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Welcome
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0-1: A Welcome Note from Victoria 30 minLecture1.1
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0-2: Good Things to Know 30 minLecture1.2
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0-3: Why Literacy Outdoors? 30 minLecture1.3
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0-4: Ideas to Kick Start Your Literacy Garden 30 minLecture1.4
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0-5: Supply List for Reading, Writing, Listening, and Talking Outdoors 30 minLecture1.5
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Module 1: Gardens that Feed
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1-1: Welcome to The Gardens that Feed 30 minLecture2.1
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1-2: Gather Seeds of Inspiration 30 minLecture2.2
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1-3: Plant Literacy Ideas 30 minLecture2.3
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1-4: Grow Literacy Activities 30 minLecture2.4
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1-5: Harvest Curriculum-on-the-Go Kits 30 minLecture2.5
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Module 2: Gardens as Outdoor Learning Stations that Inspire Themes
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2-1: Welcome to Gardens as Outdoor Learning Stations that Inspire Themes 30 minLecture3.1
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2-2: Gather Seeds of Inspiration 30 minLecture3.2
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2-3: Plant Literacy Ideas 30 minLecture3.3
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2-4: Grow Literacy Activities 30 minLecture3.4
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2-5: Harvest Literacy Curriculum Kits 30 minLecture3.5
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LIVE Workshop #1Lecture3.6
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Module 3: Gardens that Attract Wildlife
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3-1: Welcome The Gardens that Attract Wildlife 30 minLecture4.1
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3-2: Gather Seeds of Inspiration 30 minLecture4.2
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3-3: Plant Literacy Ideas 30 minLecture4.3
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3-4: Grow Literacy Activities 30 minLecture4.4
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3-5: Harvest Literacy Curriculum Kits 30 minLecture4.5
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Module 4: Gardens for Beauty and Art
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4-1: Welcome to The Gardens for Beauty and Art 30 minLecture5.1
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4-2: Gather Seeds of Inspiration 30 minLecture5.2
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4-3: Plant Ideas 30 minLecture5.3
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4-4: Grow Activities 30 minLecture5.4
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4-5: Harvest Curriculum Kits 30 minLecture5.5
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LIVE Workshop #2Lecture5.6
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76 Comments
I would simplify the book for the little kids in my care, and I know they would like to make a fairy house. I can think of a lot of directions the kids could take this story and activities.
For group adaptation, teachers need to be aware of children’s knowledge of vocabularies and level of understanding. We also need to provide different areas of learning opportunities for children to explore the outdoor site and to enhance the curriculum by documenting their work.
I think I would adjust and paraphrase for my young children and focus on specific things each day that we can work on. We can focus on different ideas like, fairy themselves relating other books like Thumbelina and things they might have seen like tinker bells and how they themselves can be tinkers and create their own fairy houses. Discussing with them things they might need, what kinds of things they have in their own home that they can create, and what kinds of natural items they can use to build them. Relating other things like animals what kind of habitat or envirement they may live in, what type of fairy, you can eve relate it to what type of season and discuss that. I Also really love the idea of discussing the monarch butterfly relating not only to the the butterfly itself but also relating to its life cycle. I also think this is a great time to express the idea between what real and what’s pretend like fairytales and folktales. Things like that.
Great reflections!
I think this story would be a great addition to incorporate into the curriculum. I think a good way to incorporate it is when teaching fairytales or even teaching about plants or living things as well as teaching about animals. I think a great idea would be building fairy houses and being able to take it home. Another way that I think would be nice would be very season. Our center doesn’t celebrate holidays but I do incorporate season fairies such as the winter fairy or the autumn fairy, or the spring fairy. Which gives them an opportunity to express different seasonal events Think that by making four big projects based on the fairies would be awesome!
Awesome!
Loved the book that it inspired me to build a little fairy garden in my house or in the classroom with my children in the center
I like this book, however, I will have to modify the story for the younger age group to make it more fun for them. We have birds and squirrels frequenting our garden and playground, therefore, we could use various finds that we collect from our nature walk to create a space for the birds or the squirrels.
Terrific! Love that you are modifying for young children.
At my school, last summer, we built a fairy garden/miniature garden. Unlike in the Fairy Houses book, we used artificial items. What I like about the fairy house in this book and will utilize are: the use of natural nonliving materials and the elimination of artificial material and food directly taken from its sources. This I hope to do as soon as we are back at school. I am thinking as part of a nature walk then put children in individual areas to work outside.
Choose a Book to explore
As a movement theme, I would consider the book Plants Can’t Sit Still by Rebecca E. Hirsch
Thanks for sharing your resources!
My book selection is Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert. It is about a pile of leaves that looks like a man. It talks about different types of leaves. It tells about how the leaf man is taken by the wind to the east, west, north, south. vocabulary rich and landscape description as the leaves travel over the land.
There are many art link possibilities collage, leaf man, sorting leaves and colors.
Great!
