruising around up in the hills, making constant new discoveries. Our environment is so rich!
Another fun day for Outside School kids!
As frequent readers may know, I have a camera for my Outside School students’ use. After a couple days of difficulties a student had with framing while wanting to interview me, I brought in a phone stand for the camera.
Throughout my years of teaching in unfenced/park environments, other educators have noted how rich my students’ language is, along with their natural ease, abilities, and confidence. The video below seems like a great example of these things, along with being a fine example of self-directed education.
I also have many, many parents inquire about Outside School who are uneasy about mixed age groupings. This provides another example of why it doesn’t matter how old the children are- they each bring their own strengths and interests to the group. This particular child asked to play a game at lunch earlier the same week, taking turns saying words that started with a certain letter. They picked “a” and three words in, said, “Anthropologist.” Would you, adults reading this, expect this of a six-year-old? Would you expect this ability to persist in a successful on-camera interview with deep questions from a six-year-old? Throw your expectations out the window and shoot higher for kids, because Outside School allows for all of this and so much more!
“Inquiring minds want to know! An interview with Heather Taylor of Outside School” -by a student:
Nature News
Since the plants are dying back, we’re actually able to see the entry holes to some Wood Rat nests. Some, such as this, were marked with blue flags when the East Bay Regional Parks fuels reduction teams came through to cut down some Eucalyptus Trees. We love to check out these nests on our way up into the hills on our Thursday hiking days.
Outside School students finally get a chance to see the Wood Rat nest's entry holes.
Fall is my favorite time of year. I love hearing the sounds of crispy leaves blowing on tree limbs and rustling about on the ground. Everything’s as bright as it is in the Spring, but instead of new growth lit from above, the light filtering through the trees has become more abundant as leaves fall. The forest floor is bright from all the yellow Bay Tree leaves as well. It’s just gorgeous, and I couldn’t wish for a better environment in which to have our classroom.
This school year’s group is pretty good with their sarcasm and irony- we all agree that this is probably the worst view ever! 😂 Richmond, California, with Mount Tamalpais in the background.
Enrollment
I still have space for the remainder of the 2022 - 2023 school year, and enrollment’s open for next school year, too. We’d love to have some new friends join us! Outside School is Tuesday through Thursday, 9:00 - 3:00 in beautiful Alvarado Park. For more information, please go to www.outside.school:
Inspiration and Resources
Best of El Cerrito!
I’m honored!
Richmond Mayoral Candidate, Shawn Dunning
A few months ago, I hosted a Walk and Talk with Richmond mayoral candidate Shawn Dunning. We’ve still been in touch, and I appreciate knowing that if he gets to be elected Mayor in November, he will have my back as a small business woman. Please check out his video, “A Brighter Day for Richmond.”
Alvarado Park History
Our school is in Alvarado Park, which sits within Wildcat Canyon, has some pretty cool stonework featured from an old public works project. The East Bay Regional Parks website has some more information on this and other historic sites here:
Multigenerational Nature Exposure
In this blog post by Rain or Shine Mamma, Linda McGurk, she talks about a family milestone and all that led up to it. I felt really inspired by the article, and know that my work is important now and into the future.
Space Geekery
I love getting NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory newsletters. This article is interesting, but there’s also a REALLY COOL link: “Eyes on the Solar System” tracks the Juno Orbiter Spacecraft, other spacecraft, comets, and planets in real time! You can explore three-dimensionally, and zoom in or out.
Have a Happy Halloween!!! 🎃 👻 🎃 👻 🎃
Take care,
Heather
Heather Taylor, EMT
Founder/Director/Teacher, Outside School (www.outside.school)
Founder, Teach Outside (www.teachoutside.org)
California Master Teacher
Connect
Feel free to forward to anyone you like!