Vision

At Oaklearners, our vision is to make a measurable, lifelong impact on the education and well-being of children, youth, their families, and our community.
Our Core Values are:
Integrity in all endeavors
Honesty & Transparency in all communication
Accountability to ourselves, our mission, and our Community.
A commitment to Innovation in education and development.
Collaboration and an appreciation for Diversity.

All of these core values cannot be properly without Environmental Stewardship, and understanding the responsibility of caring for our local environment.

This is why we are expanding our Community Garden with the help of the LSF Action Project. We found that many of our students & staff experience Climate Anxiety especially a our school Units involve researching our climate crisis, endangered species, various ecosystems, etc.

Our Garden is a way to take control of those anxieties and have our students, staff & community be hands on as we create a habitat for many creatures, a place of solace for students & teachers, a research lab for our students, a source of food for our students & campers and a place to enjoy the richness of plants & flowers.

Action

At Oaklearners we have taken action by expanding our sustainable garden.

We have or are in the process of planting milkweed, sunflowers, marigolds, tomato plant, cucumber plants, kale, mint, blackeyed susans, etc.

We have centred our Garden as a Sustainable learning Hub where students come to examine soil properties, dissect seeds, learn about the process of plant/flower growth, how our weather affects our Hub. We are hands on in the soil, learning how to plant, harvest, and eventually cook with the vegetables we are planting in our garden.

We are learning about life cycles & sustainability through hands on experience.

Reflection & Celebration

Our celebration will continue to grow throughout the summer as many community members & campers benefit from the beauty, sustainability & knowledge the Oaklearners Garden will bring. We hope to see Monarchs, and have our “Bugs and Bees” Camp centred around the butterflies & bees who need our help. Hopefully with the planting of our garden, we will be able to house those friends & spread the knowledge to each household about the importance of biodiversity loss & how to promote environmental stewardship through small actions like planting pollinators, native species & engaging in community gardens, recycling programs, compost programs, etc.

We will also celebrate during our “Food & Gardening” week of camp as we discover how to grow vegetables & taste the difference between grocery store & home grown. We want to instill a sense of responsibility to food & food waste.

Links