Monica Nissen, Wildsight education director, says that the COVID-10 pandemic dumped a barrel of lemons in her team’s hands when it hit this spring, putting a stop to many of their traditional education plans.
“How to deliver education programming when schools were closed and social distancing was in place? The team rolled up their sleeves and started squeezing those lemons into something as wonderful as a tall, cool glass of lemonade on a hot summers’ day,” she says.
Wildsight created dozens of online lessons, including activities, videos and more, that simplified complex ideas and turned them into fun educational experiences. But the Education in the Wild program, geared for students from Kindergarten to grade 7, was not the only education programming they transformed into an online experience. Visit the Wildsight website for an in-depth, nine-lesson series from Know Your Watershed educators, which turned the overflowing well of knowledge about watersheds into compact lesson plans.
READ: Wildsight offers home school tips
Beyond Recycling educators also created resources for home learning. Lessons, videos and eco-challenges were offered through the website, focusing on supporting teachers and students who were already participating in the year-long program. Student resource pages on the website were also added to, with supplemental information for self-directed learning /kids who want to learn more.
If you’re looking for summer activities now for your own kids, check out the online offerings! For Wildsight, this experience proved the age-old adage; when life hands you lemons, you truly can make something sweet out of it.
READ: Logging, trail destruction on private land in St. Mary’s Valley prompts concern from Wildsight
Wildsight thanks Columbia Basin Trust, Columbia Power Corporation, Consecon Foundation, Crowsnest Conservation Society, Fortis BC, NSERC, Osprey Community Foundation, the RDCK, Teck Coal, Teck Trail, the Province of British Columbia and all of our individual donors
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