On very short notice and with a lot of cooperation from ECE’s and Educators we have made plans for our next Manitoba Nature Action Collaborative for Children (MNACC) meeting here in Winnipeg, Canada. Here are the details:
- The date is Tuesday October 14th at Discovery Centre (367 Hampton Street) at the corner of Hampton St. and Silver Ave. This is the Tuesday after the Thanksgiving week-end. If this is your first time to Discovery Centre and you would like a tour come for 6:15 PM. The meeting will start at 7:00 PM sharp.
- The agenda will consist of 4 different topics being presented over the period of 2 hours. Each group will speak for 15 – 20 minutes and there will be time for questions and conversation until we reach the 30 minute mark, at which time we will switch to the next topic. The topics will include:
- A School’s perspective on the “Two Week Outside Challenge”
– hear about the way these two teachers partnered and made this work at a public school right here in Winnipeg. If you are an Educator and have been looking for ways to enhance your children’s education, relationships, and experiences, this is one presentation that we believe will leave you with lots to ponder. Kindergarten teacher Connie Lowe and Grade 5 teacher Christin (Stevenson-Britannia School) will be our presenters.
- “Being on Tap for children, not on Top of children.”
– Brigitte Insul from Seven Oaks Child Care will be hosting this provocative discussion after their resent involvement with a Pilot Project at Fort Whyte Alive and her recent Forest School Canada training, which she attended this summer in Canmore, Alberta. This thought provoking session will give us cause for reflection as to how and why we involve ourselves in children’s play and personal space.
- “What did you grow in your garden this summer?” – “We grew vegetable soup”
– this quote summarizes the success that two ECE’s had when they overcame near paralyzing fear and took on container gardening with a vengeance. Joy Pollreis, Jenn Couillard (both trained ECE’s) and their staff surprized no one more than themselves as they embarked on a gardening journey that has reaps so many wonderful results, and memories.
- Forest Day at Assiniboine Park
– What would happen if you took your children to the same forested area every Tuesday for 12 weeks and stayed for 10 hours each day? Would the experience be substantially different than visiting a different sites each week, would the children or staff become bored or disinterested? Trained ECE’s Doris Storey and Amanda Moir will share how this experience went and why they can’t wait to do it again.
Please help get this information out to others. There are still many educators and ECE’s who have not been touched by the benefits of children spending time in nature and we do want to keep reaching out to as many of those as we can. If you too have had some unique outdoor experiences that you have had with young children, and would be prepared to share it at a future meeting, do let me know. There is still so much to learn from each other.
Please RSVP to this e-mail address, if you are coming so we can set up the right amount of chairs. See you all soon.
“We Don’t Stop Playing Because We Get Old…. We Get Old Because We Stop Playing”
Ron Blatz
Manitoba Nature Action Collaborative for Children (MNACC)
367 Hampton Street
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
R3J 1P7
Ph: 204-889-2689
Fax: 204-832-4679
Member of: Nature Action Collaborative for Children – www.worldforumfoundation.org/working-groups/nature
The Child & Nature Alliance of Canada – www.childnature.ca
Children & Nature Network – www.childrenandnature.org