Teachers in Montgomery County, Maryland started the school year with fun, multicultural outdoor literacy lessons thanks to a bilingual book walk provided by Conservation Nation Academy.
What is a book walk? It’s an interactive way to read a book while walking!
Book walks provide endless opportunities for students to learn outdoors, allowing teachers to turn their schoolyards and courtyards into instant outdoor classrooms where literacy comes alive in creative ways with these large semi-permanent displays. Thanks to our friends at Syncretic Press and a grant from the Nora Roberts Foundation, we provided a durable bilingual book walk that can move from school to school, so thousands of students can nurture their empathy for nature this year.
A day of nature walks, collaborative poems, and bookmaking
The inspiration for a traveling set of book walks came from teachers who attended our Earth Day training in partnership with MCPS Outdoor Environmental Education Programs and led by Caroline Brewer, Children’s Book Author and Literacy & Environment Consultant.
Over the course of three hours, 16 teachers and media specialists from 15 Title 1 schools learned how to blend literacy and outdoor exploration, made nature books, and practiced hands-on ways of using nature-based children’s books in support of science, social emotional learning, and language arts standards. Each educator was grateful to receive four beautiful hardcover children’s books featuring diverse authors and characters as well as hands-on ideas for making nature-themed books with their students.
And the best part? Being able to borrow and share ideas for implementing the bilingual book walk!
I loved doing the nature walk and then writing a poem about it. That is something I can’t wait to try with my students!
I love that we can borrow the book walk!
The first “tour” of the book walk in May and June was a big hit for hundreds of students from preschool to fifth grade at seven different schools. At Rolling Terrace ES, a Spanish Immersion school in Silver Spring, families enjoyed reading the book together in the courtyard during their annual Language Night. The book walk continued its tour of schools this fall starting at Flower Hill Elementary in Gaithersburg, where Media Specialist Melissa King set up the story in a courtyard outside the media center.
Reflecting on the experience, she shared, “This book was perfect for connecting our pollinator gardens with the bees and other pollinators that they attract. My students love exploring books and nature outside, and the book walk was a wonderful way to include movement with literacy.”
This initiative was so successful that MCPS has invested in purchasing additional book walks for students this fall. Conservation Nation was thrilled to be part of this effort to plant the seeds that will nurture the next generation of nature stewards!
