Success Stories

Tips for Using Step Outside with Your Class

Check out the LSF Blog for tips from teacher and LSF Consultant Teri Burgess on how to use Step Outside for outdoor learning, as well as some safety tips!

Using the Late October Guide to Begin a Squirrel Investigation

By Stan Kozak

The late November Step Outside arrives and as has been the habit I read sections to my grade 2 students as they sit around and watch the pictures as I make the links.  One line stands out “Gray squirrels are now making their dreys."  Clicking on the word drey brings up a photograph of a leaf nest with a squirrel in it.  New word for me and the kids.

I ask the kids to look for dreys and squirrels on their way to and from school and to count them.  Many experiences come back.  One count comes up with 18 squirrels and 36 dreys over 7 blocks.  What does it means?  One student suggests that each squirrel builds two nests while another suggests that half the squirrels are in their nest.  Further investigation is warranted.

Next day after lunch we plan our squirrel survey.  We will walk the perimeter of the school yard counting dreys that are visible and squirrels and observing any behavior. Even I am amazed at the scope of what this little outing reveals.

Back in class the kids crowd around the computer and I ask them to tell me what we observed and as they do I type it in the order provided.  They point out my spelling and typing errors but I say don’t worry about them until we’re done.  Then on the spot we clump similar content into paragraphs, add introductory and concluding sentences and voila, our squirrel story is done.

Our Squirrel Research

We went on a schoolyard trip to learn about squirrels.  We saw two different kinds of squirrels, the Red Squirrel and the Grey Squirrel.  We counted 18 nests and 12 squirrels.  One was a Red squirrel.

We saw a squirrel in a bird house and one on a nest.  We saw squirrels climbing trees.  Two squirrels were playing in a yard.

We saw them eating maple keys and found walnut shells that had been eaten already.  We found a walnut wedged on a branch to keep it out from under the snow.  One of the squirrels was eating at a bird feeder and another ate seeds from the ground.  It is winter and we saw many squirrels so they must not hibernate.

We like watching squirrels and can learn a lot from them. They are amazing animals.

I print off enough for everyone and we practice reading as a group, then in small groups and then individually.  The students take the stories home to read to family.  The level of interest in this story that we have collectively experienced and prepared is deep.  I enlarge and photocopy the story and put it up on the wall where we meet each day.  I can see weaker readers purposely struggling with the story, working through it weeks after we create it.

Meanwhile the next day three students independently come to school with squirrel projects that they have done with the help of their parents.  They each present their poster board works and these join the squirrel story on the wall.  We’ve experienced “spontaneous learning combustion” interest in learning where students take off, learning on their own.  The recipe, students’ inherent interest in nature, experiencing it outdoors and a link to the formal side of schooling, writing and reading.  And it all started with a one line reference to squirrels building their dreys in the late October edition of Step Outside.