Oppenhagen Column: Students must get back to nature

I generally arrive to school in the morning way before any students. My son is a high schooler and, since his school is on the way to mine, I drop him off and then continue on.  This morning was a little
different. I had a doctor’s appointment before school and when I arrived, there were already many students milling about. 

Well, perhaps this morning milling wouldn’t be quite accurate — they were in a largish circle and giggling, shouting and generally arousing my curiosity.  As I walked from the parking lot to the building, I
detoured to the circle to see what was going on.  There, in the midst of a group of pre-teens was one small green frog.

Now, I grew up in suburbs.  I know what frogs look like, and birds and rabbits and rats and roaches and bees and all the other small members of the animal kingdom. And I know that, for the most part,
they are more afraid of us than we are of them.  If you leave them alone, you could spend hours watching them as they go about their daily routine. 

But I spent a lot of time outside when I was growing up. I walked to a lot of the places I needed to go to. I hung out in the backyard playing with the dog. I didn’t spend time in front of the television playing
video games or writing on Facebook.

There were no home computers and Atari was about as advanced a game system as you could get. I believe most of you would agree when I say that children these days do not spend a lot of time
outside. 

Which explains the difference in the approach between these middle schoolers and myself when it came to the frog. 

When I left him, froggie was on the sidewalk, heading toward the grassy lawn. After a few minutes in the office, I could hear the loud commotion outside, almost as if there were a fight with an engaged
audience. The office secretary was concerned, as she didn’t know about the visitor. I explained to her what was happening; we both chuckled. And then I went back outside.

The children had cornered the frog. It was so frightened, you could almost see it shake.  The kids were yelling at it (thankfully, none of them were throwing things at it). So I went over to the frog, bent
down, and picked him up in one swoop. 

I have to admit I was surprised — I’ve never had such as easy time picking up a frog before. As some of the girls shrieked and some of the boys looked upon me in awe, I walked the poor critter over to a
large tree in a grassy spot across the driveway from our front door. 

I let the frog go and in seconds, he perfectly blended with the grass and took off. I deprived the students of their excitement, but left them buzzing about the fact that Ms. O had actually picked up the
frog. 

As I climbed the stairs to my classroom, I thought about the reaction the kids had had to the frog and said to myself that kids need to get out more. And they do. 

It’s difficult to prescribe a quick and easy solution, however. The streets are not always safe so that kids can roam around or play ball outside.  Many kids need to care for younger siblings, which is much
easier and safer inside the four walls of a home. And it’s difficult to plan a field trip around testing schedules, etc.

Getting the kids outside doesn’t necessarily mean field trips, however. There are many schools with outdoor classrooms. 

These natural settings offer the opportunity for students to explore the environment during a class period rather than over the course of an entire day. Students can be inspired to write a poem or study an
insect or measure tree heights — all things that can be done either indoors or out. 

And an outdoor classroom doesn’t have to be elaborate. It can be as simple as picnic tables and chairs set out under an awning or umbrella. Teachers could conduct class in the outdoors rather than
inside the classroom. 

Sure, it’s a little more of a challenge for the teacher to be without a chalkboard (yep — I still have a chalkboard), but with the support of the parent organizations, materials could be purchased to make the
challenge surmountable. It takes some out-of-the-box thinking, but I think in the long run, the increased exposure to the outside would do the students a world of good. 

And the small animals they encounter.

Denise Oppenhagen is a longtime resident of Prince William County and can be reached at ’s columns will now be published on the editorial page every Saturday.