NPR – Emily Hanford
“Kids in the U.S. are spending less time outside. Even in kindergarten, recess is being cut back. But in the small town of Quechee, Vt., a teacher is bucking that trend: One day a week, she takes her students outside — for the entire school day. It’s called Forest Monday. Eliza Minnucci got the idea after watching a documentary about a forest school in Switzerland where kids spend all day, every day, out in the woods. “I would do that in a heartbeat,” she thought to herself. Then reality hit. “We’re in a public school in America. That’s not going to happen.” But her principal at the Ottauquechee School in central Vermont surprised her by saying: Try it. Every Monday morning, the kids suit up for a day outdoors. Rain or shine — even in the bitter cold — they go out. They head to the woods next to their school where they’ve built a home site with forts and a fire pit.”(more)