We love teaching and making resources to promote enjoyment, motivation, and understanding for children and teachers with a particular passion for learning outside the classroom.
We love teaching and making resources to promote enjoyment, motivation, and understanding for children and teachers with a particular passion for learning outside the classroom.
This animal observation record is designed to be used either outdoors or when looking at live webcams. Students will look closely at both the physical and behavioral characteristics of the animas over a period of 3 or 5 days and record what they see on the observation sheets.
It fits in really we if you’re looking at adaptations or camouflage and mimicry.
This is also a great science investigation or fun home earning project for students.
This resource contains three different levels of challenge.
If doing this activity outside it’s important to choose an animal that’ll still be there when they return for the other observations.
Good animals to observe outside:
Birds with a nest
Spiders in webs
Ant Nests
Animals in ponds
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Bird hunts are great fun and easy to do. Print out the sheet for your students to take into your outdoor space and mark off the birds as they find them.
It’s great if you can provide binoculars so they can spot the birds from a distance.
This resource contains sheets for both American and European birds.
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This activity is all about students exploring different textures in the world around them. Don’t be afraid for students to get muddy for this activity! Explain to your class what the word ‘texture’ means and that they will be exploring all sorts of different textures in your outdoor space.
Give them the table and go through each texture, giving them a chance to check they know the meaning of each one. Once they are ready, wearing clothes that can get a bit wet and muddy, get them to go outside and try to find each of the textures in the table, drawing or writing down their findings.
Diff. 1 – Textures are already filled in on the table.
Diff. 2 – To give students more of a challenge, they can fill in different textures they can think of before heading outside. For students who need more support, this activity can be done in small groups with adult support.
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Take Thanksgiving into the outdoors with this reflective activity where your class will look at which natural things they are most thankful for. They will walk around the outdoor space, taking time to think about which things they are most thankful for and why. This activity works best when the students are working individually as it allows them to think about their own personal thoughts and feelings.
It’s a great way for your students to gain a greater appreciation for the environment around them. This activity can lead onto nice discussions about how to care for the environment, thinking about what they can do locally to help.
Contents:
Teachers Guide
3 x differentiated resource sheets
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A FREE sample of our Christmas themed addition and subtraction word problems using the bar model.
Check out the full pack here.
A set of Christmas themed NO PREP differentiated word problems using the bar model strategy, focussing on addition and subtraction for grades 3 - 4. The bar model is great to help children visualise and solve problems and is becoming much more widely used across schools. This pack will guide your children through the idea, giving them loads of practise at applying it to word problems.
The full pack contains 3 sets of word problem sheets each with 3 levels of differentiation.
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Exploring what hides in the depths of the trees is a great way to look at habitats, classification and living things as well improving observation skills and sparking their interest in science and the world around them.
Get a large white cloth or tarpaulin and lay it out underneath a tree with branches you can reach. Shake the branches for several seconds. Students can now find and observe the different mini-beasts that have fallen from the tree.
It’s great if you’re able to provide microscopes and magnifying glasses to take a closer look. The students can keep a simple record of what they’ve discovered on the record sheets.
Extension activities: Older students could do some report writing on one of the mini-beasts they found.
Equipment needed:
Large white cloth / tarpaulin
Record sheets
Magnifying glasses (optional)
Microscopes (optional)
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For this activity students will head outside and explore the natural colors around them. They will use natural objects to color the Christmas themed pictures by rubbing them onto the paper. Encourage students to experiment with different items. It can be more effective if the students crush the natural items before doing the rubbing.
This is a lovely activity for the end of term and can make a great Christmas themed display for your classroom. You could also make their rubbings into Christmas cards to send home.
Check out our Christmas Literacy Challenge here.
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Get your students involved with this drawing scavenger hunt where they’ll head outside to see if they can find and draw all the items on the sheet. It’s great if you’re looking at your local area, wildlife, and observation skills. You can also use this activity to help introduce habitats.
This resource contains a few different activity sheets that allow you to differentiate based on the things they are required to find.
It’s great if you can have a discussion about the scavenger hunt after they’ve completed it. What did they enjoy drawing the most? What did they find exciting to see? What were they surprised they saw?
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Download the full resource here: Problem Solving Easter Addition and Subtraction Bar Model Word Problems.
This is a FREE SAMPLE of the following resource:
A set of Easter themed NO PREP differentiated word problems using the bar model strategy, focussing on addition and subtraction for years 3 - 4. The bar model is great to help children visualise and solve problems and is becoming much more widely used across schools. This pack will guide your children through the idea, giving them loads of practise at applying it to word problems.
This pack contains 3 sets of word problem sheets each with 3 levels of differentiation.
Have a fantastic Easter break!
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**Download full pack here: **Problem Solving Addition and Subtraction Easter Bar Model Word Problems.
This is a FREE SAMPLE for the following resource:
A set of Easter themed NO PREP differentiated word problems using the bar model strategy, focussing on addition and subtraction for years 2 - 3. The bar model is great to help children visualise and solve problems and is becoming much more widely used across schools. This pack will guide your children through the idea, giving them loads of practise at applying it to word problems.
This pack contains 3 sets of word problem sheets each with 3 levels of differentiation.
Have a fantastic Easter break!
