Taking your class outside isn’t just a way to engage them in science and geography. Your NEA colleagues who set to strolling when the temperatures rise say it also can inspire students’ writing or illustrate a math concept — and it’s an excellent incentive for better behavior.
And consider this: Kids these days are so plugged into their computers and video games, they simply don’t get outside enough. Author Richard Louv calls it “nature deficit disorder,” and in his 2005 book, “Last Child in the Woods,” said a fourth-grader told him, “I like to play indoors because that’s where all the electrical outlets are.”