Thursday, July 26, 2018
Tuesday, July 24, 2018
Centre for Early Childhood Education & Research: Mattermost
What is it?
UBC is piloting a chat tool called Mattermost. The Centre for Early Childhood Education & Research (CECER) is using it to support real-time communication and collaboration within the broad and interdisciplinary ECE community.
http://cecer.earlychildhood.educ.ubc.ca/mattermost/
Mattermost is easy to use. When you log in to access it for the first time, you will see a tutorial. This tutorial will walk you through how to send messages, upload files, and navigate between public channels, private groups, and direct messages. You can access Mattermost via the web or download apps for almost any device.
Monday, July 16, 2018
Photo Reflection from the Garden
I took some photos during the week I thought I would share. I used a manual, fixed aperture lens from 1974 with an adapter for my Canon 5d Mark III. Thank you for the wonderful week!
Sunday, July 15, 2018
Feedback Survey / Course Evaluations
Please take some time to provide your feedback!
Credit students will receive the official UBC FoE Course evaluations.
Supporting Links for Outdoor Education by Belva
What a pleasure it was
spending time with everyone on Wednesday. So many insightful and inspiring
conversations. Let’s keep the conversation going between us and share those
conversations with our parents and administrators!!
There was a request
from many for some supportive links to highlight why the great outdoors is so
important. I’ve compiled a list of some that I genuinely enjoy and found
inspiring.
Something I neglected
to touch upon was talking about the vestibular system and it’s importance in
our development. I recognize that this may not apply to those with older
students but it’s still fascinating to learn about all the same. Could also be
an interesting rabbit hole to fall into researching the vestibular system and
it’s development in the teenage years.
The Vestibular System and How it Works
This is a *great*
article that gives some basic facts around the vestibular system and how it
works. For example: spinning in circles activates the vestibular system. By
activating this system it not only enhances eye motor function, because your
eyes have to come into focus, it also calms the mind and allows children to
focus better. So getting children to roll down hills is considered
developmentally appropriate practice. I find mentioning this to parents to be
very helpful and eye opening in regards to supporting the work I do.
Nature Deficit Disorder
Richard Louv, author of
Lost Child in the Woods, coined this phrase. It’s a thing. Understanding how
nature affects us and the importance of it in our lives can also help parents
to better understand that daily outdoor play is necessary. I spoke about the
study done in a hospital where they had one test group in private rooms with a
city view vs one test group in private rooms with a view of nature. The test
group with a view of nature healed faster than those with the city view. As we
spoke about terminology, this is also a great term to have in your back pocket.
It’s sensible and is exactly what it says it is….nature deficit disorder.
Forest School Philosophy
This is a great article
to share with parents about the base line of what Forest School is all about
and why it’s critical in todays society. Again, there’s a lot of great language
in this to better equip you when talking with folks.
Unstructured Play and Why It’s Important
This just came across
my desk yesterday and I LOVE it! It hits all of the big points about how simply
playing is so so important. If anyone is in a play based center this is a
wonderful article to send to parents that question if their child is learning
anything. In my opinion this can apply to all ages.
There’s one more study
I want to tell you about. Researchers took 2 groups of kids aged 8-10. For one
year, they told test group A that during lunch and recess they could play on a
playground with all of the bells and whistles. They told test group B that they
had a large open area to play on with not much on it for lunch and recess. At
the beginning of the year they tested the childrens social and emotional
capabilities, imagination etc. AT the end of the year they tested everyone
again.
What they discovered
was this: Test group B was much better equipped to deal with negotiating
between each other, their emotional control was higher and their imaginations
had grown in leaps and bounds. Test group A on the other hand hadn’t developed
as much over the course of the year.
Researchers attributed
this to their environments. A playground is an informed setting that dictates
actions whereas a vacant lot is an uninformed setting that asks the participant
to create their own actions. I have experienced this time and time again. In
fact, I wrote a blog post about it! You can check it out here: http://muddybootprints.com/2017/06/01/surroundings-make-a-difference/
I hope these articles
help support the work you do and can assist you in educating those around you.
Fear is huge and at the end of the day, society is learning to be fearful of
the great outdoors. Knowledge is power as they say so keep digging, keep asking
questions, and keep sharing what you know. And keep in touch!!!!
Belva
Barb Fay wrote us an amazing song!
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1jwCQAuxHzL0uFKmRr_Drl24YzHxtJZdb
Here are the lyrics:
Magic of the Garden- by Barbara Fay (to the tune of: It's a Small World)
We all arrived at UBC
To learn about garden ped-a-gogy (sing garden quickly)
From near and far
Here we all are to
Explore our outdoor world
Fennel, mint and lem-on balm for tea (sing fennel quickly)
Susan, Mari and Tat-hal-i
Poems, stories and songs
One and all sing along
Explore our outdoor world
Chorus
Ex-per-ience this tranquil space
See and smell, hear, feel and taste
Be still, be present with this place
Magic of-the - gar-den (sing magic quickly)
Guest speakers came with tales to share
Traditions, respect - get a bucket chair (sing respect quickly)
Putting faces to names - weaving, math, name games
Explore our outdoor world
Froe-bel's gifts new terms to share
Write our blogs, read the posts, take care
From beginning to end the gar-den our friend
Explore our outdoor world
Chorus
Ex-per-ience this tranquil space
See and smell, hear, feel and taste
Be still, be present with this place
Magic of-the- gar-den (sing magic quickly)
We talked of arts and outdoor school
And Belva Stone is OG cool!
Storyboard of dragonflies (sing storyboard fast)
Lots of laughs, flew right by
Explore our outdoor world
Man-i-festo writing to fireweed
The best lattes at The Bean Scene
Linden trees, poems of leaves
Sound-scaping with ease
Explore our outdoor world
Chorus
Ex-per-ience this tranquil space
See and smell, hear, feel and taste
Be still, be present with this place
Magic of-the - gar-den (sing magic quickly)
Bridge the gap 'tween old and young
Farmer Jim, the kids - what fun!
Tears flowed, his house sold
Just knock - be bold!
Explore our outdoor world
Leaf groups and walk for miles and miles (sing leaf groups quickly)
Fresh food on roofs and lots of smiles
Make some lunch, take a bite
Risky play - it's alright
Explore our outdoor world
Grab some gloves get your hands dir-ty
Helping hands for Em-ily
Mem-or-ies start to end
Orchard Garden our friend
Explore your outdoor world
Chorus
Ex-per-ience this tranquil space
See and smell, hear, feel and taste
Be still, be present with this place
Magic of-the- gar-den (sing magic quickly)
To the wonderful professors, guest speakers and my amazing group of
colleagues/friends- thank you for sharing this special time and place with me. ..I will
forever remember it and each of you. Best wishes in exploring your outdoor worlds.
Barb Fay (2018)
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