Want to learn more about the Pathway Project? This collection will help you understand our goals, how to get started as a Trailblazer School or Early Learning Centre and lead the way for other Pathway Explorers. The third video in this collection gives you a step-by-step guide to registering and reporting your completed Landmarks. We appreciate every educator, parent and child who contributes to our goal of 10,000 logged Landmarks in three years. Together we are growing healthy kids and building a strong support network.
Educators! Join Pathway consultants Kim and Nancy to share ideas, activities, and games to spark outdoor learning with your class this winter. This workshop is full of movement, activities, and games for teachers of elementary-aged children.
Nature Nancy and Kim Dobson, Pathway Outdoor Activity Consultants, share tips and tricks for educators on avoiding hazards and feeling preparing for the outdoor classroom.
Pathway Co-ordinator, Cathy Dueck, explains how a simple walk with your class can open the door to citizen science that has real-world impact. Using the eBird and Merlin apps, Cathy goes on a walk in the neighbourhood, discovers feathered friends.
Join TRACKS Program Co-ordinator and Pathway Consultant, Kelly King, and TRACKS colleague, Kristin Muskratt, as they explore ‘Indigenous Insights for Outdoor Learning’ including discussions on land acknowledgment and respect.
Nervous about transitioning learning from inside the classroom to the great outdoors? You’re not alone. Nature Nancy is here to help educators get students outdoors as well as provide some tips and tricks to make the transition fun and easy.
Join Registered Early Childhood Educator, Kerri Riel, and find ways to start Landmark 1 – explore outdoors together once a week.
Explore Camp Kawartha’s Environment Centre with manager, Craig Brant, as he uncovers animals friends for Landmark 2.
Fleming College Educator, Mary Lou Lummiss, takes us on an exploration of her garden for Landmark 3 – exercise the senses everyday.
Kristin Muskratt, TRACKS Oshkwazin Co-ordinator, discusses the importance developing a relationship with a favourite outdoor place as part of Landmark 4.
Pathway Co-ordinator, Cathy Dueck, takes us to her backyard to explore Landmark 5 – help to plant or harvest a garden and/or look after an animal. How many animals can you spot in this video?
Early Childhood Educator, Kerri Riel, is back to help with more great ideas to start Landmark 6 – play in nature for a full hour at least twice a week.
A collection of videos exploring the many elements of Landmark 7 – share a nature-based book, song, nature poem or game each week. Children’s Service Librarian, Kate Jarrett, showcases some wonderful rhyming games, songs and books to help you start this Landmark. Don’t forget to gather round for her reading of Plant the Tiny Seed.
Meet Rowan Tree Early Childhood Educator, Jessica Lindeman, as she showcases four amazing nature crafts including nature clay tiles, nature leaf kites, magic herb pouches and corn husk dolls as part of Landmark 8 – create at least one nature art project every week.
Finding a special place in nature helps deepen relationships and develops a sense of place. Join Executive Director, Jacob Rodenburg, as he explores Landmark 9 on the grounds of Camp Kawartha. He shares some interactive games to help you discover what’s special about your outdoor place and how you can watch it change over time.
Landmark 10 helps reinforce and expand a developing sense of empathy. Join Jillian Bishop, Community Food Cultivator for the Nourish Project, as she gives a tour of her greenhouse and provides amazing tips on how you can start to plant, tend and harvest a small garden in any season. What will you plant first?
Join Retired Primary Teacher, Kathy MacMillan-Jones, as she explores Landmark 11 – Celebrate Each Season in a Year. Celebrating seasonal change helps connect us to the world around us. Kathy shares three structural ways you can help deepen this awareness early on, particularly with children in Grades 1 and 2, who have a growing sense of time.
What does Drew Monkman have in his backyard? Find out as he explores Landmark 12 – Meet the Friends in your Neighbourhood. This Landmark helps children recognize that our community consists of other living things as well as people. Can you complete the challenge at the end of this video?
Jaime Akiyama, from GreenUp and Active School Travel PTBO, helps explore Landmark 13 – Travel a Familiar Route. This Landmark encourages families to empower children by learning how to travel a familiar route, alone or with a friend, at least twice a week. This can include walking, riding your bike, or traveling on public transit.
Scott Murison, co-pilot of Wild Rock Outfitters Inc. shares Landmark 14 – try at least five different kinds of outdoor recreation that don’t require gasoline or electricity. This Landmark supports physical health, mental health, and the environment. Can you take on the challenge?
Environmental educator, Sheila Potter, takes you on a journey through her meadow encouraging learning through exploration for Landmark 15. This Landmark encourages exploration by growing a garden, setting up a birdfeeder, catching insects, going fishing, and getting to know a habitat.
