Our project team met last week, and we were very pleased to have several new participants, including Lorraine and Nancie from CRD Parks, share their ideas and insights.  We explored different ways in which CRD Parks could become involved in the Nature Kindergarten project including, but not limited to, assisting with a risk management plan, teacher training, and educational program support once the pilot is up and running.

We are very excited that Royal Roads University has agreed to support the concept of a Nature Kindergarten taking place on its grounds.  This allowed the Sooke SD superintendent to make and announce his decision regarding the location of the Nature Kindergarten.  The pilot program will take place at Sangster Elementary and be open to District-wide enrolment.  Maureen Lauren, principal at Sangster, and her staff were very excited about this announcement.  Maureen looks forward to getting more directly involved with our project team in the future.

Our curriculum sub-committee developed a draft framework of what activities a week at Nature Kindergarten might include.  In conjunction with the sub-committee’s work, a group of us met last Thursday to begin to articulate the pedagogical principles of our Nature Kindergarten.  These principles will be refined over the next few weeks, and once they are in their final form, I look forward to sharing them with you on this blog.

I am pleased to update that last week the Nature Kindergarten project received a $3,500 grant for program equipment and supplies from the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation Grant.  Thank you very much to the TD Bank for their support!

Victoria early childhood educator Dianne Bentley started an outdoor play group for preschoolers this fall.  You can follow her blog, Stomping In The Mud, to get a sense of the exciting experiences that are taking place in her backyard!

Our next planning meeting will take place October 18th at 3:15 pm in Nixon 220 at Royal Roads University.

Thank you to Dr. Ulrich Mueller for spearheading a SSHRC partnership grant on behalf of several UVic faculty members.  At our meeting last week, Dr. Mueller described the types of quantative and qualitative assessments that faculty members will pursue.  The grant will be submitted by late November.

With the support of RRU Continuing Education staff, we will be producing rack cards and brochures in the near future to explain the Nature K project to interested partners, funders, and parents.

Enid and I continue to be busy writing grant applications.  We are currently working on grant applications for the United Way and Telus.  We also had a very exciting meeting with Sean Rodman from the Royal BC Museum to discuss, among other topics, future collaboration between the museum and the Nature K pilot.

A meeting with the curriculum sub committee will be taking place early next week.  More details to follow on another post.

This summer, I had a chance to visit the ECE who introduced me to the Waldkindergarten concept last year.  Katarina is in the process of starting a new Waldkindergarten program of her own.  Attached are photos of the temporary structures that have been put in place in a forest on the outskirts of Munich.

Our next Nature K meeting is on Monday, September 19 at 3:15 pm in Grant 228 at Royal Roads University.

At our last Nature Kindergarten meeting, we created a couple of committees – a grant writing committee and a pedagogy-curriculum committee.  If you have expertise and interest in these areas, we would welcome your support and involvement.  Please contact me at fkrusekopf@sd62.bc.ca

We are currently in the process of submitting grant applications to a variety of organizations.  We need to secure funding for this project by January 2012.

In June, members of our project team had an opportunity to visit Cedarsong Nature School on Vashon Island, WA (www.cedarsongnatureschool.org) and O.U.R. EcoVillage in Shawnigan Lake, BC (http://ourecovillage.org).  These visits were informative and helpful in shaping our thinking around a Nature Kindergarten in Sooke School District.  Thank you also to Liz, teacher at Wildflower School in Nelson, B.C., who joined our last Nature K meeting and shared her experiences of teaching in a multi-age, alternative classroom setting with us.

Currently, Lisa Lockerbie, a Sooke School District teacher, is in England experiencing summer forest school programs organized by a friend of hers.  We look forward to viewing Lisa’s video footage when she returns!

I am in Munich, Germany and will re-connect with the early childhood educator who taught in the Waldkindergarten Program (forest preschool) that inspired this project.

The concept of a Nature Kindergarten in the Sooke School District has been presented to various groups including the Board of Trustees, senior management, elementary principals and vice principals, and interested Kindergarten teachers.  A pilot Nature Kindergarten class is proposed to begin in September 2012.  At this time, our planning group is researching various forest preschool and outdoor school models.  We are planning a few visits to different sites during the month of June and also hoping to consult with some experts in early summer.  Our planning group is also currently focused on securing funding for this pilot project.  Last week, we were notified that we received a $12,500 Rural Innovations Grant from U.B.C.