When I was a public school teacher, one of my most favourite teaching programs was Outdoor Education.
I used to take my students to Sheldon Valley or Lake St. George where we spent three to five days at their residential program. We learned about the environment and outdoor survival skills.
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| An outdoor place at Forest Valley where students sit, talk and roast their marshmallows and hot dogs, |
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| Trees with disease marked to be cut down at Forest Valley |
At the end of the school year, I would ask students to look back the year and share with their peers what program did they like and enjoy the most.
Almost without fail, everyone of them talked about their wonderful memories and our time at the Outdoor Education site.
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| Having fun and learning at the same time! |
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| Everyone enjoyed the Outdoor Education program |
They fondly reminisced the friendship, the bonding with friends and the unique experience they had at the outdoor centre which evidently had etched deep into their memories.
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| Enjoying the fresh outdoor air! |
This was one program I always advocated for my students to make sure they would receive this valuable and memorable experience with mother nature.
By the same token, when planning our two week leadership program with OPC for our visiting educators from overseas, I highly recommended this program and advocated for its inclusion in our school visit itinerary.
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| Forest Valley staff took us on a tour of the 200 acre site |
We were lucky as it was not too cold on the day of our outdoor visit. It felt just like a nice autumn day in October!
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| Principal of Forest Valley explained to us about TDSB's Outdoor Education program |
The Forest Valley Outdoor Education coordinating principal and the site supervisor were there to welcome us.
The supervising principal of the site gave us a presentation and some video clips about the Toronto District School Board's Outdoor Education program.
Even though I worked for TDSB for many years, I did not know that the board has ten outdoor education centres located in the various parts of Toronto.
At the Forest Valley Outdoor Education Centre, our group was taken on a tour of the 200 acre site.
The instructor explained to us about maple syrup making and we learned some interesting facts about this process:
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| Learning about the process of Maple syrup making |
1. It takes 40 litres of saps tapped from the maple leaf trees in the spring to make 1 litre of our famous Canadian Maple Syrup!
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| Sampling the treats made at Forest Valley |
2. There are various grades of Maple syrup from very light colour to the darker colour. The lighter colour is more expensive as it is rarer.
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| We received a gift of Forest Valley Maple syrup candies! |
3. Forest Valley makes its own Maple syrup and candies of excellent quality. They have consistently won prizes at the annual Canadian Agricultural Exhibition held in Toronto.
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| Calling for the birds of the wild to their feed! |
There are various programs offered to students of different grades according to the seasons and student interests.
Here, the visitors were shown how to attract birds by extending their hands filled with bird seeds to get birds closer and feed them.
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| Our group was introduced to the Medicine Garden at the Forest Valley Centre |
The most interesting part for us was learning about the inclusion of aboriginal culture into the students program.
We were introduced to the Medicine Garden at Forest Valley.
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| A Medicine Garden has four sections representing the four seasons and directions |
The Medicine Garden was divided into four sections.
The four directions and four seasons were represented in the different sections of the garden. A variety of plants were planted in each section representing the different seasons.
All the participants in our group enjoyed the visit to Forest Valley tremendously!
Just like my adolescent students whom I took to the centre, this group of visiting educators loved being outdoor!
They soaked in the outdoor fresh air, laughed, took pictures and enjoyed learning about mother nature in its natural state.
Just like my adolescent students whom I took to the centre, this group of visiting educators loved being outdoor!
They soaked in the outdoor fresh air, laughed, took pictures and enjoyed learning about mother nature in its natural state.
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| Visiting Educators Learning about Outdoor Education at TDSB's Forest Valley Education Centre |
Our sincere thanks to TDSB, the principal and staff of the Forest Valley Outdoor Education Centre for the opportunity to visit your centre! You are awesome!
R.T.
Forest Valley Outdoor Education Centre
North York, Toronto, Ontario
Unique Outdoor Survival Skills
ReplyDeleteDon't you find it ironic that even with all this scandalously expensive education, people today know so little?
If they can't even fix their car, how are they supposed to handle a - let's say - long term food shortage?
You can't possibly hope they'd know how to garden and produce their own food, save seeds for next year, and use leaves plowed under to fertilize the soil.
Not to mention trapping, catching, skinning and cooking a rabbit...
These may seem advanced outdoor survival skills now, but back in the days, they were merely called "Living".
Watch this short video now and discover a set of unique and fantastic survival skills used and perfected by our ancestors.
Don't wait for the next crisis to hit and live to regret you had the chance to learn these skills but didn't.
Click here to watch video!
Thanks again.
.