Natural Science Lessons for KS1We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. This costs the purchaser nothing extra. In this way I can continue to provide free resources. Thank you for your support. |
I have always loved using Michael Rosen's book, 'We're going on a bear hunt' with my Reception and Year 1 classes. Somehow the combination of simplicity, repetition and suspense makes it a winner. Better still, we have always enjoyed acting it out in the hall and this further helps to enrich the story for the children - making them feel a part of it.
It is this 'feeling a part of it' that is so vital for teaching young children about plants and animals - in short, the world around them. Truly 'child-centred' teaching must start where the child is, and lead them on to discover new things and to learn more and more. It is diametrically opposed to the method endorsed by the child centred gurus of the past, who advocated not teaching children at all, but leaving them to find out for themselves. This method has been proved a disaster and I want no confusion: that is not what I am promoting.
A nature hunt provides for a personal encounter with nature
Truly child-centred teaching acknowledges that children are interested in what is around them. Therefore, as teachers, we should start with the known and help them to use this knowledge to apply it to the unknown. A nature hunt is ideal for stimulating interest in these small, seemingly unimportant forms of life - the known, in that they are all around us, and yet so unknown as we ignore them. A nature hunt will give your children a personal encounter with nature.
'Look what I have found!'
I see far too many teachers trying to teach young children about animals in far off lands, when the children know very little about the creatures that live around them. Although we have wonderful technology that can bring us the most amazing pictures, it cannot give the children a personal experience of these animals. It will only provide knowledge - knowledge that won't be more than a passing interest for most, as it will not impact their personal life
A nature hunt provides an engaging lesson
Now compare that to the interest shown by children when one says s/he has found, for example, a spider. They all crowd round this interesting specimen. Suddenly, the spider has relevance. This affords a wonderful learning and teaching opportunity that no formal science lesson could afford. In fact- it's a gift for the teacher. Sadly, the modern curriculum leaves no time for such encounters and unless 'spiders' was relevant to that term's topic, the poor teacher would have seen it as nothing but a disruption and shooed the children away and back to their task. How different it could have been, if the teacher had picked up on the children's interest and taken it further to count the legs, inspect the web, watch where it goes to and how it behaves and then reads the children a book about spiders and perhaps watches a video. It could have been followed by a look at other insects to compare them to the spider. What the children learnt that day would have stayed with them much longer and may even have set some children off on a lifetime of loving nature.
So a nature hunt makes room for this kind of real learning to take place. Such an activity is a wonderful opportunity to help children engage with nature: to get up close to things around them - in their playground, local park, woods etc... This will provide an excellent base for the KS2 teachers to build upon, as they take the children further away from home in their studies. It will help to teach a generation of children to be more aware of the interconnectedness between the natural world and themselves - something that we have so badly lost. Maybe you could re-write 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt' to become 'We are Going on a Nature Hunt'? You won't need to pretend - this hunt will be REAL - and just as exciting. What will you find? Don't be limited just to the things on the sheet, but rather use it as springboard to help the children to really look around them. And maybe these books will help to keep the bear hunt going a bit longer!
Download our FREE PDF file spotting sheet
Click the picture below
and plan your next nature hunt now! Make it come alive.
Instill excitement and watch the children blossom!
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Welcome Hello, I am Lilibette (B.Ed Hons Early Years, Studies in the Environment Specialism Course), here to encourage the next generation to love the natural world, and thereby learn the necessary skills and knowledge to look after it in the years ahead. Read more... Categories
All
Popular Resources |