Vision

To help to increase to tree canopy at our school so students, staff and community members and the positive environmental impacts they will bring. This will help make the environment healthier so animals, insects will have a habitat. Students will learn first hand about the benefits of growing trees and how to look after them. They will experience how the trees lower temperatures in the summertime when they create shade. They will gain an appreciation for how we can create positive environmental impacts in our communities.

Action

Students learned about how to interact in forest which reduces their ecological impact. We went on an interpretive walk in the Willows Creek restoration area with Tom from Greenways Land Trust learning how to reduce our ecological footprint when using local forests. On our walk we discussed plants and identified some of their common uses. We discuss how we can help be a part of maintaining the area by staying off of plants and being gentle when observing and identifying plants. We identified plants and discussed what kind of habitat they live in.
Students discussed the differences in the leaves of each plant, the shape of the leaves and the size of the plant.
They learned about the texture of the bark of the trees and what could it be used for. Students recorded observations in nature journals.
In our local plant garden at school we will discuss how we have been working for two years creating a local plant garden to create more biodiversity on our school grounds which is part of our Wild School project.
We learned how to take care of the plants and learn about some of their local Indigenous uses. We discussed how hot it gets as we don’t have many trees on the school grounds so we planted three trees this year. We investigated the importance of trees for our
ecosystems and our earth and how they will improve our learning spaces for the people, plants and animals. We discussed how trees used to be in the area with a staff member that grew up in the area, how they used to enjoy the trees and how we can help to regenerate areas by planting trees.

Reflection & Celebration

Our school community is very grateful for this addition of the new trees and we have had other students and classes offering to help look after them. Students have been very gentle with the trees. We plan to have a school event to celebrate our outdoor learning spaces including these new trees and share students learning with families. Other teachers have talked about how they would like to add more trees to the school grounds in coming years.