While exploring the North Forest with Kindergarten students during their weekly North Forest time, a student looked up at me with a sparkle in her eyes and exclaimed, “Look at that animal home in our classroom!”

I was surprised to hear her refer to the forest as her classroom, so I prompted her to tell me more. “Ms. Higginson’s class is our inside classroom, and this is our outside classroom,” she said with a beaming smile. Reflecting on her statement, I couldn’t help but think about how lucky our Meadowridge community is to step outside our doors into such a beautiful extension of our classrooms. Every week, on Tuesday afternoons, the Kindergarteners have designated time to connect their learning to their environment. This particular week, related to their Unit of Inquiry, focused on seasonal changes, students roamed the North Forest trails looking for signs of animal tracks, animal homes, and animal food in the winter. 

Connected to their Unit of Inquiry focused on mindfulness, self-regulation and metacognition, you can predictably find Grade 3 students on Wednesday mornings in our North Forest. Students often connect with nature through activities such as Shinrin-yoku, a forest bathing experience that stimulates the senses and promotes relaxation. Through their time in nature, students experience and learn about the positive effect that connecting with nature has on our brains. As they recognize the outdoors as a tool in their self-regulation toolkits, their time in nature helps students grow as principled and balanced learners. 

In Junior Kindergarten, outdoor learning and play are essential to their daily routine. Rain or shine, they are out on the forest trails observing and exploring nature. A puddle transforms from a place to watch frogs in the spring to a spot where they observe the properties of ice in the winter, opening their world to new perspectives as they experience the outdoors through the seasons.

These outdoor learning experiences are integral for skill development as students foster their social, thinking, self-management and gross-motor skill development. Academic growth is also encouraged through outdoor exploration.

Students discuss and practice measurement concepts using sticks and rulers to explore the water height in the stream or the circumference of one of our beautiful campus cedar trees. During their Sharing the Planet Unit of Inquiry, Junior Kindergarten students investigated questions such as: What is our responsibility as humans to keep our environment healthy and safe? How can we clean up garbage safely in our school community? To answer these questions, our students go outdoors to investigate, observe and take action! 

If you’re looking for the Grade 5s on a Friday morning, dress appropriately for the weather, as they are often out at the campground or on our North Forest Trails. From finding patterns in nature during a math activity to writing Haiku poetry, Grade 5s love to experience their learning outdoors. Connected to their current unit, which explores topics related to immigration, the Grade 5s engaged in an activity to explore how connecting with nature can support new immigrants to Canada. By situating themselves outdoors, they discussed how nature can help people feel calm. They observed the sun, the clouds, bushes, and a stream, noting how people might find comfort in connecting to these familiar objects in nature. 

We are so fortunate at Meadowridge that our students can look out of their classroom windows to see the sun shining softly through the branches of the trees that line the North Forest Trail or catch glimpses of the deer sneaking an afternoon snack from our community garden. However, the opportunity to bring our learning to life outdoors is truly a gift our campus provides to our community. Be sure to check in with your child about their favourite outdoor experiences at Meadowridge, and don’t forget to spend some time outdoors as a family.
 

Written by:
Ms. Stephanie Kinneard,

Elementary School Associate Principal