Fly Your ‘V’

Last year, the geese commanded the attention of my school community.  Everyday before the children arrived at school, the geese flew into the field and settled in to stay throughout the day.  They made sure their presence was known, ushering children away from the field in their not-so-subtle way.

And so, we started learning about geese.  Why are they here?  Where did they come from?  Why might they like our field so much?  We also started having some fun, trying to run in a ‘V’, just like the geese soar in the sky.  This was an activity I learned from The Book of Nature Activities by Drew Monkman & Jacob Rodenburg- a resource I highly recommend checking out.

Trying to run in a ‘V’ formation was incredibly fun! It also allowed children to experience the different roles and responsibilities held by the geese, depending on where they find themselves in the formation.  We learned that every goose has a role to play, and it really isn’t particularly easy being anywhere in the ‘V’- whether you lead, follow or sweep.  It takes working together, looking out for one another, and lots of practice!  There are so many connections in this experience to our own lives, to our many roles and the responsibilities we carry.  For the educators reading here- it makes a good authentic connection to primary Social Studies, don’t you think?

There are also some great Literacy connections.  When I hear the honking, I look to the sky, and there I find a beautiful ‘V’ written for all to see. How cool is that?  It makes me wonder- what other letters can we find in nature?! And, can we make our own letters, too?

A couple of years ago I transferred schools, and these last two questions became the backbone of my work, allowing me to get to know the new land I was working in, as well as the new community I was working with.  For the first two months, everyday, the children chose a new letter to create and find.  Off we would go, looking for the letter in the land, and creating new and fun ways to write the letters.  On our mission, we learned about all of the special outdoor learning spaces our school has, including the rolling hill and the sandbox.  We learned about each other as we worked together; sometimes children chose to pair up or make groups to make giant letters with their bodies.  We also established all of the necessary routines that would enable us to successfully engage in regular outdoor learning.  It was incredibly fun, and we created a wonderful end product- a letter wall for our school hallway with pictures of all of the different ways we made the letters of the alphabet.

Should this idea peak your interest, I highly recommend checking out the book “Twig” by Aura Parker.  It is a great story and has fantastic illustrations to support you and children in thinking about different ways to make letters and numbers outside!

I also recommend checking out my latest song offering, “Fly Your V”.  It is a soft tune, one I actually often sing as a lullaby to my own children at this time of year.  It would be lovely to sing or play this song while children lay looking up at the sky to prompt them to think about their wonderings about geese.  This can spark inquiry! I also made a video for this song with my own children, which I recommend watching with the children in your care to inspire you all to get outside and find and create letters in the land!  For older children, it might be fun to try and write whole words, such as names, or perhaps to spell out new vocabulary they are learning.

I hope you have fun, and would love to hear how it goes!  If you post any pictures inspired by this song or post, I would love it if you tagged me @landheartsong so I can see and share the inspiration with others!