Listed below are activities that are appropriate for use in the Outdoor Classrooms at TJ, Mt. Daniel, and Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School in Falls Church City. For each activity, correlations to SOLs for each grade are listed below the activity. Activities are listed alphabetically and by grade level. The source of each activity is provided, if available.
To see the activities that are currently used at TJ, click here.
Note: You can use the Adopt a Tree booklet or the longer Adopt a Tree journal as worksheets for students to record their Adopt a Tree data for this activity. Additional activities include making a leaf print t-shirt from their own and their classmates' leaves.
Classifying Aquatic Debris (Virginia's Water Resources) 1st and 2nd grade Social Studies - 1.10, 2.10 1st and 3rd grade Science - 1.8, 3.10 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade Language Arts - 1.3, 1.12, 2.3, 3.9 K and 1st grade Math - K.17, 1.20
Flower Bulb Timeline (Tuckahoe Elementary) Appropriate for all elementary grades, this lesson is specific to Tuckahoe's gardens but can be adapted to TJ or Mt. Daniel. Incorporates time lines (1st grade), investigation, plant cycles, and several other concepts.
Note: Martin Ogle, mentioned in this lesson, is the Chief Naturalist for the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority and works at Potomac Overlook Regional Park. If he is not able to do this lesson with your class, a local Falls Church naturalist or parent volunteer could do the lesson, or this lesson could be adapted to what you know about.)
Note: Something that could go with this lesson is a guessing game about things that come from trees. The leader puts a sticker/label on each student's back that has the name of a tree product on it. The students have to guess what their product is by asking other students questions. After the game, the class discusses their product and how it came from trees, whether they were surpised, etc. Emphasis is on the importance of conservation / recycling of products that come from trees. You can use this sheet of labels with tree products listed. For younger grades, you could develop a sheet of pictures.
