Exploring Our Environment on a School Division In-Service Day

Winnipeg School Division in-service day, gives us the opportunity to spend additional time exploring, creating, and learning through the environment around us. We began by enhancing our tuff tray with soil, small construction vehicles, rocks, and pieces of bark. The children were immediately engaged, using the vehicles to scoop, move, and rearrange the soil. Their play naturally encouraged hands-on exploration, imaginative thinking, and problem-solving as they experimented with the different materials.

Another enhancement to our environment was adding colourful tangrams and pattern cards to the tuff tray. The bright geometric pieces quickly caught the children’s attention. Some children chose to carefully follow the patterns provided, while others used their creativity to design their own patterns and arrangements. This offered opportunities to explore shapes, colours, spatial awareness, and early mathematical thinking while encouraging children to make their own choices and creations.

With such a beautiful day outside, we also took every opportunity to enjoy our outdoor environment. We spent much of the morning moving between indoor and outdoor play, allowing the children to enjoy our playground and the fresh air.

In the afternoon, a small group ventured to our community garden to see what remained from the summer growing season. The children helped pull plants from the soil and searched for anything that was ready to harvest. There was plenty of excitement when children discovered small cherry tomatoes or successfully pulled a plant from the ground, revealing its roots beneath the soil. These moments provided meaningful opportunities for children to connect with nature, observe seasonal changes, and experience the excitement of harvesting food they had helped care for throughout the growing season.

It was a wonderful day filled with hands-on exploration, creativity, outdoor play, and opportunities to connect with our environment.