EVER ACTIVE SCHOOLS
SUMMER INSTITUTE
CONNECTING TO LAND AND NATURE-BASED LEARNING August 24th & 25th, 2016 Snow Valley Ski Club, Edmonton AB
EVER ACTIVE SCHOOLS
SUMMER INSTITUTE
BIO’S AND DESCRIPTIONS AT WWW.EVERACTIVE.ORG/EASSI
CONNECTING TO LAND AND NATURE-BASED LEARNING
EVER ACTIVE SCHOOLS
SUMMER INSTITUTE
SESSION DESCRIPTIONS Wednesday August 24th, 2016 Breakout 1: 10:00am - 10:45am A) Tarmac Games By Healther Rootsart, ECSD Tag you’re it! Do you remember playing marbles, jacks, hopscotch & other more traditional games as a kid? Let’s go back to the basics! We’ll focus primarily on Tarmac games like hopscotch and four square with modifications and adaptations for outside or indoors. B) Julie’s Top Five: How I incorporate nature into my Kindergarten classroom By Julie Pelchat, STAR Catholic School Division Come experience 5 ways I incorporate learning and the outdoors, from measurement and patterns in math to camouflage games in science, and vocabulary nature walks in language arts. Build on my ideas, and create new ones. C) Risky Play! By Leigh DeLong, Vivo for Healthier Generations Vivo for Healthier Generations has introduced Risky Play into their summer camps. Come explore the elements of risky play, why kids love it and learn from it, and see how we can adapt it to a school environment. Let’s Play!
Breakout 2: 11:00am - 11:45am A) GPS Treasure Hunt By Jodi Harding-Kuriger, HPEC - Health and Physical Education Council Group members will be creating a set of waypoints for another group. Select 4 destinations around the area. With your team, decide on a theme for your waypoint destinations. For example, perhaps each place you “mark” has a
unique colour, or perhaps a new tree, or a different shape. When you have finished marking 4 waypoints, you will put your GPS in the bin, and take out a new one. You and your team will find the destinations/waypoints of another team. Can you guess the theme of their cache points? B) Ground Yourself in Nature: How nature can support positive mental health and managing anxiety By Chesa Corsiatto, Ever Active Schools With reported rates of anxiety rising and students spending more and more time indoors, we must recognize the importance of connecting with nature and spending time outdoors for our health & well-being. Come learn about nature’s link to positive mental health and how it can support students in self-regulation and managing anxiety. Experience firsthand some simple, easy grounding activities you can take back to your classroom and use with your students. C) Nature Journaling By Antonella Bell, University of Alberta Nature journaling is the regular recording of observations, perceptions and feelings about the natural world around you. I believe that the nature journal is perhaps the simplest and most effective tool for connecting children to nature. Come and learn how to make this type of journaling an integral part of your time outside.
Breakout 3: 1:00pm - 1:45pm A) Deepening students relationships with the natural world By Paul Kelba, CBE “How do we design and lead activities in the natural world that make the
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Pg 1 student the star?” As soon as we begin ‘stepping into the outdoor world’ there are many ways to ensure students genuinley connect. We will cover sensory activities, the knowledge building circle (KBC) process and resources on deepening connections. (For a possible inquiry project, non?) B) Nature Kids By Jerry Gordy, Nature Alberta The majority of children live in urban settings and do not have much opportunity to discover nature for themselves. Nature Alberta’s Nature Kids program was launched in 2004 to help connect kids and families to nature. This session will talk about the Nature Kids program and how teachers can include it in their curriculum. C) CHANGE Adventure Camp by Dr. Doug Klein For today’s youth, nature is found on Youtube rather than through real experience.The CHANGE Adventure Camp is a new project connecting children and families with nature and developing healthy life habits. Activities include Obstacles Courses; Common Birds and Plants; and the Nature Explorer. Come and learn how you create Adventure at your school.
