Year 4 virtual camp out

The Outdoor Education team members are really missing our interactions with the boys, especially since these past few weeks would have seen the Year 4s and Year 6s embark on their Outdoor Ed programs.

Thankfully, we were able to gain special permission to take over the scheduled DL2.0 Maths class last Thursday for the Year 4s and encourage the boys to tune into their local natural environments. 

The boys followed me (via Zoom) as I showed them around my neighbourhood and they had fun guessing if different plants were Natives (from Australia) or non-Natives (from other parts of the world). The boys were encouraged to watch the clouds, keeping an eye out for fun shapes in the sky; do a mindful listening activity by focusing on the bird sounds around their houses; and create art from natural objects collected from their backyards or neighbourhoods. We often do these activities during Outdoor Education programs, so why not try them out from home?

After baking traditional Aussie Damper, boys and their families were invited to join me around my backyard campfire for some sharing, storytelling and a sing-a-long led by Mr Gurry. It was great to see the outdoor and indoor ‘camping’ set ups the boys had created and feel their excited energy – even Mr Tellefson, Mrs Anthony and Ms Davies joined us in in our ‘backyard camping’ experience.

Special thanks to all the parents who joined in and helped their sons with the activities; to Mrs Anthony and Ms Davies for organising the online content; and the Outdoor Ed team of Josh Murray and Carly West who facilitated the background Zoom sessions and created educational content.

David Gemmell
Head of Outdoor Education