MARCH TAKE ME OUTSIDE FOR LEARNING CHALLENGE RESOURCES

Sound Maps

Grades: All

Subjects: Arts & English Language Arts; Social Sciences; Natural Sciences; Math

This was one of our most popular activity suggestions during the Winter Challenge, and luckily, it is great fun all year long! This is a great way to extend a sit spot activity, engage our senses and add in some art skills! Head outside with a clipboard, some paper and a pencil, crayon, or charcoal and pick a nice “sit spot”. Close your eyes, relax, and listen: what do you hear? Some sounds might be nature sounds; what human-made sounds can you hear? What would the different sounds ‘look like’? Sketch them into your sound map! This is especially fun to do with others – you can compare afterwards and marvel at each others’ interpretations of the same sounds!

This activity can tie into many curricular requirements: extend it into more writing for ELA, more mapping activities for Art, research for Social Sciences, biodiversity investigation for Natural Sciences, measurements for Math…learning is everywhere!

(P.S. check out this awesome sound map that Miss Ramdyal and class so kindly shared with us!)

Backyard Biodiversity

Grades: 6-10

Subjects: Natural Sciences; Social Sciences; Math

Pick a patch of land outdoors and make a quadrat; study the contents and make detailed notes on your observations; what is in the quadrat? How fast are moving things moving? Look closely – many different species of plants and animals are often right at our feet! You can use your quadrat observations to estimate the biodiversity of the larger area, base research projects off the species you find, or make this a year-round activity and observe this sample environment change through the seasons!

Click here to check out a detailed activity plan from Gould Lake Outdoor Centre!