Breakout 4: 2:00pm - 2:45pm A) Orienteering By Dorothy Penner, Edmonton Overlanders Orienteering Program Orienteering: What is it? How do you do it? Come experience a mini try-it event, plus receive tips on introducing orienteering maps to your outdoor classroom.
EVER ACTIVE SCHOOLS
SUMMER INSTITUTE
SESSION DESCRIPTIONS B) eARTh: Creating art with natural materials! By Chesa Corsiatto, Ever Active Schools Who needs art supplies when you have access to nature! Come learn how to incorporate natural materials into your art classes, giving your students an opportunity to get creative and spend time outdoors. In this session, we will have fun foraging for supplies and creating all-natural masterpieces! C) Sharing Aboriginal culture and traditions through Storytelling with a focus on the role of the natural world By Candy Morningway, Alberta Native Friendship Centre Association (ANFCA) Aboriginal communities/cultural groups regularly tell stories. Through stories and songs, we keep our history alive and pass it on to subsequent generations. Storytelling has always been a communal experience, bringing people together to share a past, to explain why things are the way they are, why we do what we do and how we do them. It shares social values, beliefs, norms and expectations. It helps people understand their place in community and gives them an appreciation for our role in the natural world as conservationists. The mediums of storytelling continue to evolve as the culture does – we will explore the importance of oral traditions as well as stories through pictographs, petroglyphs, art, totem poles, song and dance and technology and how you can incorporate the concept of storytelling and the role of nature within these stories into many curriculum outcomes. Additional discussion will be on the need to understand the people of the land
and how they differ by region – how their stories have evolved and the need to ensure the urban Indigenous story is also represented. We will talk about how Friendship Centres across the province can become partners in this journey.
Thursday August 25th, 2016 Breakout 5: 9:30am - 10:15am A) How to plan a nature-based trip that can’t be cancelled (from the school-yard to overnights) By Paul Kelba, CBE We will look into the four types of student ‘expeditions’, the importance of the first time students embark outside and connecting with newer Canadians. We will briefly discuss (not to dwell) on roadblocks with taking students outside the classroom then discuss the vital steps to set up our trips up for success, for any age. B) Tips and tricks for school gardening: Preparing a garden space By Claudia Bolli, Wild Green Garden Consulting and coordinator of Sustainable Food Edmonton’s Little Green Thumbs Program Throughout this session, participants will learn how to prepare for planting, including accessing water and tools, and how to rejuvenate a garden bed or build a simple grow box. We will discuss container options and lasagna gardening, all while making curriculum links. C) Playwork By Lauren Turner, Leeds Beckett University Playwork is a recognized profession in the UK. It is about creating
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Pg 2 opportunities and environments for children to create and engage in their own play. Playwork focuses on allowing the children to experience risks and follow their own agenda in their play. This session will talk about what playwork is, what makes a rich play environment, and our role as adults in children’s play.
Breakout 6: 10:30am - 11:15am A) Acting Outside: Encouraging Environmental Connectedness in Children through Role-Play By Emma Ausford, University of Alberta, Devonian Botanical Gardens Role-play is a great way to link curricular concepts and natural curiosity through incorporating place-based learning, creative teaching practices, and student inquiry. With role-play, participants shape the activity; shifting from passive observers to active creators. This session will cover the impacts of dramatic program delivery, as well as provide an opportunity to “Act Outside”! B) Tips and tricks for school gardening: Successful crops in school gardens By Claudia Bolli, Wild Green Garden Consulting and coordinator of Sustainable Food Edmonton’s Little Green Thumbs Program During this part two session of tips and tricks for school gardening, participants will learn What to Grow throughout the season, and experience other activities to enhance a garden including nesting boxes, pollinator homes, and arts and crafts.
EVER ACTIVE SCHOOLS
SUMMER INSTITUTE
CONNECTING TO LAND AND NATURE-BASED LEARNING
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Screening is open to all Ever Active Schools Institute participants for FREE. Those interested in the screening and not attending the institute can purchase tickets using EventBrite - http://bit.ly/2asmuTQ Want to register for the Summer Institute? Visit: www.everactive.org/eassi