After several days of research Chris and I now have most of the information we need for the teacher packs and for the educational provision on-site at TreeZone.
There will be an online pack which with downloadable resources:
On-site at TreeZone their will be:
The next step will be to begin working on the appearance and content of the online resources and the signage. Chris already has some contacts for creating the signs and Calum, a senior member of the Boots n Paddles team, will help out with the online resources. I will need to take some pictures around TreeZone for use in the online packs and I have also contacted one of the Countryside Rangers at Rothiemurchus regarding the outdoor classroom.
The information we are providing will cover learning for the age group 7-12 (7 is the youngest age of child permitted on the course). However, I am less sure about provision for the 12-14 category as this is a bit outside my area of expertise. On the other hand a lot of the information we have gathered was new to me so I think it should be useful to some of the secondary teachers as well. Although, as they are all subject specific teachers I guess it depends on which teacher is accompanying them, if it's biology, or outdoor learning staff then we probably have it covered otherwise I'm not so sure! I think including some puzzles or team-building based challenges might be a worthwhile inclusion for this age group.
(School groups generally don't bring children much older than 14 but again the information and provision may be useful to older groups as well).
There will be an online pack which with downloadable resources:
- Info sheets on the trees, wildlife, lichen, fungi and moss that lives and/or grows on the site at TreeZone
- Activity sheets that will include a spotting sheet with pictures of the various wildlife, a trail based quiz that will link to the signs (possibly two/three difficulty levels), a set of sheets that the children can use to sketch what they find in an anthropology field notes type fashion.
- There will be a page of useful links for finding further information about the local environment and for teachers to plan the rest of their day.
- There will be a zipline themed online poster with the curricular links that have the strongest connection to what TreeZone is offering. The idea would be that if you click on one of the experiences and outcomes it will take you to a possible activity.
- I am also working on a mindfulness/meditation script for teachers to use that should help to settle the children before any learning based activities.
On-site at TreeZone their will be:
- Signage that has information about the various wildlife, trees, lichens, fungi and mosses that we have identified onsite.
- The outdoor classroom (possibly with a box of resources including things such as binoculars and magnifying glasses.)
- A set of equipment for simple puzzles and games that could be used in the outdoor classroom. This would probably require some online resources including instructional sheets and maybe a couple of videos demonstrating how to do them. Phil and Jon, Two of the instructors at Boots n Paddles had said they would probably be able to help with this.
The next step will be to begin working on the appearance and content of the online resources and the signage. Chris already has some contacts for creating the signs and Calum, a senior member of the Boots n Paddles team, will help out with the online resources. I will need to take some pictures around TreeZone for use in the online packs and I have also contacted one of the Countryside Rangers at Rothiemurchus regarding the outdoor classroom.
The information we are providing will cover learning for the age group 7-12 (7 is the youngest age of child permitted on the course). However, I am less sure about provision for the 12-14 category as this is a bit outside my area of expertise. On the other hand a lot of the information we have gathered was new to me so I think it should be useful to some of the secondary teachers as well. Although, as they are all subject specific teachers I guess it depends on which teacher is accompanying them, if it's biology, or outdoor learning staff then we probably have it covered otherwise I'm not so sure! I think including some puzzles or team-building based challenges might be a worthwhile inclusion for this age group.
(School groups generally don't bring children much older than 14 but again the information and provision may be useful to older groups as well).