Outdoor Learning With Dr. Megan Zeni
By: CFE Team (Jillian, Megan & James)
Today, the CFE team took a field trip from our beloved Orchard Garden to learn from an expert in our community: Dr. Megan Zeni. Megan prepared a tour and conversation about outdoor learning environments around Tomekichi Homma Elementary. We saw rich, bursting garden beds created and tended with thoughtful care from staff, students, and the community alike. Enjoy this glimpse into our learning!
Gardens, Gazebos, and Genius Design
We began the visit with a recap of garden learning alongside another CFE group in the beautiful gazebo located in the Homma gardens. We discussed the many wonderful benefits gardens can bring to schools and communities.
A key takeaway? Gardens can be a strategy for supporting student behaviour and learning.
Here are some brilliant examples we saw:
A garden box with a trellis that serves two purposes, plant growth AND a physical barrier that helps students preserve and protect the harvest
The shoulder of apple trees that provide a fruitful harvest each fall, while also enclosing and protecting the garden and mud kitchen spaces
🌸 Shoulder of apple trees enclosing the gardens 🌸
Sights From the Garden: "Don't pick the radish or you will become badish."
The Homma school garden was very organized. Plants were arranged in clear boxes to help separate different groups. The signs were made by the students, which helped strengthen the school's (and students') connection to the garden itself.
They strategically placed plants and structures to direct student movement. For example:
Lavender was placed outside the gazebo to stop children from climbing on the benches.
This didn't just keep the plants safe; it also contributed to student learning and play. Genius!
Risky Play & Outdoor Learning
After the garden tour, we dove into discussions about risky play, including its merits, characteristics, and its place in a child's learning.
A Classroom Built With Intention
The learning space was evidence of careful planning, consideration, and clear learning objectives. The walls were decorated with natural materials, and a garden map is central to the space. Using seed packages as a visual strategy, the map allows students and teachers to:
Optimize the use of the garden
Properly care for the growth
Harvest as it matures throughout the year
🗺️ Map of the garden using seed packages
Assessment of Learning
Megan extended our learning by showing us the outdoor classroom and garden model, featuring moments of learning captured through the eyes of the school community. Layered with learning from both last year and this year, you can form a deeper understanding of plants and how they exist in their environment.
The Three Cardinal Rules of Risky Play
The lecture on risky play covered the significance of this teaching strategy, a practice that is supported through the healthcare systems in British Columbia.
Here are the three cardinal rules (according to Megan):
| Rule | What It Means |
|---|---|
| 1. Relationship first | Having a relationship with the student and class is foundational to allow risky play to operate successfully and safely. |
| 2. End on a high note | You should end risky play while it is going well – before it almost inevitably goes on too long and creates an opportunity for someone to get hurt. |
| 3. One hazard at a time | There can only be ONE hazardous activity happening for ONE supervising teacher. More teachers mean more supervision and more risky play! (One teacher = one hazard at a time.Megan's lecture had nuggets of gold throughout the whole presentation – including the significance and value of heavy work for regulating dysregulated children. |
Other important teachings include:
🧠 You cannot put a pencil in a student's hand before you assess how they sit in a chair or on the carpet.
🌱 Human and early development is essential to understanding the benefits of risky play.
📘 Use tools like the Richmond School District "Entry Routines" pamphlet to support this work.
🌐 Check out outsideplay.org for more resources.
🎮 Play cultures exist naturally at schools and are shared amongst grades in the schoolyard.
❤️ Why do we do risky play? It creates the conditions where children want to come to school.
🎯 Command games are great tools for practicing classroom management and listening as a class.
⚠️ Risky play only shows up in unstructured free play.
👧 Risks are hazards based on the developmental abilities of each individual child. This is why relationships are foundational!
The Big Takeaway
The overall goal of risky play is to microdose children with feelings of discomfort to build internal resilience and strength that will benefit them for life.
The reflections from this wonderful learning, which took place both outdoors and in the classroom, could stretch long beyond the length of a blog.
In summary: Dr. Megan Zeni is a genius at risky play!
Thanks for reading, and go get your hands dirty (safely)! 🌿
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