Authors:
Lauren Zappone Maples, Mathew Garland, Erin Magrath, and Lauren Renée Salinas-Garcia
This book is for teachers, by teachers. Are you new to teaching outdoors? Are you groovin' along the path, but looking for ideas and inspiration? Maybe you want to fine-tune your advanced practice? Looking to enrich a homeschool program with backyard and garden exploration? Well, this is the guidebook for all of you!
All authors and major contributors to this guidebook are staff at PEAS (Partners for Education, Agriculture, and Sustainability) in Austin, Texas. PEAS' mission is to cultivate joyful connections with the natural world through outdoor learning and edible education. PEAS is a passionate community committed to carving out time and space for students to connect with the Earth we all share. PEAS began as a community farm in 2011 and began its school day, year-round programming in the fall of 2016. We have learned so much along the way and we are ready to share it.
As former classroom teachers who now focus all of our time leading students outdoors, we have created this guidebook that is easily accessible to educators with tight schedules and offers a mix of pedagogy and practice. While these lessons have been designed with second and third graders in mind, you will find they are easy to adapt for younger and older students or homeschool settings. You will be surprised by the connections and academic risks your youngest students will take, and delighted by the joy and enthusiasm your "too cool for school'' fifth graders will exhibit.
Part I walks you through the why and how to prepare both mentally and physically for taking lessons outside for learning.
Part II focuses on the social and emotional aspects of learning outside and how being outside can nourish the whole child.
Part III provides lessons across disciplines that are easy to implement and build on for future lessons. These lessons are designed to take place on school grounds or in community green spaces.
Part IV is for those who want more. This section leads the reader to an abundance of resources where they can learn more about outdoor education, find a plethora of curricula and lessons, and learn about other organizations that are supportive of this work.
We hope you find this guide to be Easy PEASy and user friendly!
PEAS (Partners for Education, Agriculture and Sustainability) is a 501c3 nonprofit organization based in Austin, TX. Founded with the mission to cultivate joyful connections with the natural world through outdoor learning and edible education. PEAS delivers unique, outdoor learning and edible education programs to participating school campuses, operates and maintains a community farm, runs camps, and leads professional development to help teachers bridge key science, nutrition, math and health concepts from the garden to the classroom. Delivering programming year-round, PEAS provides trained outdoor and edible education specialists who partner directly with classroom teachers at each school's campus to lead outdoor and kitchen lessons, increasing students' time spent learning in an outdoor, hands-on environment. PEAS currently works with 36 schools in the Austin area, engaging more than 4500 students in outdoor learning.
