School and Group Activities
WINTER SEASON LEADERBOARD (January, February. March)
(This board resets to zero at the start of each season)
Who’s in the lead this season? Build up your Pathway Points by reporting your Landmark activities!
WINTER 2023 | School and Group Leaderboard
| Placement | Group Name | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Strath Maclean Child Care Centre – Junior After school | 71 |
| 2 | Kawartha Heights Kinders2 | 63 |
| 3 | Roseneath CPS SK/1 | 17 |
| 4 | PCFC Programs | 15 |
| 5 | Peterborough Daycare | 15 |
| 6 | Strath MacLean Toddler | 15 |
| 7 | Pearson Child Care | 12 |
| 8 | St. Anne CES Gr 3 | 10 |
| 9 | Queen Elizabeth K1 | 8 |
| 10 | Room 194 Millbrook SC | 8 |
| 11 | Millbrook South Cavan Gr 1 | 7 |
| 12 | CELC-Peterborough | 7 |
| 13 | Babbling Brook Daycare | 6 |
| 14 | Otonabee Valley JK/SK | 5 |
| 15 | Keith Wightman Gr 1 | 5 |
| 16 | Highland Heights LLSA | 5 |
| 17 | St Catherine CES Gr 4/5 | 4 |
| 18 | Trent Childcare Kaawaate (B) | 3 |
| 19 | Lakefield CNS | 3 |
| 20 | Millbrook SC Grade 2 | 2 |
| 21 | The Old Millbrook School EarlyON Child and Family Centre | 2 |
| 22 | Stepping stone preschool | 1 |
| 23 | Sunshine Daycare | 1 |
Early Years (birth to 5 years)
Chalk and Snow
Landmark 8 (Nature Art Weekly)
I noticed the snow was flat and smooth on the playground and wondered if we could draw on it with chalk. I set some chalk on the snow and together we drew pictures on the snow. The children were surprised that the chalk worked on the snow and used it to make their own pictures. One child used yellow chalk to make a sun.
Peterborough Daycare – February 1, 2023
Fresh Snow
Landmark 14 (Five New Outdoor Activities)
With all the fresh snow we’ve received, it only seemed fitting to make use of the snowshoes available in our Toy and Resource Library!!! Some of the children strutted around like it was nothing new, while others put the snow shoes on and said “too big!! Off” as they can be difficult to adjust to. We noticed how different our tracks were when we had snow shoes on and were surprised to find tracks of another sort of snowshoe that were different than ours.
PCFC Programs – January 27, 2023
Blue Sky & Sun
Landmark 1 (Explore Together Weekly)
During outdoor play I asked the children if they could help me discover what type of clouds were in the sky today. I brought out a looking window to narrow their focus and also a chart to help match what we saw. One child noticed they could see some blue sky and the sun peeking out behind a cloud. I noticed the clouds were moving and wondered out loud why that was happening. One child quickly answered by saying the wind was blowing them. A lot of the sky was filled with low, flat, grey-looking clouds and we thought maybe they were stratus clouds. It was interesting to get educators and children working together to make their best guess.
Peterborough Daycare – February 1, 2023
Middle Years (6 to 9 years)
Expanding Colour
Landmark 11 (Celebrate Each Season)
The children were very interested in expanding their colouring the snow once again the next day. I was making the bottles at first but we got together as a group and discussed that they would be very capable of mixing their own. We set up a table and discussed how much food colouring you actually need. So, we measured it by a cap full to pour into the bottle and use the water jug to fill the bottle up. The children were able to pick their own colours and mix colours together to try and make a new one or see what colour it may have made after mixing and pouring onto the snow. They were doing very well mixing the food colouring and pouring the water in by being very concentrated, focused, and careful. Cody, Harvey, and Easton were experimenting with the colours they mixed and were pouring them down a ramp and wanted to see what colour was going to be created at the bottom when they all mixed as one in the snow, you can see the colours changing on the ramp as it went down. They were given a challenge and a choice if they wanted to participate in creating and drawing a picture in the snow. Audrey created a ladder. Harvey drew a portal to another world. Easton drew a door to another planet. Olivia created a couch with sea shells and fishies. Ava drew a snowman. They tried to cover every single snow bank/hill, in our playground, so it has become a colourful snow playland!
