Project Description
“This program is everything I have been looking for for the last two years.”
Nature Academy
An outdoor school for hands-on science, inquiry-led and place-based nature exploration where we teach children to wonder, love and care for the earth. At Nature Academy, we study the earth, care for the land, and play in the wild! Hosted at the Cedar Haven Eco-Centre.
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“I can’t say how pleased I was with this program. Everything from the setting, to the staff, to the programming was great.”
Why Nature Academy?
Nature Academy encourages ecological literacy, identity and responsibility through immersive nature education to foster healthy relationships with the earth that last a lifetime.
“A great balance of crafts, stories, play, lesson, and nature immersion.”
Curriculum
Nurturing curious minds to know, love and care for our natural neighbourhoods.
“We feel this is a good pairing to their public education and want to foster a love for the outdoors.”
Classes
The Clouds class follows a model of inquiry with the goal of teaching students to observe their surroundings, ask questions, work to find answers, and practice sharing their learnings.
Highlighting a different “spotlight species” each week, class learning follows a daily rhythm of (1) Questioning and Predicting, (2) Creating and Investigating, (3) Observing and Experimenting, (4) Communicating and Responding.
In the Dreys class, we learn about differentiation and changes.
We study the behaviour, characteristics, needs, and life cycles of living things in an effort to understand what makes them unique. We zoom in on one animal class each term (mammals, amphibians, reptiles and birds) to apply our knowledge to concrete examples. We also learn about changes in seasons, weather, and animals.
Dreys classes are very hands-on, using games, crafts, role play and investigation to discover how living things get what they need.
In the Sleuths class, we learn about interconnection and communities.
By focusing primarily on soil, plant life and insects, we learn about what makes a healthy ecosystem, and how biodiversity allows species to work together. We spend time studying the characteristics and needs of plants, and consider our own role in supporting the ecosystem from the bottom of the pyramid to the top.
Sleuths classes involve lots of games, projects and experiments, looking up close at how things work to better understand how they connect to one another.
In the Kettles class, we learn about structure and systems.
Each term will focus on one bodily system (respiratory, digestive, musculoskeletal, or circulatory). We’ll see how animals differ in their structural characteristics, and see how animal needs and animal anatomy connect. We’ll also spend time learning about conservation and biodiversity, considering the importance of caring for individuals and systems that live in this place.
Kettles classes include lots of class discussions, observations, and wondering together. We learn about larger concepts in our lessons and then students break those concepts down into specific examples to understand further.
“We have always wanted to send our kids to a program like this but finances and location have always been a barrier. We were thrilled when you launched this program.”
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“While he was attending nature school his attitude toward getting outside really became more positive. I think Nature Academy was such a great part of his week.”
Upcoming Terms
“Our kids absolutely loved it…they gained skills, grew in confidence, made friends and really enjoyed the Cedar Haven farm and staff.”
Special Thanks to the Ontario Trillium Foundation
Through the Resilient Communities Fund, the Ontario Trillium Foundation is supporting A Rocha Ontario’s environmental education programs: Nature Academy and Wild Things. With their support, we are able to promote even more enriching nature experiences to our students!
