ORANGEVILLE, ON – Island Lake Public School (ILPS) will begin construction on a new Outdoor Learning Space in early June.
With the environment being a major focus of the public school and many of its learning concepts, the Outdoor Learning Space will be used to further enhance student experience. The School Council, students and staff have worked hard to fundraise for this large project and are eagerly anticipating its completion.
ILPS School Council, in partnership with the Principal and teaching staff, developed the concept of an Outdoor Learning Space as an extension of their Environmental Learning Centre (The EcoPak). The EcoPak, designed and built by the Upper Grand District School Board (UGDSB), is a two classroom building that showcases Green Technologies such as straw bale insulation, solar panels, a water cistern, a wind turbine, passive solar energy, and the ability to monitor all energy usage, and generation, on-site or live on the internet. An Outdoor Learning Space would logically extend Environmental studies beyond the EcoPak to the benefit of all students at ILPS.
During the 2014-2015 school year, School Council began fundraising initiatives to raise money to build the Outdoor Learning Space and involved ILPS students to help design the concept. Every student in the school was asked to draw a picture of how they thought an outdoor ‘classroom’ would look. School Council and staff then used those entries to define the initial concept drawing.
As the concept evolved, the application of the Learning Space did as well. It began to cross areas of study, where math, science, social studies, music, art, and language arts could all come alive using nature as a learning lab.
“As adults in the workforce we collaborate, problem solve, and apply trial and error reasoning every day. Through leveraging our strengths, learning from and coaching each other, we make our teams smarter and more effective. The Outdoor Learning Space will provide these opportunities at the student level” said Kim Soper, Chair of the ILPS School Council.
The Learning Space will provide a forum for students Junior Kindergarten to Grade 8 to experience the benefits of collaborative, hands-on, student taught learning. “Studies show retention rate is 75% for learning by doing. It goes up to 90% when students teach other students what they learned,” added Soper.
Combining strategies across the UGDSB focus on STEM Learning, and ILPS’s focus on The Growth Mindset, the Outdoor Learning Space becomes an even greater asset to the students of ILPS. Not only an extension of the EcoPak, it becomes an extension of the schools focus on inclusion, anti-bullying, growth through collaborative learning, and the LLC Makerspace.
“Island Lake is extremely fortunate to have dedicated School Council members who were able to take an idea and make it a reality,” said Sean Singh, Principal of Island Lake Public School. “Our students will benefit in multiple ways from the addition of an Outdoor Learning Space. We are looking forward to the exciting educational experiences that will be offered by staff and students.” said Singh.
ILPS is scheduled to break ground the first week of June with completion by September. The School Council will host a free Family BBQ in September to launch the opening of this new school feature.
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For more information:
Sean Singh, Principal, Island Lake Public School
(519) 941-3292
Email Sean Singh
Kim Soper, Chair ILPS School Council
(416) 779-5467
Email Kim Soper