This is a great story to inspire creating habitats and shelters by gathering materials in nature. I also feel like this would interest the “builders” of the group to help construct the design. I would incorporate clipboards, paper and pencils to help with making a list of materials, drawing the blueprints and creating signage for the house. This story is also great for writing prompts and story starters.
Great ideas!
I enjoyed this book so much that I went to Barnes and Noble and ordered my own copy for my future classroom. I love the vocabulary and the illustrations The kids would be able to get a lot of ideas on how to construct their own fairy houses after a group reading time with lots of discussion about the fairy houses in the book. I also like the way the author gives ideas at the end of the book on constructing houses throughout the seasons. And the fairies turning into monarchs, that is priceless.
Oh this warms my heart! Fairy Houses provide endless possibilities for learning. I think they capture the wonder and imagination of the child.
The book is so interesting.l believe we can think to create different activities with this book and we also can read it to the kids and to get a video of this too.It is how a wonderful fairy tale.
Pinkalicious: Fairy House to add on the list.
Fairy Houses by Tracy Kane is about a girl name Kristen. She is a fairy and she is in for a surprise when she sets out to build a fairy house in the woods and the Nature wants to get in on the act with her own special cast of characters!
I read this and I like this book. It is cute and has beautiful garden house that she made. This book sounds like a cute fairy tale to live in a small house.
I can adapt this book for my age group, outdoor classroom site, and literacy curriculum is by showing of what it can be real life if you live in this garden house or any garden houses that you love to live in the world.
Wonderful reflections! Love how you are adapting the books to your age group. Fairy Houses are such fun!
Yes, you can make a fairy house in the winter. Great for the sensory table or block area.
YEA!!!
What a wonderfully fun and inspiring book for children! (and adults!) I would add The Ugly Vegetables, by Grace Lin. This might inspire a culturally themed garden.
Yes…a great book!
Having a Sun Dial Garden would be an interesting project, it opens up opportunities for the right teacher to teach some history behind timekeeping as well.
Alphabet Gardens could be a project that the older children could get involved in building in helping the younger children to learn.
I am in the process of creating an alphabet garden. Join the Outdoor Classrooms Facebook Live on Friday and see how I did it. The older kids would love it. Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/OutdoorClassrooms.dotcom/
I loved this book. I will be looking into purchasing this book for our school. The ideas in the back of the book for fairy garden ideas for the season would be very interesting for the children to help with finding the items.
Thrilled that you will be purchasing this book for your school! So many ideas!
The way I can adapt this book above to my age group is by having my little preschoolers make fairy houses like I used to when I was a little kid. The way I can adapt it to my classroom site outside is model to them how to make a fairy house for the little fairies. I would do this by showing them that they need materials found outside to construct one. The way I can adapt this story to my literacy curriculum is act out that they are fairies after reading the story as a class together.
Adding a little dramatic play is wonderful! I imagine the children loving this. Great thinking.
The children I work with could use this book to create a small fairy house within one of the trees or benches. They would enjoy finding small objects to make the fairy house.
Fairy Houses are such fun!
This book will be fun to make a curriculum on the go kit with. we have a few ideas how we could start this December and gather what we need for the houses outside before the snow comes or it gets to cold for us to go out. We could use it as an activity ongoing project that goes throughout the winter months as a way to get outdoors more in winter and into the spring when we transport outdoors.
This makes me so happy! This forward-thinking is going to make your life as a teacher this winter much more delightful. Thinking ahead is the key and putting together a curriculum on the go kit for Fairy Houses is brilliant!
I love the idea of fairy gardens! they are so cute and can be very interactive for my age group. I have 10 – 12 year olds. a way I can extend the story into literatur and into the outdoor classroom is by having the students do research on creating their own fairy garden pieces to put in our outdoor classroom. They can read the research, design the fairy structures and then create them.
Lot’s of awesome engineering can happen here! Great ideas!
A way I feel I could incorporate this book into my classroom would be to use my idea from the previous modules of having the children collect “natures leftovers” and use what they collected to make their own fairy house!
YES!!! Collect before the winter hits…great ideas.
I honestly don’t see how my middle school group would be interested in this. Would there be any books closely related to it that is maybe more age appropriate.
Don’t call them “Fairy Houses.” For your Middle Schoolers…think about Engineering and constructing and building. Make it a challenge. Give them a certain amount of Natures loose parts and ask them to build a structure that is waterproof. Kids LOVE this activity. Put a stuffed animal in the “hut” or “house” and pour water over it and see if the stuffed animal stays dry. Let me know how it works.
I wonder if there might be a way to create a fairy house and attach it to the outside of our classroom window so our infants can see and smell it but aren’t at risk for choking on the tiny parts used (the really tricky part, though, is our window looks out on the toddler playground, and we don’t want them going after our fairies!)
