Nature Journaling

When I first became interested in using Utah birds as a core theme for teaching my 2nd-graders I had no idea how it would revolutionize my teaching career and connect me and my students with so many different natural and human communities.

The average 18 year-old high school graduate today has spent approximately four-years of their lives on screens. Four years. Four years of childhood that they will never get back. Our children need wildness now, more than ever.

We hear a lot these days how people spend too much time with their electronic devices. But for me, as someone who has always loved natural spaces, I’m finding that a screen can actually enhance my time outdoors.

When you take kids to learn outdoors, what is the right balance between academic focus and student-exploration and how can the instructor support such a balance?

Across my years of exploring the majestic outdoors with young children, I’ve experimented with nature journaling.

I've visited Blacksmith Fork Canyon with a thousand or so fifth and sixth graders — a few at a time — for a day with biologists and managers. Each time, we feed wintering elk about 5,000 pounds of hay.

I continue to be astonished by how much there is to appreciate and to learn from our surroundings. It’s amazing to see how just a little preparatory investigation can turn fleeting everyday moments into lifelong learning memories.

A hot, sunny, May day was Christmas for my avid 2nd-grade birders, when 35 pairs of high-quality Vortex binoculars and chest harnesses were delivered to our Edith Bowen Laboratory School classroom.

In fourth grade we look at creating a map of Utah and consider animals, plants, even people. Heritage is tied to migrations, human and animal, recent and ancient. I teach that to the children so they understand the story of the place we are in.

Whether you’re a teacher trying to implement an impactful field experience with your class, or a family, looking for something meaningful to do with your kids, I’d like to share three simple techniques I’ve found help kids make meaning from the world around them when they are in the field.