Learning In A Non-Traditional Classroom

We used a park as our "classroom" today to study math, science, history and p.e. Plus, we had a great time learning. You may be wondering how one visit to the park allowed us to study so much. Well, let me explain. We are studying English measurements of length. We took a 12 inch ruler and a yardstick and went on a hunt for items we could measure. Being that it's Autumn, there are leaves of all types on the ground, unless it's an evergreen tree (in comes science and learning about deciduous trees and evergreens). Lucy found different types of leaves and measured them. The smallest she found in the park was 1/4 inches long while the largest leaf was 12 inches long. We recorded the information that we obtained and will make a graph.

P.E. and Math: We played on the basketball court and shot hoops. Each basket we made counted for 2 points. Then we started over and each basket was 3 points, then 4 points each and then 5 points each. This reinforced multiplication and division. She divide the score that we were shooting for and divided it by 2 and found out how many points we each needed to make and then divided that by the point count and figured out how many baskets we each needed to make.

She played on this whirly-twirly thing and made a hypothesis as to whether she would spin faster pushed away from the center or when she moved in closer to the center. She guessed moved into the center. She was right! We then talked about why that is. Just like ice skaters, it is because of angular momentum.
On the playground is a huge "pirate ship" that the kids can climb on on slide down the slides. One of the fears of the earlier explorers, such as Christopher Columbus was pirates. On the "pirate ship" was this sundial. Before clocks, people used the sun to determine the time of day.

Thanks for reading about our educational adventures.