Craig Brant explores different forms of renewable energy at the Camp Kawartha Environment Centre for Landmark 16. Every living thing needs energy (including you). For Landmark 16, visit a place that uses 3 different kinds of renewable energy and investigate how it operates. Understand the essential role of energy in our lives.
Métis Botanical Knowledge Keeper, Matt Levac, explores Landmark 17 – Three new outdoor activities that don’t require fossil fuels including a sport, a craft, and a survival skill. This Landmark helps develop outdoor skills to overcome fears and develop a sense of confidence, identity, and the history of the land and its people.
Meredith Carter and Jessie James from Otonabee Conservation explore Jackson Park in Peterborough to show how you can find inspiration in natural areas, document and share your experiences with others to encourage people to visit and appreciate it. Expand on Landmark 18 by exploring the human impacts on the environment through planning and implementing a community project that promotes natural spaces.
Explore biodiversity with Pathway Coordinator, Cathy Dueck, who takes you on a journey through the forest to discover wildflowers, tree variations, and the animal species that make up this habitat.
Karen O’Krafka from GreenUp explains the benefits of Landmark 20. Expand leadership and decision-making skills through planning and conducting projects to benefit the community. Develop a sense of hope, agency and empowerment through collective action.
Bhisham Ramoutar from the New Canadians Centre takes you on a journey to meet other cultures for Landmark 21. This Landmark challenges Pathway Explorers to learn about at least two other cultures by meeting and talking with someone whose culture is different from theirs. Explore relationships and interconnections between human communities.
Paul Elliott gives Pathway Explorers an array of local and national community projects where youth can become a “Citizen Scientist” by participating and monitoring the health of wildlife species. Exploring tools for monitoring ecosystem health to deepen understanding of human/environmental interactions and potential solutions.
Stephen Collette gives our Pathway Explorers helpful tips to design a healthy home and create healthier living spaces for Landmark 23. From efficient heating and cooling solutions to everyday changes to make your bedroom more eco-friendly, you can make big and small changes to benefit your family’s environmental health.
Landmark 24 – Calculate Your Ecological Footprint – helps deepen your understanding of how modern lifestyles affect the environment. Expand leadership and problem-solving skills by seeking solutions to ecological imbalances. Develop hope and empowerment by exploring the potential for people to have a positive impact on the environment.
Landmark 25 – Develop Three New Outdoor Skills – challenges youth to explore and develop at least three outdoor skills that are new to you. Develop identity, expand skill, confidence and responsibility through outdoor recreation, creativity and survival skills.
Landmark 26 encourages people to volunteer to help in their community in at least three different ways. Reflect on what you learned through music, poetry, a blog, journal, or social media. Exploring and responding to local social and environmental issues can expand abilities for social analysis, understanding and empathy.
The Happy Camper, Kevin Callan, explores Landmark 27 – Go on a Wilderness Trip. For this Landmark, plan and go on an extended trip in a wilderness area for at least 3-5 days. Options for travel include: canoe, bicycle, skis, hiking, snowshoeing or any other self-propelled mode of travel. Advanced outdoor experiences (including planning, leading and evaluating) are important in enhancing leadership, conflict resolution, teamwork and decision-making. Respected mentors are important role models for these activities.
Looking to learn how to get involved with rehabilitating something damaged? You can focus on animals, waterways, or natural areas for Landmark 28. Lisa Browning shares her journey to help save turtles with a tour of the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre. Young adults can expand a sense of collective responsibility by identifying and seeking solutions to local environmental issues.
Sam Rockbrune, Executive Director of the Kawartha World Issues Centre, discusses the opportunities to explore a local social justice issue and develop a plan to raise public awareness or motivate public involvement in the region. Experiential learning, hands-on and in the community, is an effective way to promote leadership, confidence, empowerment and agency. Working with peers helps to harness energy and motivation.
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– Find the Landmark (from the dropdown menu) that best fits your activity
– Make sure you’ve completed the Landmark before submitting, or we may need to adjust your points (check the Landmarks page for complete directions)
– All entries must have a photo or video to validate your report; be sure to tell us if it’s okay to share your images with others (without permission, we won’t share them)
– Points are accumulated each season; the Leaderboard resets to zero at the start of each season
– Every entry submitted each month gives you a chance to win our monthly draw prize (winner chooses from a selection of prizes); note that prizes are available for Ontario residents only
– Organizers reserve the right to adjust points awarded or to veto a submission, to fairly reflect the effort made by participants
Have fun and keep active! Thanks for telling us what you’re doing!
Questions? Contact us at peterboroughpathway@gmail.com