Penn Wood Elementary School

Gifted Program

January 2008  Newsletter

Dear Parents,

Today the temperature at Penn Wood was well below freezing yet the sun invites all to sample our campus in the winter season.  Penn Wood is alive and well with many birds visiting our feeders and our woods open and revealing.  Much research points toward the many benefits of having our children experience nature on a personal and daily basis, even at this time of year. 

On one hand, our children experience the incredible benefits afforded by technology dominated by computers, video  and TV.  Our ever growing fast pace of living and the promise of global connections makes it imperative that our students have the skills to compete.  I am however, concerned with the disconnect that I see with our natural environment exhibited by our younger generation.

The benefits of providing our students with daily natural experiences are far reaching.  The sensory experience can go a long way toward providing wellness and a centered feeling.   Years ago many children played outside after school in the fields, woods, and meadows near their homes. Creating forts, castles and kingdoms invited imagination, problem solving, and physical wellness. Today, many of our children  only associate the outdoors as a field with lines, organized and structured with predetermined rules and expectations.  Let us also free our students and ourselves for the simple but endearing possibilities that a family walk and imaginative play can provide to the quality of life we experience.

Author of the book Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv, will be at West Chester University on February 20, 2008. His book speaks to the separation I mention in this note.  Please contact me if you would like information about attending his presentation.  Richard Louv's book brings much of this discussion into full focus.

 

The next three months are the most intense of the elementary school year. There will be high expectations placed on all of our children.  I hope we will also work to provide the gift of time spent outdoors, with wind blowing the promises of tomorrow gently across the faces of our most valuable assets.

Best wishes,

Sandy Maxwell

Penn Wood Elementary  Gifted Resource Teacher

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