Into the Swishy Swashy Grass

Story appeared in the 2019 issue of QMS Connections Magazine.

BY HAYLEY PICARD, COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER

Inspirational ideas for engaging experiential learning activities can come from anywhere. They can be new or recycled as long as the ideas can draw in and capture the imagination of the learner.

In the case of QMS Teacher Librarian, Jana Pedersen, her Story Walks activity proved so successful that it begged the question, where did the idea come from? Jana smiles broadly, “The Story Walks took a village to complete, but the idea was suggested by a single individual.”

Each year, Jana hunts for fun, new ways to immerse children into the endless imaginary worlds created by the printed word. It was on this quest that Jana had the opportunity to speak with QMS parent Dina Holbrook, who provided the idea of a Story Walk—a physical reconstruction of a book to enhance a love of literacy. A Story Walk is an activity designed to allow children to read a story while experiencing the words reflected in the pages. With a natural 27-acre campus at her disposal, QMS was the perfect place to establish an interactive stage for our youngest students.

“It takes the right book to be able to recreate its world through sight, sound and touch,” explains QMS’ Teacher Librarian. “We chose We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and The Sidewalk Rescue by Hazel Hutchins because they are classics, age appropriate, and imbue the right vibe for the participating students. They were stories we could bring to life at QMS.”

Dina Holbrook donated the books and laminated the pages needed for the physical pathway. The QMS Maintenance team created the stakes needed for posting the story pages and the mother of QMS teacher, Sue Stone, provided 70 teddy bears from her personal collection to hand out to each child in Junior Kindergarten through Grade 2. The Grade 3’s had five golden bears hidden on their bear hunt (also donated by Holbrook), heightening their environmental awareness in an effort to find one of the little cubs.

Jana led each class outside where they drew their own sidewalk stories or touched the “swishy swashy” grass, went “splish splosh” by the pool, and “squelch squerched” their way through mud. Oh, what a bear hunt! “A child can run their finger along the words of a book in a classroom, but when that same child is physically moving around campus to run their fingers along the words while being outside, it’s a completely different experience,” explains Jana.

“This activity was different for each child, and had children getting excited about books, children who weren’t the usual book lovers. When children lose their love of books at a young age, it’s difficult to get that back. Anything we can do to reinforce a positive relationship with print will be invaluable to their lifelong learning.”

From sidewalk adventures to bear hunts, what is next? Jana’s smile is infectious. “A stuffy sleepover may be in the works for next year, because really, what child doesn’t want to know what kind of mischief their stuffy could get up to during a sleepover at the QMS library?”