I like this idea and how you are thinking out of the box. It’s worth a try. Remember, everything is figureoutable. So dont’ stop before you start. It’s a very clever idea.
please give me some ideas for doing these things with my infant room
Think about telling stories rather than creating a fairy house. Paint story stones. Create a space the feels like a fairy house and sit inside with infants. It’s about your voice, physical connections, and relationship.
I would maybe make it an owl house since they fly around our school … and there are many different kind of insects and animals that visit our yard so i’m sure we could capture many different things
Sounds really clever. Great thinking about the habitat around your school.
Bringing paper and crayons as well as books children show interest in along textures outside and nature sounds.
Great ideas!
Children can make fairy gardens out of materials in our own playground. Reading this book outside and searching for things to make their own fairy garden will be a great activity. The children could also be encouraged to create their own short story about their fairy garden and share it with the group.
Brilliant ideas. Great thoughts about extension activities.
I think that reason the book “Mud Kitchens”
And have the kids create their own version, outside! It would be a complete mess but an absolute blast. The children could create mud pies and mud houses and just have at it! The messier the better!
LOVE YOUR ATTITUDE! The kids must love you!
I love this …always believed in fairies. Kids enjoy building little houses and incorporating a book .
Have fun with it.
Great stories and ideas
We could probably adapt my Peep house idea into the fairy garden there are a lot of other stories of Fariy circles and other wonderous gardens from history..
Yes. There is so many other fairy house book. Choose what you like. Ask the children which ones they like. Lot’s out there.
I would add the Stuart Little Books to the book list.
Oh…fun! Thanks!
I loved this book. Who doesn’t like fairies?
The kids could collect and bring in little sticks, leaves, acorns, etc. lay them out on a piece of paper or in a Styrofoam bowl and then glue them to create little fairy houses as a fun activity to go with the book.
I might adapt this book to have the student STEAM component tot he lesson. One thing I might struggle with though would be where to display the fairy gardens that would a be safe from curious hands and minds.
Wow, what a beautiful book. I would love to share this with my class and see them create fairy houses outside!
YES !!!! Having the children paint, draw ,have circle time outside to discuss. what they took away from everyone else
Our children would love fairy houses. Can’t wait to show them! ♂️
The “Tiny Seed” by Eric Carle is one of my favorites. He is a wonderful author for all ages. This year I have mostly toddlers and some of the work has to modified.
I love this book and can’t wait to make this curriculum kit! I had two boys last year who spontaneously made little fairy houses “for the bugs” last Spring. It was so charming and creative. I think like so many things, children with good imaginations will lead the way.
Miniature Houses are a great addition to your Outdoor Classroom. Creating an Outdoor Learning station with a variety of loose parts for children to choose from is fun.
Our program has a collaboration going on this year with a therapeutic farm a few miles away. Their director is an old friend of mine, and as we were beginning this collaboration, she confided to me that she had always been a little obsessed with fairies (she told me a story about her mother bringing her and her sister to a small clearing in a wooded area and showing them a large stump which she said was the place where the fairies danced in the moonlight!). She wanted one of our first activities there to be building fairy houses. We took the kids into the woods where there were plenty of loose parts. Their nature director had even added lots of stones, shells, and other bits and pieces. My class was first to go, and my kids seemed to be having difficulty visualizing what to do. I had wanted the experience to be more organic, but in the end, I had to kind of coach them to get things started. I heard that as other classes visited, having the houses constructed by previous groups helped spark things.
In Boothbay, Maine, you can visit the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens — they have (or had) a Fairy Garden Village that children – and ONLY children! – can build in. It was quite wonderful. I visited about 3 or 4 summers ago…. and was very jealous of the children being allowed past the rope dividing the Fairy Village from the World. I itched to get in there!! But alas, too old. Waaaayyy too old!
How wonderful to be part of a therapeutic farm! I love your story about taking the children to the woods to make fairy houses. Fascinating to me that you felt you had to “jump start” the first group of children imaginations the first time. Very telling that we need to more of this work. Our children need it desperately.
Yes, I felt the same way. Our kids needed a lot of prompting especially the younger ones. As the older ones constructed their houses, the younger ones were able to use that visual to get started on their own.
I guess it is like anything. The more you do, the easier it becomes! Keep offering outdoor experiences and observe the slow changes over time. 🙂
I find that sometimes it takes some teacher enthusiasm and modeling of what a fairy house could be to get the kids thinking about it. Also stereotypically the boys get more into pirate potions or making “fires” than fairy houses per se while getting at the same general idea of gathering/mixing and placing materials.
Another teacher at my school did a cute Peter Rabbit theme garden where the kids sewed buttons and we hung those on sticks anchored in the dirt.
Yes…I go back and forth from calling these projects Fairy Houses to Miniature Gardens…Love the Peter Rabbit idea!
Just ordered this book! Love Blueberries for Sal. My mind is full of ideas percolating.
YEA!!!! Gathering Seeds of Inspiration! Write, draw, scribble, and paint all your ideas so you don’t lose them.