THE CLASSROOM REIMAGINED

Time spent outside boosts students’ overall health and wellness in Middle School

You have probably heard the expression “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing.” In Pickering College’s Middle School, it is an idea that our faculty has embraced fully during this strange time in our history.

Having returned to the familiarity of in-person classes at the start of September, this pandemic school year has proven to be anything but typical.

“There are two key changes that we focused on for the beginning of the school year—physical education and co-curriculars moving outdoors,” says Julie Clement, Director of Middle School at Pickering College. “Basically, every student is spending a minimum of five hours of instructional time outside during the week—that’s the equivalent of one full school day.”

Moving them entirely outside to adhere to physical distancing measures has provided our faculty with the opportunity to get creative, focusing on making it fun and engaging for students, rather than what they couldn’t do as a result of safety protocols.

“Over the fall term, students had the opportunity to participate in new outdoor sports like field lacrosse and field hockey where they focused on building individual skills. These sports were chosen as they easily connected to curriculum expectations and could be played while physical distancing through the use of modified games and skill drills,” says David Fiscaletti, physical education teacher and faculty member. “Students have also enjoyed working on their individual target skills while participating in outdoor lawn games like bocce, horseshoes, darts and Frisbee golf.” In addition, students eagerly took part in skating activities in the arena and outdoor education pursuits like snowshoeing during the winter months.

A focus on mental health and wellness is a key part of the Middle School program at Pickering College. Clement recounts a recent news story that reported that kids who are engaged in anything extracurricular during the pandemic are in a much better place in terms of their mental health and wellness compared to those who are not able to access these activities. She says this is one of the many reasons Middle School has prioritized keeping the co-curricular program available to students and incorporating outdoor learning as much as possible.

This year, the school added three new outdoor classroom spaces that feature tree stumps as seats and centre around a firepit. Classes have continued to use these learning spaces throughout the fall and winter months for subjects beyond what would typically be considered “outdoor education.”

Daniele Di Nardo, Grade 7 teacher, incorporated the outdoor space into his fall language arts classes as he found students reading stories to each other naturally blended with being outdoors. “Since the ambiance and sounds of nature can play off urban legends, our Grade 7 classes went outside to read our stories,” he explains. “A lot of the students took the setting of their dramatic reading into consideration and wrote stories that involved being in a forest.”

Di Nardo has also worked in conjunction with Clement to teach a Grade 7 science unit on interactions in the ecosystem which began with a few campus walks exploring local habitats. Students gathered items to place in classroom terrariums where they were able to record what they observed over the weeks that followed.

Another change this year that has been very positive is that recess is never cancelled when inclement weather strikes. Instead, students are expected to be prepared and dressed for whatever the weather brings and, more than that, learn to embrace it. In fact, an afternoon recess was added this year to give students an extra break outside during the day. After a two-month pilot, Clement checked in with the Middle School faculty to see if it should be kept or eliminated during the colder months.

“All of the teachers said keep it—and keep it outdoors—it’s so good for the kids! They come back in reset from being outside, focused and ready to learn,” says Clement. “It also helps to create the mentality that we’re not going to avoid going outside when the weather isn’t great. We’re teaching them that they can be out in this and can still be out enjoying nature and in fact there’s something really nice about the smell of the rain.”