make mud paint with watercolours use water as play food make giant splashes in puddles practice pouring stick your tongue out and taste the deliciousness of rain touch wet bark listen for birds in the shrubs look for worms playing on the pathways wash dollies hide in covered areas watch coyote scat disintegrate eat snack…Continue reading →

Snow- my relationship with snow is complicated. I grew up in Montreal so snow is in my soul. I have very fond memories of playing outside, uninterrupted and certainly never monitored ( it was ever so long ago when parents sent their children off for the day only to come for supper time). I was…Continue reading →

December has been a whirlwind! Yes, it is always a busy month as we gear up for the holidays with crafts, parties, and closing down. But this December it has been particularly busy with staff absences, Cottage maintenance and a new registration system. It could have been a month that we rushed through just to…Continue reading →

Last weekend Kate and I attended a two day conference on pedagogical leadership. The weekend was the culmination of the work we had done throughout the year with a group of fine Early Childhood Educators- we had dived deep into a book titled “from Teaching to Thinking” by Ann Pelo and Margie Carter. Ann Pelo…Continue reading →

Each autumn, once everyone is settled into school, we like to host a family event. In keeping with our usual way, we like it to be low key (no stress!) but still offer something special and festive. We have done a soup day for the past few years and also like usual, we wanted to…Continue reading →

Each new school year has its own rhythm and I do declare I think we have found it! The rain arrived this week and with the wondrous droplets pitter-pattering all around, there also landed a sort of settled feeling like “Okay, this is what we do here and this is who we do it with!”…Continue reading →

Giving thanks to: Our devoted, hard-working and committed parents and staff for their work in the garden yesterday! It felt amazing to have a community come together to support our gardening program. Sorry for the scarce photos ( I missed some people!)- we were too busy digging in the soil! If you couldn’t make it…Continue reading →

As I head out later today to the Climate Strike in downtown Vancouver, I am not only thinking about Climate Change and what our role is; I am also drawn to thinking about what this means to be an outdoor educator. Sometimes, like all of us, I feel guilty–that I am not doing enough, not…Continue reading →

” Our goal is to build an amiable school, where children, teachers and families feel at home. Such a school requires careful thinking and planning concerning procedures, motivations and interests. It must embody ways of getting along together, of intensifying relationships.”  (Loris Malaguzzi) When we opened Nature School 6 years ago, Kate and I discussed this…Continue reading →

Don’t get me wrong- we love all weather, we are an outdoor school after all. We do rain. We do snow. We do hail. We do crazy wind. And we have grown to appreciate and embrace it all. BUT, admittedly, spring feels totally amazing and the coming first of Dandelions and now Buttercups is totally…Continue reading →

I know this sounds odd but the more I teach, the less I do. As I move deeper into a practice of observation and reflection, I find myself offering more space, both to the children and myself. This way of teaching may appear to be ‘lazy’ or lackadaisical in nature but truly it is the…Continue reading →

Top Five Things on my Mind since returning from the Break SPRING happened while I was away- garlic is shooting up taller; the call of the chickadees is more prominent; the willow tree is revealing her sweet buds; the soil is warmer; the kale is revitalizing itself. JOY– the joy of watching worms wriggle onto…Continue reading →

We always welcome snow- the play affordances are plentiful! However, to have SNOW and VALENTINE’S DAY is just too precious! The snow supported our ideas about how to open up a dialogue about what friendship means and invited the question: Can we be friends with the non-human world? What does being friends with Terra Nova…Continue reading →

Making connections- we all strive to make connections each moment of every day. We connect with people, with our environment and with ideas. Enjoy viewing these photos with the lens of connection. And more connections to think about… In gratitude, Emily