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November 17, 2019

Mrs. Lydia Padilla Parra

Fenton Ave Charter School

Director

11828 Gain Street

Lake View Terrace, CA 91342

Dear Mrs. Padilla Parra,

Thank you for being interested in hearing my proposal to include outdoor learning as a part of

Fenton’s curriculum. While there are a variety of outdoor learning options, I believe the best

option for Fenton is to take lessons outside when possible. Field trips to the wilderness would be

wonderful but I do not think it’s a feasible option while simply moving the class outside for math

or science is.

While I was employed as a one on one at Fenton I worked with many children who struggled to

learn in a conventional classroom setting. While the focus of my work was in special education

being in a mainstream classroom allowed me to see that all the children struggled at times. When

the students I worked with would get frustrated I would offer that we continue working outside,

this is where I would have the most success in keeping them engaged and interested in learning.

Being outside enriches the children’s learning experience by allowing them to interact with the

material and their surroundings in a meaningful way. When children are engaged and interested

in the material they’re being taught it not only creates enthusiasm for learning but also helps to

retain what they have been taught. I think this would be especially helpful for younger students

who naturally have a shorter attention span; being outdoors involves your whole body and all

your senses leaving a smaller chance for boredom or disinterest.

Results that I have observed and learned through research when incorporating outdoor learning

into lessons:

• Students are more engaged in the lesson because they are fully participating and being active in their learning process instead of passively listening in a classroom.

• Strengthens social-emotional skills by requiring students to work together, that could be by gathering materials or splitting into groups to solve a problem together.

• Helps with retaining learned material because they are interested and engaged in what they are learning versus passively listening. When we are interested in what we are

learning it helps us to store that information because we find it meaningful.

• Improves student’s mood, being outside helps to improve most people’s mood. For one of the students I worked with specifically, being outside was grounding and calming for

him making him more receptive to my instruction.

• Helps motor functions by allowing the children to exercise their muscles and engage their bodies in the learning process instead of being seated at a desk all day.

• Helps reduce anxiety and frustration by getting them out of the classroom setting and outside. They can still have structure but also a little more freedom to take control of their

own learning process.

Surely you might be thinking that schools have recess and lunch to meet the above-mentioned

needs of the students. While recess and lunch provide a physical outlet for children it does not

meet all the needs that a lesson outside can. Lesson plans are structured for a classroom setting

but with a little imagination those same lessons can be transitioned outside.

Examples and benefits of moving lesson plans outside:

1. For math, instead of doing adding and subtraction on the board children can collect rocks or leaves and use them to visually see the math.

2. To learn categories children can gather a variety of objects and group them in likeness, it could be color, texture, what the object is, etc.

3. Science is probably the easiest to move outside because most experiments are either messy or require movement.

4. Just as you incorporate games for learning in the classroom those games can be moved outside on a bigger scale.

5. Getting the students to work together for any of the subject matter helps them improve social skills.

6. Just like going to the dentist causes anxiety in some people a classroom can trigger anxiety for some students; moving outside can lessen anxiety for those students.

7. Since students would be actively participating in their learning it will be easier for them to retain what they have been taught.

Thank you for taking the time to listen to my ideas about how taking lessons outside can benefit

the learning and growth of young students.

Sincerely,

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