Zoo School

From Rogers Place we head west above 104 Ave, pick up the Groat Ravine, check to see how many new green leaves are showing and then turn right and follow the North Saskatchewan River. After a couple of bends we will swoop under the pedestrian bridge that joins Hawrelak Park to Buena Vista Park then bank right to our destination, the Edmonton Valley Zoo.  The Zoo welcomed its first guests on July 1, 1959 and maintains a vision of being a special place that inspires love and learning of animals and nature. Certainly, when the god-mother of Inquiring Minds, Gillian Kydd, visited it back in 1999, she found a warm, welcoming environment and staff with a willingness to let children get behind the scenes. The Zoo had already had a class or two come every day for a week by that time and were well on their way to the program that is called Zoo School, today. During these Covid-19 times and like all City of Edmonton recreation facilities and attractions, the Zoo is closed to the public until further notice. However, true stewards, the staff at the Edmonton Valley Zoo continue to provide the highest quality of care to the more than 350 animals that live at the zoo.

Courtney van Roijen, Immersive Experiences Coordinator for the Zoo, tells me she was working at the Zoo part time while finishing her education degree when she heard about Zoo School/Zoo Immersion. Since she already had a BSc in Biology, the idea of being able to teach kids and animals really called to her. “I loved the idea of being able to work in a non-conventional classroom,” she adds. Courtney taught Zoo Immersion for 2 years before she took over the Zoo School coordinator role in 2014 and has been with Zoo School and Inquiring Minds ever since.

Courtney feels people overlook the inter-curricular objectives the program can provide and that many teachers think it is just for younger kids. “I've had a blast doing older grades and trying to think of ways to integrate other curricular ties. I had a junior high class that focused on careers. We talked to multiple people at the zoo and talked to a manager about job interview techniques,” she says. She continues with a smile, “I have gathered data to calculate the perimeter and area of an enclosure using non-standard measures, as in our feet.”

One surprising thing that Courtney loves sharing is the zoo’s compost space. She expands, “Whenever we get up there it's fun to be able to talk about things we can do to support the environment and when we take a quiet moment up there we can often see wild coyotes that live in the area which is an interesting juxtaposition to the fact that we have camels right around the corner.”

The Inquiring Minds website describes Zoo School this way:

Get closer to the animals at the Edmonton Valley Zoo! Imagine how memorable learning is when smelling, touching, hearing and seeing our residents up close and personal.   Zoo School offers a customized curricular week-long immersion into the inner workings of the zoo.  This program builds writing and observational skills through the use of a naturalist journal, beginning in September and carrying on throughout the year until June.

Look at the Zoo School webpage https://www.edmonton.ca/attractions_events/edmonton_valley_zoo/zoo-school.aspx

Do you want to know more? Contact Courtney at courtney.vanroijen@edmonton.ca

You can start your application process at the Inquiring Minds website. https://ourinquiringminds.wordpress.com/application/

Time to Celebrate

June is one of those months full of celebration. Many teachers plan, facilitate and otherwise engineer celebrations of a wide variety and finish the school year exhausted and worn out. I know for myself when I was in the classroom, as the march through June continued, the juggle of progress reports with year-end activities usually left me a prime candidate for a cold the first week of July.

The job of site coordinator gave me a freedom from progress reports and the opportunity to spectate at a myriad of different year-end activities for the classes that had been part of my program. It was always a pure joy to sit back and watch the smiling faces and bear witness to the year of learning that had proceeded. As I let the diversity and creativity wash over me, I often found a little tear of joy in my eye.

This time of year, one type of celebration comes in the form of awards. The Edmonton Inquiring Minds’ site-based program at the Devonian Botanical Gardens called Green School was a winner at the recent Emerald Awards. Spotting the finger prints marking the outstanding programming by Emma Gilbertson, Deb Greiner and Antonella Bell (Deb's accepting photo is third at the link) caused my heart to swell as I watched the video clip. I smiled when I saw the coil bound journals and students sketching, not-so-secret signals to those of us who fan the flames of week-long, inquiry based programming.

Friday, June 14 the awesome display at the Citizenship Fair demonstrated a host of connections facilitated by the City Hall School program. I have heard the Energizer Bunny label bestowed recently on others but my money is on Linda Hut, City Hall School coordinator, as the true holder of that title. One of my favorite aspects of the event was hugging a number of the outstanding teachers who use Inquiring Minds sites to create a year’s worth of learning for their students. The Fair was the proof of the difference between projects and project-based learning, which I just received a Tweet about yesterday from Danny Maas.

One of the Edmonton Inquiring Minds' “master teacher” crew is retiring, Christine Zihrul. That is another June rite of passage – retirement functions.  I was unable to attend Christine’s celebration but if it did not include some fascinating photography I would be surprised. The first week I worked with Christine at ICE School she amassed over 1000 photos of her students’ active learning at Rexall Place (maybe back then it was still Skyreach Centre J).

Earlier this year the long-time program facilitator of the School at the Legislature, Diana Panizzon, retired. And at month end, Lorna Zucchet (she would say to kids that it was pronounced Zoo-cat, in a very cool convergence of appropriate things), program coordinator for more than a decade of Zoo School, will close that chapter of her career. Through the years of pioneering work we did, I felt so nurtured in the collaboration we shared.

In one of those Google search moments I fall victim to and cost me many minutes of divergent viewing I did not plan on, I discovered the perfect close for this blog.

Celebrate What’s Right With the World has a great 20 minute film – if you have time it is worth every second.

I echo Dewitt Jones: “I choose to celebrate. Why? Because it imbues me with gratitude, it allows me to see the best in people and situations, because it fills me with energy.”