John Norquay Elementary School Project: Grouse Mountain
I had a wonderful Kindergarten classroom of 21 students at John Norquay Elementary School in East Vancouver. John Norquay is a diverse socio-economic community where approximately 60% of the students are second language learners, with 32 different languages being spoken at home and school. The school population is 620 students from K – 7 in 27 divisions.
The $734 I received from the Emily Longworth Memorial award allowed my practicum class the opportunity to participate in a once in a lifetime field trip to Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver. This field trip gave my students a fun-filled day of learning and exploring the great outdoors. Throughout the day they interacted with nature firsthand and learned about the characteristics of plants and animals, and what different needs they have to survive. They also had the opportunity to interactively discover the ancient customs, legends, dances, and rich history of our First Nation people. The information learned on the field trip has cross-curricular connections in the subjects of: Science, Social Studies, Physical Education and Health.
On the day of the fieldtrip we took a school bus to the base of Grouse Mountain. For most students this was only their second time ever riding a bus so it was a very exciting time. Once we arrived at Grouse we took the Skyride to the peak of the mountain. The students were amazed by the view of the city and wilderness. After a snack break we went to see the two grizzly bears which surprisingly were doing some yoga moves while we watched them. The students were surprised at how big the grizzly bears were and to learn more information about them.
Although we went on the field trip in early May there was still a lot of snow on the top of the mountain. Due to this fact we let the students play in the snow. They were all laughing as they made snowman and snow angels, slid down hills, and rolled around in the snow. Next, we went on an ecowalk where our guide explained the characteristics of plants and animals, and what different needs they have to survive. She brought artifacts of different animals and plants and had students describe the objects and guess what animal/plant it was. Lastly, we attended a First Nations presentation which was led by an elder of the Squamish Nation.
The fieldtrip was incredible and each student enjoyed a different part which showed the variety of activities they offered. I would highly recommend this fieldtrip to any class as my students learned so much and got to participate in hands on learning.
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