TFS - Canada's International School

Indeed, trips to the ravine have been woven into the curriculum for many years. Eco-leaders Josette Bouchard, Senior School, and Régis Boucher, La p'tite école and Junior School, share the mandate to take teachers to the ravine to show them how to use the space with their students. M. Boucher explains the eco-leaders' two guiding principles: "The first is that nature is our teacher and the real world is the best learning environment for our children. The second is if you want to nurture inquiry, being in nature is the best place to do this." The ravine is the perfect classroom extension for all grades. M. Boucher explains, "with the younger students, we try to make them connect with nature by isolating their senses." For example, students in La p'tite école blindfold a student, the deer, who uses longitude. Philippe Sogon started geo-caching at the Mississauga campus, using GPS units and geography skills to find objects hidden in a nearby park. It was the perfect unit to adapt to the Toronto campus' ravine and the teachers were thrilled to expose the students to a realworld application. A central part of the IB includes students developing inquiries into a topic, and then expanding on their knowledge and skills using research. Questions abound in this natural environment, about an ecosystem's beauty, the positive and negative impact of humans on their environment, the role of pollution, or simply the sights, sounds and inhabitants of a Carolinian forest. Level III students can identify the ravine's different ecosystems, observe the effects of human activity, collect leaves and pictures, and then pictures and translating these into an exhibit of photos and paintings for Earth Day. In French and English, they express their reactions and emotions in creative writing pieces. Finally, in science, they research and analyze the trees that they have seen, trying to answer the question, "Does the tree hide the forest, or the forest hide the tree?" In Level IV, students transfer the skills they learned in the ravine to the Scarborough Bluffs, where they study the impact that the escarpment's erosion has on the surrounding population. This is the third year the geography class will physically map the problem, collaborating with ESRI, a renowned GIS company. M. Boucher shares: "We protect what we care about and know well, and if the students go into the ravine regularly, they will care "Teachers often notice that after being in the ravine, the students are much more focused and calm. The ravine has a strong effect on everyone." Céline Lebel's Grade 1 class enjoys regular class visits to the ravine and a Junior School student uses her balance while exploring. his hearing to point to his classmates. In the Junior School, this idea expands into students drawing maps of the sounds around them. The Junior Kindergarten classes adopt a tree that they visit each season. Older students are charged with finding the full colour range of greens and browns, and trying to understand why different colours predominate in different seasons. "The ravine can be used in every subject," adds M. Boucher. "I call it the Velcro effect – once the students and teachers spend time there, they are so engaged that it becomes a seamless part of the curriculum." Students also have the chance to share their work with each other; this spring, the JK classes are going to co-exhibit their art works with the Level II's. The Senior School benefits equally from its learning in the ravine. The Grade 6 curriculum covers mapping skills, including latitude and examine their findings in class. They use a professional weather centre to analyze different atmospheric components, and they use a 3G activated iPad with the Smithsonian's leafsnap app to identify leaves and trees. Then, in the library, connections are made through research as they finalize their assignments. The ravine helps develop students' awareness of their environment and its challenges, and leads many to become activists in their own right. Last October, students, teachers and parents worked together for Community Day to remove the dogstrangling vine, an invasive species that has been taking hold. Learning to identify native versus invasive species is important, but actively removing these species helps students have a positive impact on the ravine. In Level II, the students create a synthesis of their experiences through an interdisciplinary MYP unit. First, the students hike with cameras and their art teacher, taking about their relationship with it." He insists that TFS is blessed to have the ravine on-site. "In my PD sessions with teachers, I always tell them that short, regular visits will give them a real connection to the area." M. Boucher hopes that discovery walks with different stations and display boards for visitors will be built in the near future. Mme Bouchard explains another benefit of being outdoors: "Teachers often notice that after being in the ravine for the activity, the students are much more focused and calm. The ravine has a strong effect on everyone." From La p'tite école to the Senior School, TFS students are taking great steps to avoid nature deficit disorder. In the continuous cycle of appreciation, caretaking and stewardship of their natural surroundings, Mme Bouchard, M. Boucher and their troops of eco-adventurers are ensuring that the ravine remains a place of beauty and a source of enlightenment. entre nous 9

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