Please don’t forget to rate this product and provide feedback to earn credits that you can use toward future purchases on TpT.
Also be sure to visit my store and FOLLOW ME to see my new products and hear about upcoming sales!
This scavenger hunt encourages students to look at the amazing world around them while looking out for things that make them or others feel certain emotions. It’s a very uplifting activity that’s perfect for a brain break or as part of your mindset topic.
They will walk around the outdoor area and complete the scavenger hunt by drawing, writing, or collecting items to match each of the sentences.
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This activity is all about hugging trees! It’s perfect to encourage students to use adjectives in their descriptive writing as they use their senses (apart from sight and taste) to describe a tree as best as they can.
Teaching Structure:
Recap on what an adjective is.
Put the students into pairs with one blindfolded.
The partner which isn’t blindfolded will lead their blindfolded partner to a tree of their choice.
The blindfolded students must think of adjectives to describe the tree using touch and smell. Their partner can record the adjectives they are thinking of on the activity sheet.
After a couple of minutes the blindfolded partner is carefully taken back to the spot they started away from the tree and the blindfold is removed.
They then must see if they can find the tree that they were just describing. - Swap the blindfold and repeat.
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Outdoor fall PSHE lesson.
“Trees are about to show us how lovely it is to let things go.”
Trees in autumn are a great metaphor when thinking about how good it can be to let things go be it bad habits or forgiving those that have been mean to us.
This is a great PSHE lesson to do this autumn where your students will think about what they would like to let go.
Talk to your students about what they may want to let go this autumn and leave behind them. Maybe they could let go saying mean things, not sharing, not letting others join in a game, or forgive somebody who has upset them.
Once they’ve thought about four things they can let go get them to record them on the activity sheet (one per leaf).
Once they’ve completed the sheet get them to go outside and find four big leaves from the ground and write the four things they are going to let go. Once the class have all finished writing on the leave you can let them throw the leaves in the air to symbolise letting go.
Check out our year of outdoor home learning challenges!
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For this cross-curricular (science and math) activity your students will create a map of where to find different plant species in a chosen area. In order to draw the map, your class will use appropriate equipment to measure the different features of the area, working out the perimeter and area of each feature. They will then use technology and books to identify the plants they can spot and mark it on their maps.
In order to provide enough resources, this activity is best done in pairs or small groups.
Resources needed per group or pair:
Activity pack
Trundle wheel (or equivalent)
iPads or tablets (for a plant identification App)
Plant identification books or posters
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A guide for birds commonly found in the North American woodlands & gardens. Laminate these sheets and take them with you when heading outside or keep a set accessible for students to use as they wish.
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This activity gets students to use their imagination to change things they can find outside into weird and wonderful characters. It can be used really effectively when designing characters before writing a story, encouraging them to think about adjectives and character descriptions. Each student will choose a small natural item and place it in the first column of the table.
Encourage them to spend some time looking at all the small details - it’s great if they can use a magnifying glass when doing this. Next, they will re-create their item in the middle column. This could be done through a variety of ways (pencil drawing, coloring, chalk, etc.).
Finally they’ll use their imaginations to bring their item to life. Drawing their new character in the right hand column. There is a challenge sheet included with space to think of some adjectives to describe their character.
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The sound map is a great way to get students listening to the sounds around them as they investigate this fascinating topic with good links to measuring, compass work and estimation.
They will choose a spot in your outdoor area to sit then mark on the sounds they can hear in relation to them (with them being in the middle of the sheet) by drawing or writing on the activity sheet.
Encourage students to think carefully about how far away they think the sounds are and mark them on the sheet accordingly. You can also look at bearings by getting students to mark on the estimated distances on their map. You can even give each child a compass so they can also mark on the bearings of each sound.
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Get muddy with this fun activity where your class will create their very own mud creatures to be used as inspiration for a character in a story. Explain to your class that they will be writing a story (you may want to give them a theme or let them have free rein) but first they are going to create one of the main characters using only mud and natural materials. This activity is best done after rain, but if not, just add a splash of water and your mud is ready to get creative.
Teaching structure:
Create the creatures.
Complete the character description sheet.
Plan and write the story with their new character.
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This session is best done in autumn when there is a significant difference between the trees. It’s also important to ensure that there are coniferous / evergreen trees in the area where you’re doing this activity.
Once the students have completed the sheet we suggest they are laminated to make them last. It can make a fantastic display!
Equipment needed:
Resource sheets
Internet access / tree identification sheets or books
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Long jump subtraction is a fun and practical way for students to get loads of practice with subtraction using the column method while improving their measuring skills. For this outdoor math activity they will perform and measure two long jumps, either by themselves or with a partner and see the difference in distance between the jumps by using column subtraction.
For this activity students need to understand how to use the column method for subtraction before taking part in the activity.
**Teaching Method:
**
Go through the column method for subtraction with the students.
Explain that they will be going outside in partners to see how far they can jump and who can jump the furthest.
Partner 1 jumps and partner 2 measures how far they’ve jumped. They then swap over and complete the jump before using column subtraction to see the difference in the distances they’ve jumped.
This can be done multiple times for them to get lots of practice with column subtraction. This activity can be differentiated by getting students to measure to multiple decimal places.
Equipment needed: -
Tape measure / equivalent
Activity sheets
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