Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup

Colleen Whelan Beyond the Classroom, Environmental Stewardship, Experiential Learning, Science and Math No Comments

 
As part of the Academy’s commitment to environmental stewardship, the entire school participated in the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup on Friday, September 23. We revisited a section of the Don River that we had cleaned up three years ago: the Don River shoreline between Pottery Road and Beechwood Drive.

The Shoreline Cleanup is a nationwide event. Our school joined over 50,000 other Canadians who participate in the event annually. As part of the cleanup we had to categorize and tally all items collected. We collected and itemized over 45 pounds of garbage and recycling that afternoon! The data we collected is added to a national research database that is used to assist with environmental assessments nationwide.

While on site, students also learned some history about the Don River and the importance of the river to the city of Toronto. Students were surprised to hear that the river, to which Chinook salmon have now returned, was once so polluted that it caught fire – not once, but twice! And many students commented that they did not know that such a “natural place” existed in downtown Toronto.

A special thank you to Brandon’s History classes for taking the lead on being our “data recording experts.”

Check out more photos from this event on our Facebook page!

Annual Cedar Glen Trip

YMCA Academy Beyond the Classroom, Environmental Stewardship, Experiential Learning No Comments

Cedar Glen 2015 That most wonderful time of year at the Academy has come and gone, but as usual, the memories created will remain for entire lifetimes. We are of course referring to our annual visit to YMCA’s Cedar Glen Outdoor Center. This year’s trip was even more memorable than past years because we were afforded the privilege of going for two nights instead of the usual one night. And with double the nights, comes double the fun.

Day 1

Our extra day at Cedar Glen came about as a result of our partnership with Evergreen Downsview coming to an end as an unfortunate consequence of cuts in their funding. In order to continue our school’s environmental stewardship, we reached out to Cedar Glen and were able set up an entire day’s worth of environmental stewardship working at their on-site farm. Our students spent the day harvesting Kale and small melons, mulching small trees, and removing thistle weeds. After dinner, we were treated to an hour of cooperative team building initiative games and ended the day with a camp-fire where we had the opportunity to eat delicious S’mores.

Day 2 and 3

With the hard work and environmental stewardship under our belts, day 2 was all about fun, games, and activities. Students were split into four groups and went about the property participating in various challenges and activities such as high ropes, low ropes, wall climbing, and maze games. After dinner, students got to partake in various field games, went on a night hike, and once again were treated to a camp fire with treats.

On the morning of our last day we channelled our inner Robin Hoods (or Legolas’ for te Lord of the Rings fans out there) and participated in archery as well as atlatl launching. After throwing the atlatls for distance and aiming the arrows for accuracy, students played an animal survival game, ate lunch and headed back home with another year of fun and memories behind us. We are all hoping for a two day visit again next year.

Check out the rest the rest of the pictures on our Facebook page!

Gallery One | Gallery Two

No.9 Mini House Building

Andras Nagy Environmental Stewardship, Experiential Learning No Comments

Staff and students were treated to an inspiring workshop delivered by the No.9 Poetics in Architecture crew right at our school!  We were all architects for an afternoon playing with shape and perspective in the creation of mini 6-sided structures.  We even included decorative paper that looked like solar panels, gardens and a modern lime-coloured accent wall.  When shining lights on our structures, or placing them on mirrors, we noticed the infinite possibilities that exist “outside the box” from traditional models of buildings or houses.

Check out the rest the rest of the pictures on our Facebook page!

Pickle Farm Construction

YMCA Academy Environmental Stewardship, Experiential Learning No Comments

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A group of collaborators from The YMCA Academy, The YMCA of Greater Toronto, Greenwood College, Rebekka Hutton of Alchemy Pickles and artist Micah Donovan were involved in developing a living sculpture capable of growing food. We came together to create a unique form of sculpture that will yield chard, cucumbers, radishes, carrots, herbs and other plants capable of transforming into pickles, chutneys, and preserves.

 

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On February 19, 2015, we came together for one final session to put the final sculpture together.
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We created our own special blend of soil using coir, worm casts from our in-house worm condo, and composted yard waste.
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We planted in the clay pieces that we created last semester and chose what will be our first harvest and took special care labelling what was planted and arranging the pots in the sculpture. 

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A special thank-you to the numerous people who have worked so hard over the years to make this day a reality. We will see you in a couple of months for an update on our harvest.

Check out the rest the rest of the pictures on our Facebook page!

Evergreen Downsview Park

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On October 10, the Academy set out for its first of two annual tree planting outings at Downsview Park for this school year’s Evergreen environmental stewardship. Although it was a bit cold at times, the beautiful, blue, and sunny sky made up for it in the long run. Our first visit had us planting some small trees, and as always, mulching. After enjoying lunch under sunny skies, we went back to planting, and for the first time ever in the Academy’s history at Evergreen Downsview, we got to plant large, 12 foot trees. Due to their size, we had to dig really massive and deep holes, which was quite time consuming, and so we were only able plant two of them. In all, the trip was one of the most successful ones to date, and we hope to top this experience in May.

Check out the rest the rest of the pictures on our Facebook page!