“To become naturalized is to live as if your children’s future matters, to take care of the land as if our lives and the lives of all our relatives depend on it. Because they do.”
— Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass
A
t Queensville Public School, where I teach, this idea of “be- coming naturalized” takes on new meaning. Here, students
are not just learning about the environment – they are learning from it. Perched atop the Oak Ridges Moraine,
the school overlooks forested trails that call students outdoors to explore, question and connect. In these daily nature walk interac- tions, they are beginning to form the very relationships Potawatomi botanist and au- thor Robin Wall Kimmerer describes; ones of care, curiosity and belonging to the land and to one another. Te Ontario Science curriculum is full of
opportunities for students to connect with the land, to leave the walls behind and get their hands dirty: Characteristics of Living Tings, Daily and Seasonal Changes, Air and Water, Growth and Change in Animals, Changes in Matter, Growth and Change in Plants. With these, alongside STEM expec- tations that include observing, document- ing and communicating their findings, it is hard to imagine that students are inside at all for science. For students to truly connect with these
units, it is important for them to under- stand how the content relates to their lives. What living things exist in our neighbour- hoods? How do the seasons impact those living things? By being witnesses to changes through the seasons, students begin to de- velop a relationship with the land and its be- ings. In a way, it becomes like an old friend. Te “cactus plant” (also known as mullein) that stands over six feet tall along one of the paths students walk will reveal all its giſts through the seasons as we pass by. It will feed the birds through the winter and as spring arrives, other plants will appear around it and students will discover the stalk sprouting from the second-year plants. Already some have excitedly shared that they “saw birds on it!” while walking the trail with their families. A key component of doing science out-
side is sit spots. Tis is a practice in which students sit quietly in nature and use their senses. One of our Kindergarten classes
10 ETFO VOICE | WINTER 2025
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