Information for Teachers
Outdoors with Friends is a small but effective organization here in D.C. that specializes in providing experiential educational lessons to children of any age. We go directly into your classroom with a specific program and teach it to your students. We use live animals to accentuate the experience, and we sing songs, play games and laugh as much as possible.
We have several different classes that we offer but are always happy to work with your teachers to customize a lesson plan that coincides with what your students have been studying. All classes are at least one hour long and we are more than willing to “stretch” that a bit if the program is going well and students are engaged. We use large, cartoon-like visuals for all our lessons and all new vocabulary words used during the classes are displayed on our back board in a big, fun font. At the end of the lesson we’ll make a craft that allows your students to take something home, i.e. paper bug antennae, snake masks, scale armor. We will also provide your teachers with an information packet that includes follow-up activities and work sheets.
We have a large collection of animals, both exotic and domestic. Your students will have an opportunity to view them up close and even touch them. All of our animals are docile. They are safe and non-venomous.
Some of the classes we have offered in the past have been on hibernation, reptile development, mammals, amphibians, geology and soil study, outdoor living skills, animal homes, art and math found in nature and water quality study. Our charge is $6 per student per hour for up to 30 students. After that, the cost drops to $4 per student. As said before, our lessons are designed to last one hour. We can handle large groups but the larger the class (50 or more) the harder it is to engage all students, so we would ask that you keep class size to 45 or less. Our current client list includes the local public school systems as well as private schools in the area, and we can provide references from both.
Please consider us for your upcoming activities and if you have any questions, please call us at 202.758.3377 or email Matt Walters at matt@outdoorswithfriends.com.