5yan Carr

I’ll never understand pointless vandalism. On the top is what the bins I hide things in for scavenger hunts in our outdoor classroom look like. On the bottom is what they look like if you leave them out for more than a day. Not expensive, but it’s just a waste. @GearyGators

We took writing outside yesterday. We’ve been practicing mindful listening and descriptive writing in class, so with the beautiful warm sun we made the outdoors our classroom. And made the best of it. @GearyGators

This makes learning about habitats a little more engaging!

We have been trying to research the salamanders we got from the wet area around the school. We are still not 100% positive what species they are, but using the digital microscope we got a great up close look at them. We are releasing them to a nearby, safe place soon @GearyGators

Let kids play in the ditches. Let kids play in the pools of run-off. Why? They will learn about the world around them. Today our 3-5’s discovered that the drainage ditch around our soccer field makes a great habitat for salamanders. Hitting those outcomes! @GearyGators

We need to keep our sap cool in between collection days so keeping it outside on a cool day seems logical. But I didn’t want the beautiful sun beating on it all day. So, I present to you, Sap Boy! A sweet little addition to our school, dressed in the finest attire @GearyGators

When your school’s neighbour who has a sugar shack and is boiling down sap calls, you answer! We hiked up to watch maple syrup production in action this afternoon. We also got to see a saw mill and aged some trees by counting growth rings. @GearyGators

This week @GearyGators tapped a half dozen trees to start our second year of collecting sap for maple syrup. The kids did some math today, estimating how much sap we had using measuring cups. A slow first day, but we estimated about 3.5L of sap in the first 24 hours.

The indoor gardens are rocking! The kids will have lots of new growth to see come Monday, and I’d say they’ll be doing some thinning and weeding in that planter bed. Thank you so much to Leola Langille, Amy Durant, and Adam Bowering for helping to make this happen. @GearyGators

We snuck out for a quick visit to the outdoor classroom this afternoon. Some ladies were showing off the newest woods fashions! 😆 We also spotted hare tracks and grouse in the fresh snow. I was too slow to get a pic of the grouse but we can still see the tracks @GearyGators

We’ve had a busy couple of days in Grade 3. Yesterday we video chatted with some residents of a local special care home to talk about gardens, and today we made bird seed cakes to be put out in our outdoor classroom. @GearyGators

Tower Garden @GearyGators is rolling along. We’ve got peas, basil, tomatoes, and lettuce already sprouted and the nasturtiums are just starting. The carrots and nasturtiums are starting in their own bed too.

Getting ready to plant some 🥬 🍓 🌸 🍅’s tomorrow. Thanks to facilities and our district maintenance team for problem solving with us to get our electrical plugs situation sorted out. @GearyGators

The rest of the indoor gardens set up @GearyGators

Snow day? More like getting the indoor gardens set up day. @GearyGators

This week we went to the outdoor classroom and found our first definite signs of deer. We brought in a few droppings and put our digital microscope to use to see if we could figure out what they might be eating. As one student said “lots of fibre!” lol @GearyGators

We love our outdoor classroom, but it can present challenges for some of our learners that find boundaries tricky to manage. To ensure we are inclusive we are adding clear visuals and creating social stories to help all of our learners experience the outdoors. @GearyGators

Things have finally frozen up in our outdoor classroom and we are back in the swing of things. Teamwork happening on the fort building, building our balance skills on a springy log, and looking for signs of critters on our paths. @GearyGators

The students found a really interesting piece of ice inside one of the tires in the outdoor classroom today. Shaped like a crescent, hollow in the middle, and open at both ends it made a great telephone and horn! Music and Science in action! @GearyGators

What do you do after the cold November rain hits the outdoor classroom? You try not to have any spaghetti incidents, and use your illus…imagination too. Also, you build a bridge across the “lake” at your fort so you and your friends can play. @GearyGators