EKOLogy Vision Statement:

We believe that learning in the outdoors develops confident, intellectually curious, empathetic and creative children.

Through outdoor learning experiences, children will develop a sense of wonder and gratitude in the beauty, diversity, and complexity of the world...

and will become environmentally and socially responsible people with a passion for lifelong learning.

OUR OUTDOOR LEARNING PROGRAM:

• learning through outdoor experiences
• integrates BC’s curriculum with the innate wonderings and curiosity of the students.

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

• teachers facilitate emergent, experiential, inquiry-based, play-based, and place-based learning

PLACE-BASED LEARNING

• building a deep and on-going relationship to place.
• place-based learning: children form intimate relationships with place through regular visits to the same outdoor environment

RISK

• teachers help children identify and navigate risk.
• opportunities to experience risk an integral part of learning and healthy development.

ALIGNS WITH FIRST PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING

• Recognizes role of indigenous knowledge
• Involves patience and time
• Learning embedded in memory, history and story

CORE COMPETENCIES

• learning in the outdoors fosters children's competencies as creative and critical thinkers, effective communicators, and people who are personally, socially and environmentally aware

WHY OUTDOORS

RESEARCH

• improved confidence, social skills, communication, motivation, and concentration
• improved physical stamina, fine and gross motor skills

RESEARCH

• Positive identity formation for individuals and communities
• Environmentally sustainable behaviours and ecological literacy

RESEARCH

• Healthy and safe risk-taking;
• Improved creativity and resilience
• Improved academic achievement and self-regulation;

RESEARCH

• Reduced stress and increased patience, self-discipline, capacity for attention, and recovery from mental fatigu
• Improved higher level cognitive skills
• Male inclusion in education

RESEARCH

• Increased knowledge of environment, increased frequency of visiting nature within families

HOW OUTDOORS

ROUTINES

• Children are responsible for their own clothing: putting it on and hanging it up to dry

SAFETY ROUTINES

• We have established safety guidelines for students.
• Clear boundaries
• Whistle

AGREEMENT FOR SAFETY

• Children adhere to rules when they discuss together and understand reasons why they should follow them

LEARNING IN THE CLASSROOM

• Soft Starts
• Daily 5
• Math Daily
• Library and Music
• Gym

KINDERGARTEN CLASS

• Journaling and oral story telling
• build number sense and flexibility
• Play-based using loose parts

WHEN OUTDOORS

SCHEDULED OUTDOOR TIME

• Whole school times
• K's one hour after recess plus extra nature walk times
• Grade 1, 2, 3's one hour after recess and extra time in afternoons

WHAT OUTDOORS

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• Interdisciplinary learning
• Authentic contexts
• Student agency

Interdisciplinary

“The real world does not compartmentalise maths and reading, for example, so it makes little sense to organize a child’s learning in this way."

Authentic learning contexts

• Inquiry-based learning
• Experiential learning
• Relevant to children's lives

Agency

• Student choice
• Engagement
• Motivation
• Life-long learners

WHERE OUTDOORS

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• Pergola to be built Wetland reclamation in back corner Keery Park Redwood Park Pumpkin Patch Semiahmoo fish and Game
• A Rocha
• New picnic tables

REMINDERS

• Water bottle everyday
• Indoor shoes
• Student responsibility in dressing for weather
• Waterproof better than water resistnat

REMINDERS

• Get kids to help pack lunches
• Include fruit and vegetables
• Let them pack and unpack backpack with you

COMMUNICATING STUDENT LEARNING

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