In School Programs

AdventureSmart is a great resource to help teach students about outdoor trip preparation. The website includes guides, checklists, and a fun online game! You can also request an outdoor educator to speak to your group virtually in either French or English!

Stories in the Schoolyard (K-4) invites students to step outside and find delight in the ordinary, wonderful ways nature's stories unfold right in their own schoolyard. This active place-responsive program will support students to foster a sense of belonging in nature at the same time as sparking their curiosity to learn more. In this program, we'll become better acquainted with that tree in the corner of the field that's almost been forgotten. We'll also follow along with the adventures of Gary the Goose as he finds courage in face of fear. Program includes: a puppet story, imaginative sensory play, Indigenous connections, group poetry writing, and lots of active movement.

We Can Too! (Gr. 2-4) invites students to notice how nature expresses itself in cycles. We will look for examples of natural cycles in the schoolyard and follow the adventures of Cate the Caterpillar as she transforms from caterpillar to butterfly. This program encourages students to develop a growth mindset and to discover their own unique gifts. Program includes: a puppet story, musical poetry, Indigenous connections, active movement, and a printable growth mindset resource. 

Inside Education offers free environmental & natural resource education in the form of grants, lesson plans, activities, videos, teacher guides, toolkits, classroom and field programs, youth summits, and professional development for all grade levels in a huge variety of topics and subject areas!

Alberta Food Matters is a province-wide organization that connects dietitians, teachers and local producers to each other and to information on projects that already exist in Alberta and across Canada. They are linked to Canada-wide organizations that also promote these initiatives (such as Food Secure Canada, Coalition for Healthy School Food, Farm2Cafeteria Canada, Farm to School B.C. etc. AFM are currently working on a pilot project called “Community Animators” that supports schools to undertake whatever they are dreaming of doing to bring local, sustainable
food to their students.
 

Nature Alive Adventures provides customizable outdoor experiences right to your school parking lot or to an outdoor space near you. They provide instruction in outdoor skills (e.g. animal awareness and tracking, natural fiber cordage, fire lighting, shelter building, etc), quinzhee building, and more! Nature Alive Adventures also provides day and overnight trips with snowshoes and freight toboggans. They are certified instructors with Paddle Canada to provide canoe instruction, guided trips, and certification.

Their YouTube channel provides in-class resources and instruction in a variety of outdoor pursuits and topics, as well as providing Nature Minutes, short videos with follow up activities that are meant to challenge kids to get outside.

To get in touch with Nature Alive Adventures, contact Dale and Colleen Kiselyk 780-305-6921
 

If you are an Edmonton school, participate in indoor food growing with a Little Green Thumbs garden! Sustainable Food Edmonton provides a free garden kit, supplies and ongoing support to teachers wanting to capitalize on cross-curricular and hands-on learning from fall to spring. Students participate from seed to harvest, growing and tasting veggies and herbs. The indoor garden is a great way to teach science, math, healthy eating, literacy, social, art and much more!
 

For Kindergarten and Grade 1

The Nature Immersion program provides children and participants time to explore and develop a relationship with nature. The activities that take place at a Nature Immersion program are unique to each location and the participants’ interests. Our Nature based program is designed to inspire a love for nature and help connect children with their natural surroundings. The program takes place primarily outside in a natural space close to the childcare centre or school (weather permitting).

The Nature Immersion program consists of:

• An educator will visit the classroom on a bi-weekly basis (approximately 3 visits per centre/school)
• Each session lasts anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours 

For Grades 4, 5, 6

Using the basics of play and discovery, Eco-Buddies is an innovative, holistic approach to environmental education and eco-literacy. Through outdoor activities, games, exploration, experiments, crafts, and conversation, children and teachers will apply concepts from the Alberta science curriculum to the ecosystem around them and learn how organisms in nature work together to build healthy ecosystems. During each visit the classroom will go outside to their neighbouring natural area and learn about the challenges that trees, plants, wildlife, and people will face with a changing climate and how these organisms can come together to form healthy and resilient ecosystems

The ECO-Buddies program consists of:

• 1-hour teacher workshop where the ECO-buddies specialist will introduce the program and will present key concepts that will be elaborated on during the program. *workshop for school programs only
• Three, 2-hour visits by the ECO-Buddies educator at a walking distance from the School

My World, My Choice! brings enthusiastic young professionals and post-secondary students to work with junior high students on creating a project that helps make your school more sustainable. 

Little Green Thumbs is a classroom gardening program, and Caring for Our Watersheds partners with communities and mentors to create focused solutions to local watershed issues. This program is for students in High Prairie and Slave Lake.

The Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society can come to your school or community group to teach about native wildlife, conservation, and create conversation around the implications of human activities on the health and safety of wild animals. A volunteer, partnered with one of their permanent resident owls or hawks (when available), will be delighted to help your group learn more about wildlife. Book a presentation today!