Reminder: Get Outside to Explore

Lately I've been focusing on having experiences rather than things, so yesterday my son and I decided to have a rave trail run at a local ridge trail to a "snowhole", which is this really cool natural crevice. All too often people are focused on having the next i-phone or the newest car. Me? I have such an old phone I can't download any new apps, and my car has a lot of wear and tear and well over 100,000 miles. Those aren't the important things to me, but the memories that we create in our life doing things.

I wanted to write today to encourage you to create memories, to live in the moment and make experiences with your families and students. Here are some photos of our adventure yesterday into the cool damp cavernous snowhole. We were impressed with the lush green foliage along the way and then once we arrived to our destination, we were in awe of the beauty nature created there. The photos truly don't do it justice!

Apparently, others for generations were in awe as well because there was a variety of graffiti ranging from the 2000s all the way back to the 1800s. All in the middle of nowhere. Generations of people creating experiences instead of getting things.

Experiences like hiking to a natural wonder can be a great introduction to project-based learning. Think of the cool topics that could be explored: topographical maps, geological events (what could have caused this?), the snowhole throughout history (taking a look at local history in the area too), flora and fauna that live there, exercise science (why did it take us shorter with more uphill to climb than on the way back with more downhill)? As you can see, the list could continue on and on!

May I encourage you to invest yourself and your teaching practice with experiences rather than things. Here are some other examples where spending money does not always trump spending your time.

Do you have a calm down area in your classroom? I was on the prowl for fidgets and little do-dads to settle kids down when were recently on vacation. However, instead, I collected sand and smooth rocks from the ocean so that students could have fun balancing them. I have slices of a cedar branch for them to build with as well as calming live plants in this space as well as shells. What are some other natural materials you could see here?