Generate Curiosity in Nature

Part of blogging, for me, is meeting new-to-me bloggers through their daily slice of life posts. Mornings with coffee in hand, I spend some time getting inspired by the posts from the night before. 
This morning found me reading Dr. Kim Haynes Johnson post about Ecotherapy on her Common Threads blog. Kim's been inviting others into her blogging experiences, so this morning's post was actually written by her sister-in-law, Dr. Bethany Johnson. In addition to defining "ecotherapy ...as the practice of therapy that focuses on being outdoors and in nature," Bethany also noted its benefits on several body systems.

Her writing brought forest bathing, mindfulness and writing with students outdoors to mind. 

It's been years since I sent students out onto campus to sit, observe, sketch and write. 

Singapore's Covid 19 protocols prevented that in the past three years. Prevention measures required groups of varying sizes  during that time. While students could be outside in a small groups of five, like our elementary school students who wore colored wrist bands for group identification and sat in hoola-hoop groups of five to talk to one another and "play" in small, socially-distanced pods. The measures in place prevented intermingling and required us to know who was where when so that contact tracing was possible should the virus spread at school. Singapore just discontinued mandatory mask wearing on public transportation, the last of the mandated Covid 19 prevention measures to be lifted. 

Perhaps we'll do a walk about campus soon. We've got a vlog project coming up and the environment is one topic students may want to explore. Perhaps getting outside on campus to take a few photos and write in our journals will spark some creative thinking. Ah, we could even do a short mindfulness meditation first to relax and center ourselves. I'm liking this sequence. Perhaps it could be something like this: 

• Organize supplies: journals, pens, colored pencils, etc. 
• Explain the activity & check for understanding
• Model wondering with photos from recent walks
• Walk to the eco-garden or the rain forest area behind middle school
• Find a spot and get comfortable
• Headspace mindfulness practice 
• Listen, observe, record, write and sketch
• Return to classroom
• Review observations
• Share
• Connect to current project: generate questions to explore further

I'm liking the sound of this plan! Perfect as we head into the final days before parent teacher conferences and spring break. Definite connections to our upcoming inquiry! 

Here a few photos from recent walks on campus and in the neighborhood that sparked my own wonderings. 

How do bats compare to other mosquito (or pest)  prevention methods impact on the environment? 

Plants, such as the fruits of the Cannonball tree have medicinal properties, how are plants, even the foods we eat, medicine? 

I could wonder away about these images. Nature, just as Dr. Johnson and others have said, has transformative powers to take us away from ourselves and into other worlds. 

Many thanks to the team at Two Writing Teachers for hosting
the Slice of Life Story Challenge each March!