Strath Maclean Child Care Centre – Junior After school – January 31, 2023
Outdoor Learning Space
Landmark 12 (Nearby Plants and Animals)
We learned about birds that stay in our area for the winter. Then we made birdfeeders from pinecones and hung them in our outdoor learning space. We also used a store-bought feeder and filled it with seeds to attract birds. Now we will keep checking to see if any birds will come.
Millbrook South Cavan Gr 1 – January 27, 2023
Belly Sliding
Landmark 11 (Celebrate Each Season)
Today our trail walk presented many opportunities to explore a few of our current interests and ongoing inquiries. We began by sliding down our back hill (belly sliding is our favourite outdoor task right now) before running alongside Mollie and Daisy. Snow went flying as we went racing! This also left prints in the fresh powder. As Mollie and Daisy made their own trails we followed their tracks. Prints are something we are fascinated by right now, and we have our Ontario Tracks book out by our birdfeeder back inside.
Mollie and Daisy were not the only ones to stray from the trail. The friends repeated the new trail they have been forging to the apple tree. I love watching my friends interact and explore their natural world so effortlessly and freely. They embrace the trees and snow with open arms and nature greets them warmly.
Babbling Brook Daycare – January 27, 2023
Intermediate (10-13 years)
Shelter Building
Landmark 17 (Three New Outdoor Skills)
Our grade 5/6 class took full advantage of the snowfall to explore outdoor shelter building. Many of the primary students in the school had started creating deep holes in a giant pile of snow, and the 5/6’s took the opportunity to add on to their existing creations or build new shelters. Students used the language from our Structures unit to talk about “reinforcing” their builds to make them more stable. Tunnels were fashioned, and students even got creative by making snow chairs and lounges. Throughout the process, students learned that snow forts can provide great insulation from the wind and cold!
R.F. Downey Gr 5/6 – December 19, 2022
Plastic Production
Landmark 20 (Plan and Conduct a Project)
Grade 5 students spent time researching products that interested them. They discovered that one very common material used in production was plastic. They then researched bioplastics, such as Lego made from sugarcane and bags made from banana peels. Students “invented” a “hot new eco-friendly toy or product for 2022” to a) get kids outside, b) teach kids about the environment, and/or c) that is made of sustainable materials. (It also had to be something fun!) They wrote an information paragraph to describe their invention and created a poster or diagram to show how their invention works. Tomorrow they are going to “pitch” their product to the class (Shark Tank / Dragon’s Den style) and hope that their classmates will invest “eco-bucks” in their designs. Students did an incredible job with this project and came up with some very creative ideas. Some are even beginning to create prototypes of their inventions in their free time!
Highland Heights Gr 5 – December 20, 2022
Natural Variety
Landmark 17 (Three New Outdoor Skills)
After discussing how the dates for seasons and the actual seasons don’t always match, we explored our yard and environment on snow shoes. Having previously gone on nature walks in the fall to explore the biodiversity living under the fall leaves it allowed us to see how much variety there is in nature in Canada. Then we helped the Kindergarten kids with sledding and other snow play.
Highland Heights Gr 6/7 – December 16, 2022
Senior (14 to 17 years)
Repairing Nature
Landmark 28 (Help Something Damaged)
We enhanced the riparian buffer along a watercourse.
Gr. 11 Environmental Science Class – 10/25/2022
Supporting Biodiversity
Landmark 19 (Explore Biodiversity)
As part of our Environmental Science classes, we asked ORCA staff to help rehabilitate parks (planting) and learn about the importance of biodiversity, plant identification, the importance of soil health, and stream assessment techniques related to supporting biodiversity.
Holy Cross CSS – October 6, 2022
Rehabilitate Ecosystem
Landmark 22 (Citizen Science)
Tree planting in a gravel pit to rehabilitate the ecosystem. Students planted a variety of tree species and learned about the importance of biodiversity and tree-planting techniques. (SEED SHSM students)
Holy Cross CSS – November 10, 2022