Vision

This year our Eco Club (our school is a Gold level certified ECOSCHOOL) is made up of 2 students from each of our 8 classes, a teacher leader, 2 teachers as advisors and a school volunteer grandparent. We meet bi-weekly at lunch hour with a lesson plan (often with LSF “Learning Inside Out” email suggestions) outlining goals, links to literacy connections and actions for the class ‘reps’ to teach their classmates shared with all teachers and administration. We have used this model for several years following my attending a wonderful “Earth Matters” EECOM conference where I learned about the idea! At that time our school was embarking on a philosophical shift towards nature-based learning.
Building on our goal of expanding boundaries towards Horace Allen being a ‘mountain nature school’ has been an exciting and inspiring journey for staff, students and parents of our small K-3 public school! Located in Coleman, the westernmost town of the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass, close to the B.C. border, we are home to all kindergarten to grade 3 students in the area.
Our school community has been working toward school-wide initiatives to build responsibility, resilience, inquiry, and respect for nature in our students. These goals are aligned with the “Forest Schools” ethos and based on current research showing the value of regular outdoor nature experiences for the intellectual, social, physical and mental well-being of children and how ‘place-based’ learning benefits community spirit! Our initiatives include a positive behaviour support program (Kelso’s Choices), a playground philosophy reducing ‘rules’ and expanding boundaries both physical space and individual, encouraging student responsible choices (eg. a ‘snowball-throwing’ area, ‘rough & tumble’ zone), regular Kindergarten “Wonder Walks”, a K-3 student Eco Club leading projects to help our world, scheduled whole school “Outdoor Earth Play Days” with ‘loose parts’, fund-raising for “Peak to Prairie Outdoor Learning Environment” and staff commitment to professional development linked to these initiatives. Parent Council involvement and parent support is a priority we have addressed.
Our outdoor learning environment has progressed from a previously unused barren field to a partially ‘developed’ nature space with 2 raised, walk-in garden beds planted with vegetables harvested for school use, a dry creek bed, a log ‘kitchen’, a garden shed built through partnership with University students from Japan, a log desk ‘classroom’ and a boulder ‘amphitheater’ currently developing. Our priority is now preparing the ground for planting of native trees, shrubs and grasses in the spring.

Action

Our goal with this phase is to enhance a rock amphitheater area with trees and shrubs for 2 reasons. Firstly, they will provide definition of the mountain alpine ecosystem represented and shelter for classes and the public to be suitable as a meeting area! Secondly, the trees and shrubs are representative of the mountain alpine ecosystem and will have interpretive signage to promote student and public learning of the native species! When we began the field had no trees and shrubs – the existing field is hardy fescue or other similar grass species but some invasive weeds were spotted last year. It had been a rodeo grounds 60 years ago and had been partially used as a parking lot for quite a few years. We had to have a large septic tank dug up for safety and there was no access to water for many years but we were able to re-connect an outdoor tap. We have recently installed a water line that will extend to all areas. When complete we can begin to prepare the ground to plant native trees, shrubs and eventually, grasses. We plan to have a landscape architect present a session to students about the importance of native trees, shrubs and grasses and the care needed for them to flourish! Our Eco Club is investigating species that would be good choices to plant! Our long term goal is to have 5 replica ecosystems – the mountain/alpine, the foothills forest, the prairie grassland, the wetland/riparian and the river/dry creekbed – aligned with the 5 nations in our Treaty 7 area – the Kainai, the Siksika, the Tsuut’ina, the Pikani and the Stoney-Nakoda. Each area would have a type of meeting space as well as trees and plants representative of that ecosystem explained with interpretive art and signage with curricular provocations for student inquiry learning! Sustainability and minimal maintenance will be a priority considered. This action will see the garden beds being developed and native shrubs and trees investigated by the Eco Club after a virtual meeting with a native species specialist at a local (Pincher Creek) greenhouse, and species chosen by each classroom (8 classes Early Learning, Kindergarten, grade 1-3) being planted at a later date when the weather permits!

Reflection & Celebration

We hope to have a ‘planting party’ and possibly a “Festival on the Field” celebration with our entire school community later in June if our landscaping and ground preparation is complete and possibly in September if necessary. We had a similar event before Covid when we were just getting started on our “Peaks to Prairies Outdoor Learning Environment” project!