Winona Channels Outdoor Activity for Self-Regulation

Winona students enjoy time outdoors in the SOAR initiative.

Winona Elementary School has transformed a grassy section of its front yard this year into an outdoor space that supports self-regulation through outdoor activities.

Developed by learning resource teachers Dana Kingdon and Laura Murray, the program the space supports is nicknamed SOAR – which stands for Self-Regulation through Outdoor Activities and Resources.

The teachers became interested in outdoor learning after visiting a Forest School – an outdoor education experience in which students learn through hands-on activity during time in nature. As Kingdon and Murray reflected on their Forest School experience, they envisioned a way to incorporate the outdoors with what they had learned through a self-regulation course by Stuart Shanker, a distinguished York University professor.

This vision became SOAR. SOAR directly teaches self-regulation and has been used with a variety of students in small groups as well as in whole-class situations. Grade 1 students experienced so much success with SOAR this year that Winona plans to include other grades in the outdoor space.

SOAR uses mini-lessons to help make students and staff aware of their stressors and to develop strategies to relieve these stressors; this can make their brains and bodies calm and ready to learn at all times. The teachers also work directly with students as needs arise, and the outdoor space is used for problem solving, group games and other activities that promote social skills, collaboration, risk taking as well as social and emotional well-being.

Staff have seen dramatic growth in the students who use the outdoor space for SOAR. Social skills have developed, children are better able to articulate how they feel and this means improved problem solving with fewer meltdowns.

Staff say that nothing is as exciting as watching a young girl accomplish an independent walk across the balance beam, while being cheered on by her peers, after days of being terrified thinking she can’t do it. Learning to calm her body and get it back to green in order to even allow her to try is a huge feat for a six year old.