Expanding a program which has a classroom as big as the great outdoors seems like a natural fit for the Foothills School Division.
However, it will be up to students, parents and stakeholders to decide whether an expanded Nature-based Learning program will proceed at École Percy Pegler School next school year.
Ryan Lemphers and Graham Campbell, Nature-based learning teachers at École Percy Pegler and Westmount School, presented to Foothills School Division trustees in October a proposal to expand the program to Grades K to Grade 6 at Pegler in 2021-22.
At present, Ryan Lemphers has one Grade 6 class at Pegler and Campbell a Grade 4 class at Westmount. The students spend Tuesdays and Thursdays outside for the entire day, rather than in a classroom.
“Our experience has been for many kids this has changed their education in a good way – it has inspired them and given them connections to the real world that they don’t always get in the classroom,” Lemphers said on Nov. 10. “There’s the sense of confidence, the mental and physical health aspects, and the academic connection is so significant and broad there is this huge value to it.”
Now the teachers are looking for input from parents.
A feasibility study asking parents if they are interested in the program is being done. The proposal would have Campbell and Lemphers teaching the program at Pegler, with the one class now at Westmount being dropped.
As an alternative program it would be available to all students in the division,
“It is teaching the Alberta curriculum – reading, math, writing all of the subjects can take place outside,” Lemphers said. “I believe these kids are empowered with the sense of ownership and responsibility for the Earth and our community.
“That happens because they experience this place that we live in in so many ways.”
On Nov. 10, the students walked to the cenotaph and journaled about valour, they ventured to McRae Street and discussed the revitalization of the community and ended the day by shovelling snow at homes near Pegler.
“At the end of the day we pulled all of the concepts together. They were writing about citizenship through remembering our heroes, about contributing their voice about the future development of the town as well as making someone’s day,” Lemphers said.
Students in the nature-based program quickly learn that Mother Nature can teach a thing or two, Campbell said.
“We have a couple of kids who have step-counters on their watches and we might stop somewhere and see how many steps we have taken and then we will walk a bit further and I will ask what’s the difference, how much more did we walk,” Campbell said. “With shadows, at 9:15 a.m. my shadow is this long, at noon, what’s the difference in length or what is the angle?”
Two years ago, Campbell’s nature-based class started the Little Free Pantry, first by going to town council for permission.
“That’s social studies through and through – who we are, what we are and how we connect with Okotoks,” Campbell said.
The students are outside until the temperature gets to about -16C – they quickly learn to take responsibility with bringing the right clothes, packing their lunches and taking care of themselves.
If a child forgets a pair of gloves, they will get a stare from the teacher, but more importantly something to keep their hands warm.
Campbell recalls a student who came down with “the screaming barfies” – his hands were so cold he wanted to throw up.
The parents’ reaction initially was should our boy be in the program?
At the end of the year, that answer was a resounding “yes.”
“I was a little bit worried that how could your kid learn when you aren’t in the classroom and what happens when it gets cold,” said Erin Toporowski, whose son Kaleb took the program two years ago at Westmount
It was the very first day of the program that Kaleb got the screaming barfies.
“But Kaleb learned how to adapt. He learned about what Mr. Campbell called his resiliency. Once he learned how to dress for the weather, the program was the best thing that could have happened to him," Toporowski said.
“To this day he will take us for walks in the community and he will ramble off these facts about trees, the type of grass, random things that he learned from Mr. Campbell."
He also has taken greater community responsibility – picking up litter for example.
“He just got a new love for the community and for nature,” she said. “He became way more confident in his abilities. By the end of the (Grade 4) he was packing his own equipment. He knew what the weather would be and he would act accordingly.”
Callum Wingate is a Grade 6 student currently taking Lemphers’ nature-based learning course at Pegler.
“You get to go outside and learn about your surroundings,” Wingate said. “It made me more calm and better with my surroundings and knowing what I am doing outside."
Lemphers said in the past two months Wingate’s writing has become more descriptive.
“He has a lot more detail in his work,” Lemphers said. “I think he is starting to see the connections in the world around him in a different way.”
It’s not only his writing skills that have grown.
“I definitely feel your confidence has increased,” Lemphers told Callum. “How he carries himself – he’s more confident and how he interacts with the world around him.”
The proposal would be a minimum of two days a week spent outside.
However, there would still be days in the classroom. That would be to ensure students remain an integral part of the Pegler program.
The deadline for parents to register their interest is Dec. 4.
