Jacqueline Whelan
Fall Mushrooms
Each year we seem to have one or two students per class who become the mushroom “experts”. Their jewel tones attract certain students,...
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Jacqueline Whelan
Learning Trails
Learning Trails are a great way to focus students’ noticing while learning outside and in nature. A learning trail is an activity where...
Jacqueline Whelan
Revealing True Colours
📷 Just like rocks and dandelions, children love to collect Fall leaves. As the first leaves reveal their true colours hidden by Summer's...
Jacqueline Whelan
Building a Butterfly Habitat
This outdoor lesson challenges students to create a butterfly habitat that meets the animal’s basic needs (e.g., air, water, food, and...
Jacqueline Whelan
Special Places
When taking students outside to explore the school yard, a common challenge is that they associate the space with recess and immediately...
Jacqueline Whelan
Listening Walk
One of our favourite ways to get students outside and observing the natural world is by taking them on a listening walk. It is a very...
Jacqueline Whelan
Many hands make light work!
📷 In 2016, we were asked by Evergreen if they could document our classes during an Outdoor Makerspace session. This video captures the...
Jacqueline Whelan
Launching an Environmental Inquiry
Sometimes a great read aloud is all you need to launch authentic and engaging environmental inquiry. This article 25 Books That Teach...
Jacqueline Whelan
Pebbles! Rocks! Stones!
Have you ever heard “clang, clang, clang” when running the dryer? It might just be a special rock that was tucked away in your child's...
Jacqueline Whelan
Everybody Needs a Rock
We love books! And there is nothing as satisfying as finding a great book that engages students and encourages them to explore their...
Jacqueline Whelan
The Magic of Quiet
Being able to observe and engage with nature requires us to slow down, look and listen. This task is not always easy. And for our...
Jacqueline Whelan
Loose Parts
When we first started our Outdoor Makerspace Pilot Project, there were very few, if any, public schools using large loose parts on the...
Jacqueline Whelan
Gathering the Group
We are often asked if, during this unstructured, nature-based learning time: "Do students ever just wander off?" "How do you gather the...
Jacqueline Whelan
Connecting to Curriculum
Environmental Education is woven into the Ontario Curriculum in every subject area and at each grade level. This Ministry of Education...
Jacqueline Whelan
Activate Your Owl Eyes & Ears
Going outside to engage in nature-based learning with students requires careful preparation, but also a bit of imagination and magic to...
Jacqueline Whelan
The Outdoor Makerspace
Our first source of inspiration for our Outdoor Makerspace was the Ithaca Children’s Garden Hands-On-Nature Anarchy Zone, designed by...
Jacqueline Whelan
À la Cart! Packing for Thinking Outside
Anybody who has attended one of our Thinking Outside workshops will recognize this cart. Each time I venture outside with students, out...
Jacqueline Whelan
Yellow Gold
We love dandelions! Not only because they are good for the bees but also because, in the late Spring, we are often gifted bouquets from...
Jacqueline Whelan
Getting Started
One of the simplest ways for educators to begin taking students outside and into nature is to bring story time into the outdoors. Reading...
Jacqueline Whelan
Monarchs & Milkweed
A few years ago, students at our school were invited by Nature Canada to participate in a stop motion project. The Monarch Butterfly Life...
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