Last week, enid and I had the pleasure to meet and learn from Dr. Frances Harris who is based at Kingston University in the UK.  Dr. Harris contacted me, via this blog, in May and happened to be traveling on Vancouver Island this summer with her family.  She has both practical and academic experience with the forest school movement in the UK.  After presenting a lecture to masters students at Royal Roads University, Dr. Harris and her family spent a leisurely evening with our families.  It was wonderful to make this international connection, and we look forward to staying in touch with Dr. Harris.

Some more information about Dr. Harris’ research and research interests …

I am committed to public engagement with environmental science, and have just completed a second edition of “Global Environmental Issues” published with Wiley-Blackwell in February 2012. I have always been interested in looking at comparative work between the UK and Canada concerning the children and nature / outdoor learning area. I am intrigued by the interest in Forest Schools, as I had always thought Canada, with its focus on summer camps (which we don’t have much of here) would take a different approach to nature education. I am based at Kingston University, which is in south London, and my webpage is http://sec.kingston.ac.uk/about-SEC/people/academic/view_profile.php?id=36. I work at Kingston 3 days a week, and in my time off I lead outdoor learning activities.

We were thrilled to recently receive a $60,000 grant from the Vancouver Foundation and a $2,500 grant from Success by Six.  A huge thank you to both of these organizations for their support!

By mid-day today the sun was out in Victoria, and by late afternoon it was ideal weather for our potluck celebration to mark the end of the Nature Kindergarten planning phase.  Over the last 18 months, our monthly planning meetings have involved rich and collaborative discussion and preparation.  Thank you to everyone who participated in these meetings, and especially to those who willingly took on specific tasks.  This pilot could not have taken place without the input and work of so many.

Thank you to enid who presented many of us with treasured and unique nature motif stamps this afternoon to honour our contributions to this project.  It was a special gesture, and it allowed us to take a few moments to speak about the impact of being involved in this project.  Thanks, enid!

We had three wonderful days of Nature Kindergarten orientation training over the last two weeks.  Thank you to Royal Roads University for hosting our sessions!  Thanks also to our presenters:  Enid, Frances, Pam, Danielle, Charlene, Marlene, Erik, Nancie, Carolyn, and Sue!

It was terrific to have teachers, ECE’s, parents, administrators and graduate students participating in these sessions.  The shared expertise and enthusiasm for learning outdoors was inspiring.  We had participants from Victoria, Vancouver, Salt Spring Island, Cowichan, Chemanius, and Port MacNeil.  We look forward to staying connected with one another in the future.

It is my pleasure to announce that we hired Ms. Erin Van Stone as the Nature Kindergarten Early Childhood Educator (ECE).  Erin has experience in a variety of daycare and preschool settings in the Victoria area.  She has a strong personal passion in the outdoors, and has a rich background in guiding.  Erin is currently a CYC student at the University of Victoria.  We are thrilled that Erin has joined the Nature Kindergarten team!

http://www.commonground.ca/iss/237/cg237_bateman.shtml

http://www.batemanideas.com/ChildrenAndNature.html

Please visit the link below to find out about our training opportunity on June 6, 7 and 15 at Royal Roads University.

Poster Training – June 2012[2]

The Nature Kindergarten Early Childhood Educator job posting has been posted externally and can be found on the Sooke School District website (www.sd62.bc.ca).  This posting closes on May 30, 2012.

We are pleased to announce that Ms. Lisa Lockerbie will be the Nature Kindergarten Teacher at Sangster Elementary beginning September 2012.  Lisa has taught in northern BC, in the UK, and in the Sooke School District.  She currently teaches at John Muir Elementary School in Sooke.  Lisa taught at a forest school in England last summer, and has valuable experience in teaching young children outdoors.  Congratulations, Lisa!

Our next Nature Kindergarten Planning Meeting is Monday, May 28th at RRU, Grant Building, Rm 228 beginning at 3:15 pm.