Wildsight’s award-winning environmental education program, Classroom With Outdoors, connects 245 Elk Valley students to nature!

Now in its 13th year, Classroom With Outdoors is an experiential, field trip-based program designed to connect students in grades 4 to 7 with the ecosystems in their own back yards.

Wildsight is able to offer Classroom With Outdoors free of charge thanks to the generous support of Columbia Basin Trust and local foundations and sponsors – which is vital to ensuring that the program remains accessible to as many students as possible.

The program continues to be as popular as ever – this year, roughly 1,750 students in communities across the Columbia Basin will participate, with 245 Elk Valley students from Jaffray, Fernie, Sparwood and Elkford participating. Wildsight’s team of environmental educators has already started helping students and teachers discover the wonders of forest, wetland, grassland, and old growth ecosystems through engaging, interactive activities – using fine nets to catch and observe insects, journaling, role-playing, and much more.

‘Classroom with Outdoors introduces students and teachers to the exceptional learning opportunities that exist outside, all around them,’ says Educator Lee-Anne Walker. ‘We take them to spectacular settings right where they live and use fun activities to bring their curriculum alive. And the result is a better understanding of how those places and ecosystems sustain them – sustain all of us’.

Classroom With Outdoors draws rave reviews from teachers each year.

Walker, who began Classroom with Outdoors in 2000, is passing the torch after 13 years of program delivery. ‘It’s been an incredible experience to watch the awe on kids’ faces, year after year, as they explore and learn about ecosystems in their backyard’, she says. Walker leaves behind a true legacy, with programs now reaching students across the Columbia Basin – 1,750 students this year alone.

‘Teachers often liken participating in Classroom With Outdoors to walking through a science textbook – it brings core concepts home for the students, making them memorable and compelling’, says Education Program Manager Monica Nissen.

Classroom With Outdoors is made possible through the financial assistance of Columbia Basin Trust, The North Face Explore Fund, Columbia Power Corporation, Fortis BC, Teck Coal, Teck Trail Operations, the Osprey Foundation, Creston-Kootenay Foundation, and the BC Gaming Fund.

Wildsight views environmental education as a crucial part of building healthy communities and maintaining thriving ecosystems.

‘One popular activity that we use involves having the students pretend that they are scientists from another planet who have come to Earth to observe life here’, says Nissen. ‘Every time we do this, the students conclude that Earthlings are really lucky to have such an amazing planet to live on. It’s a good lens to see things through.’

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