These four 60-minute sessions will focus on fostering self-awareness and relationship skills through nature routines like sit spots, nature walks, journaling, and circles, supporting SEL while sparking curiosity and cross-curricular engagement.

Discover how to transform outdoor spaces into rich, flexible learning environments with the educator resource, Sitting With Nature: An Educator’s Guide to Sit Spots.

Please note: The outdoor classroom that we’re referring to isn’t a singular physical space, but includes a multitude of learning environments that exist outside of the walls of a school.

Session Dates & Times:

• four 60-minute sessions Virtual Sessions on Zoom
• 4:00 PM Pacific / 7:00 PM Eastern Time
• Wednesdays—April 2, 9, 16, 23

Registration includes: 

1. access to four live 60-minute virtual sessions;
2. links to the recordings of all sessions (available for up to 3 months after);
3. and a Certificate of Completion (4 Learning Hours).

Session 1: Rethinking the Outdoor Classroom: Teaching and Learning with Sitting With Nature

Discover how to transform outdoor spaces into rich, flexible learning environments with Sitting With Nature: An Educator’s Guide to Sit Spots. This session focuses on fostering self-awareness and relationship skills through nature routines like sit spots, nature walks, journaling, and circles, supporting SEL while sparking curiosity and cross-curricular engagement.

Session 2: Emergent & Inquiry-based Learning

Dive into the power of emergent and inquiry-based learning in the outdoor classroom. This session highlights how unstructured play sparks curiosity, leading to meaningful questions and deeper learning. Sitting With Nature includes a section on how to use questions to inspire inquiry-based opportunities. Explore strategies for guiding students from exploration to discovery while fostering responsible decision-making and social awareness through nature-based experiences.

Session 3: Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) in the Outdoor Classroom

Discover how the outdoor classroom can strengthen SEL competencies through intentional nature routines. This session focuses on building self-management, empathy, and resilience using activities like sit spots, journaling, and reflective circles. Learn how nature-based practices support emotional growth and foster meaningful connections.

Session 4: Formative Assessment in the Outdoor Classroom

Learn how to seamlessly integrate formative assessment into outdoor activities to support student growth and deepen learning. This session focuses on strategies for observing and documenting progress while fostering SEL competencies like self-awareness and responsible decision-making. Sitting With Nature includes formative assessment ideas for each sit spot series week, and we will dive into these examples to explore tools and techniques for assessing learning in meaningful, nature-based ways.

Facilitator:

Lauren MacLean is an educator, author, and advocate for outdoor learning. Lauren’s expertise spans outdoor literacy, mathematics, SEL, and emergent learning. Her book, Sitting With Nature: An Educator’s Guide to Sit Spots, equips teachers with tools to foster curiosity, environmental stewardship, and meaningful learning experiences. With years of experience in nature-based education, Lauren inspires educators to rethink the outdoors as a classroom, creating engaging and inclusive spaces for diverse learners.

Register for Teaching in the Outdoor Classroom at the Outdoor Learning School & Store.