Our next planning meeting is on Monday, February 20th at 3:15 pm at Royal Roads University, Room 228.

More research regarding the benefits of being outdoors.  This is a 48-page summary entitled Parks and other Green Environments:  Essential Components of a Healthy Human Habitat.

Ming (Kuo) Reserach Paper-Final-150dpi

Last week, Enid Elliott, Jim Cambridge, Toni Hoyland, Bev Smith and I had a chance to present the Nature Kindergarten project to staff at the Ministry of Education.  Thank you to Carolyn Henson for making this presentation possible!  We met Connie Cirkony, who works at the Ministry of Education, at the meeting.  The links below are to the Green Schools Newsletter that Connie produces.  The Nature Kindergarten project is highlighted in both editions.

GSN December 2011

GSN February 2012

We are very pleased to announce a donation of $20,000 over two years from the RBC Foundation.  Thank you so much for your support!

Several people at the parent information sessions expressed an interest in articles related to the benefits of Nature Kindergarten and outdoor learning.  Please see links below for more information on the research supporting this model of learning …

articleblanchet-cohen

C&NNEducationBenefits2012

CNNHealthBenefits2012

CNNRsrchVol_05

Thank you to everyone who came out to the parent information sessions!  Here are the BC Kindergarten program links that were mentioned at the session.

Kindergarten curriculum

http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/welcome.php

Ready, Set, Learn

http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/early_learning/rsl/

Full Day Kindergarten

http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/early_learning/fdk/

Tonight’s Nature K Parent Information Session will be taking place at Sangster Elementary School from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm.

The next Nature Kindergarten planning meeting will be held on Monday, January 23rd at 3:15 pm at Royal Roads University.

We had 16 individuals attend our December planning meeting, and as always it was a productive meeting. 

The meeting started with updates on funding proposals and meetings with perspective funders.  We are still in need of additional funding for the early childhood educator (ECE) position and staff training.  Individuals or organizations interested in funding the Nature Kindergarten pilot should contact Frances Krusekopf at fkrusekopf@sd62.bc.ca

We reviewed details about the registration process (please refer to the registration link on this blog for more information), and started planning the parent information sessions. 

Promotional materials and pedagogical principles are still under development.  Feedback from meeting participants was helpful in knowing how to tailor materials to specific target audiences.

As a result of the risk management planning that took place on December 11, two sub-committees were created to begin work on a communication plan and a training and safety manual.

Thanks to everyone for their energy and ideas!

A few weeks ago, a group of us wandered around the Royal Roads property to get a sense of where the Nature Kindergarten class would begin their program in September 2012.  We took note of possible risks, and then made our way back to Sangster Elementary to begin work on our formal risk management plan matrix.  We are grateful to Nancy Moore at CRD who advised us on how best to develop a risk management plan.  Our plan is a dynamic document that will serve to mitigate potential risks while the Nature Kindergarten class is learning outdoors.