Holy Angels’ Catholic School : Learning from the Outside
Posted by SNCDSB to their website Feb.2021
SCHREIBER, ON – Learning experiences in the outdoors are valuable tools to encourage students to engage in active and healthy activities and allow students to learn and explore. Holy Angels Catholic School has been taking advantage of the mild weather and learning through hands-on outdoor activities.
Grade 7/8
Mr. Fenton’s Grade 7/8 class has been building a Quinzee. A Quinzee is a Canadian snow shelter made from a large pile of loose snow that is shaped then hollowed. The class put a candle in it, and it raised the temperature 15 degrees over 4 hours, and they all went on top to see if it would hold their weight, and it did.
Tapping into Experiential Learning funding, the Grade 7/8 class has fun trying out a new winter sport. Mr. Fenton ordered 15 pairs of Snowfeet skis and poles. Snowfeet are mini skis that can be used on ski trails, sliding hills and hiking trails.
Using the new Snowfeet and traditional snowshoes, the class has explored the outdoors and tried out new trails throughout the community.
Grade 1/2
Miss Needham’s Gr. 1/2 class have been creating some “A-maz-ing” work!
MAZE: Step 1
Students each designed mazes after talking about what would go into a maze and what would make a challenging maze; they voted on the one they thought would be the easiest / most effective one to build.
MAZE: Step 2
After choosing their maze, they went into the Tennis court areas and started creating their design into the snow.
MAZE: Step 3
After laying it out, they shovelled it out.
MAZE: Step 4
Play! Live Packman anyone – at recess, other classes have been enjoying it. Rumour has it, Mrs. Figliomeni was challenged by the Gr. 3/4s, and she beat everyone – not sure if that really happened, but that’s what we heard.
Kindergarten
Every Wednesday, our Kindergarten friends, along with their teacher, Miss Hara, and their Early Childhood Educator, Mrs. Winters walk or take their snowshoes out to their Outdoor Learning space down from the school.
They have a special meeting tree where they gather, and they have explored the bush area, learned about animals in fall and winter and talk about the trees and the bush area. They have put out a bird feeder (while our bear friends are hibernating), and they are keeping track of how much the birds eat and are finding birdseed in other animal scat, causing them to wonder and be very curious.
They even bring friends with them – this week, the Gr. 5/6s joined them, and they made snow volcanos.
