Embodied learning starts young...a preschool in the forest

http://www.littlenestforestpreschool.com/index.html 

Here's Catherine Cummins' blog link:  http://www.littlenestforestpreschool.com/little-nest-blog.html

 
For the families that can afford it, a preschool in the forest of Saltspring Island is starting up.  Catherine Cummins is an Early Childhood Educator and Master Herbalist.  

Finding Meaning from Living Experience

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPDH8yCnlk0

Andy Goldsworthy

As I am heading into the final weeks of my amazing 2 year Masters of Education in Curriculum and Instruction:  Health Education and Active Living, I am reminded of the richness of my classes.
I fell in love with Andy Goldsworthy's work when Celeste Snowber shared it early on in our Embodiment and Curriculum Inquiry course.  

Finding meaning from lived experience, phenomenology, is kicked up a notch to finding meaning from living experience.  In order to do this, I have to embody the experience.  To embody anything, I need to be in touch with my mind, my body, my senses and my spirit.  Another way to imagine this is described by mindfulness - a paying attention to the event, for example listening, and amping up my focus on it.  I find it very enjoyable to centre on being here, in my body, fully aware of what my senses are taking in and how my body, my breath, my mind is responding to everything.

I did this a few months ago, walking through Costco on a busy afternoon.  What a riot to focus on what I was seeing and hearing!  Instead of floating around in a numb and robotic state, searching for everything I wanted to buy, I paid attention to the people around me, the sounds, the energy.  It was very pleasant.  It certainly made my shopping trip much more enjoyable!      

Onward and upward!!!

Biophelia...in Victoria BC!

http://communications.uvic.ca/edge/

"University of Victoria's Centre for Early Childhood Research and Policy has undertaken research to see the outcomes of attending school outdoors.
The school follows the provincially-approved kindergarten curriculum, but students spend 2.5 hours a day outside, rain or shine.
Parents are drawn to the idea of children getting away from electronic devices and back to nature, where they play and learn about birds by seeing them live, not on a screen. Others say spending a large portion of the day outside creates more active children who will learn to care more about their environment.
Educators suggest benefits ranging from improved health and fitness to improved mental and emotional child development."

I am reminded when my children were in the primary grades and I would wisk them off to Garry Point in Steveston to sit at the estuary edge of the Fraser River and Pacific Ocean to walk in the breeze.  Sometimes we would bring our sketch books, or take our bikes and bounce along the dike.  As a parent, I valued this time for my children's "learning" over the classroom setting and was willing to explain why we were late to their teachers.  No regrets!  My children are imprinted with a love of the outdoors.

Principal fires security guards to hire art teachers � and transforms elementary school

Principal fires security guards to hire art teachers � and transforms elementary school