Many teachers have told us how much they enjoyed using kits from ‘Kites in the Classroom’ to combine science concepts with a fun outdoor experience. If you have a budget for outdoor learning materials, consider purchasing these inexpensive but effective kits. Costs range from $10 for one kit to a class set of 20 for $130.
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10-18 years
Paul Elliott and Annie Corkery instruct a class in using the Seek and iNaturalist apps to help identify plants and animals close to the school.(10 minute video)
Join Craig Brant in this 4 minute video to meet the many wild friends in your ‘neighbourwood’. Go out and explore together!
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4-14 years
Join Jacob Rodenburg in this 28 minute video to learn the basics of exploring the fascinating life in spring ponds. Then, go outside and explore a nearby pond and see what amazing creatures you can find! Just be sure to return creatures unharmed to their habitats afterwards.
any
5-9 years
Print copies of the bingo sheet – one per person or have students work in pairs. Use as a bingo card to see how long it takes to find one line of items, or use as a scavenger hunt to try to find all the items.
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3-8 years
Here’s a great idea for creating something beautiful while practicing fine motor skills.
Cut a shape out of a piece of cardboard (heart, diamond, triangle or whatever you
wish). Punch holes in the cardboard, spaced fairly close together. Young kids
will need help with this, but older kids could make holes with a hammer and nail.
Pick a few wildflowers with several centimeters of stem (dandelions are perfect for this). Thread a flower through each hole until the board is full. Later in the season, try other flowers.
Remember to only pick a few where there are lots of flowers, because the bees need them too!
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3-12 years
Salamanders love to hide under logs and in leaf debris in the deciduous or mixed forests of the Kawarthas. Spring is an excellent time to look for these beautiful amphibians.
Amphibians breathe through their skin so if you choose to handle a salamander make sure your hands are free of lotions and bug spray.
any
4-8 years
Make some binoculars out of cardboard tubes! Tape tubes together and decorate with stickers, markers or paint. Attach a ribbon or string so you can wear them around your neck. They won’t magnify like regular binoculars, but they can help focus a child’s view.
Go out and explore together! Can you find any birds? Do you see any squirrels or squirrels’ nests in trees? See how many interesting sights you can find as you explore your neighbourhood.
any
2-10 years
One of spring’s wonders is the emergence of beautiful butterflies on warm sunny days. Go for a walk together to look for butterflies! How many can you find? How many different kinds do you see?
To attract butterflies throughout spring and summer, try growing a variety of wildflowers. You can also create a ‘Butterfly Banquet’ by placing rotting fruit in a shallow dish and hang it from a nearby tree.
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8-18 years
This is a great focusing activity for a wide range of ages. There can be many variations, but the basic idea is to sit or walk quietly for at least 15 minutes, and listen for any sounds you hear during that time.
Then, students will make a map of what they heard and the direction the sound came from. Younger students could sit in a quiet spot with paper, pencil and clipboard, mark themselves in the middle, and draw pictures of the sounds they hear and the direction they came from, as they sit and listen.
Older students could go for a silent walk, listening and remembering what they hear. Then when they return to the class, they draw a map of their walking route from memory, including the sounds they heard and where along the route they heard them.
You could try walking the same route or sitting in the same spot at different times of year, and compare the sounds you hear each time.
This comprehensive set of resources provides excellent support for teachers exploring water quality and aquatic ecosystems with intermediate-level classes. The workshop also introduces Pathway Landmark 22: ‘Become a Citizen Scientist by helping to monitor environmental health,’ which is geared to Grade 7-8 classes. The workshop is a partnership between Otonabee Conservation and the Pathway Project.
Overall Expectations: 1. Assess the impacts of human activities and technologies on the environment, and evaluate ways of controlling these impacts; 2. Investigate interactions within the environment, and identify factors that affect the balance between different components of an ecosystem; 3. Demonstrate an understanding of interactions between and among biotic and abiotic elements in the environment
Overall Expectations: 1. Assess the impact of human activities and technologies on the sustainability of water resources; 2. Investigate factors that affect local water quality; 3. Demonstrate an understanding of the earth’s water systems and the influence of water systems on a specific region
1. Introductory Video: This 20-minute video, produced by Otonabee Conservation, introduces the Otonabee region watershed and provides an overview of chemical and biological methods used locally to monitor watershed health. This can be used as a stand-alone activity or an introduction to hands-on monitoring opportunities for students.
2. Worksheets: Depending on the equipment you have available and your access to nearby waterways, the following worksheets have been prepared by Otonabee Conservation to guide students through a variety of activities to learn about their watershed and monitor its health:
3. Lesson Plans: These comprehensive lesson plans were developed by teacher and Outdoor Educator Sherri Owen to guide you through aquatic field labs with your class.
This guide outlines safety considerations as well as protocols for water collection and testing. It includes tracking and assessment sheets and identifies where you can find testing tools and supplies.
Finally, we show you how to submit your data to Water Rangers, a Canadian organization accepting water quality data from citizen scientists like you.
Thanks to Water Rangers for contributing a Water Rangers Testing Kit to the Pathway Project. To borrow our kit, email Cathy at cathy@pathwayproject.ca
This guide provides everything you need to catch and identify benthic bugs, calculate water quality ratings, and create a water quality statement.
You’ll also get two worksheet protocols for evaluating water quality using aquatic macroinvertebrates.
This field lab explains how to submit your data to the Leaf Pack Network Database.
