A local Kindergarten program will be a showcase for the province this school year.
The Ministry of Education chose Deanna Hansen's class at St. Paul's School for the honour because it is model of what the government wants early learning to be.
"Deanna will have educators from all over the province coming into the classroom throughout the year to see how she does things," said Shannon Hahn, Christ the Teacher Catholic Schools (CTTCS) supervisor of instruction and learning.
To start with, Hahn explained the children are free, for the most part, to go back and forth between outside and inside.
"Her outdoor space is pretty much unmatched in the province and really what we want is, we want kids to be outside," Hahn said. "Within [the classroom] they have the freedom to mill around and find things they're interested in."
That is not to say there is no structure at all, however. The materials in both spaces are designed to support the curriculum, but Hansen has innovative ways of fostering learning, Hahn said.
"She brings in lots of real world materials, it's not just play stuff, it's things that they would encounter in their real environments and they're allowed to problem-solve with real world materials," she said.
Hahn cited the weights and measures part of the curriculum as an example. The classroom has a real scale and Hansen brought in real rocks so the kids can see and understand how the concepts apply to the world around them.
Hansen is humble about the accomplishment, saying basically that she was just following instructions.
"Actually, it's from our ministry," she said. "In 2010, they renewed the curriculum and there was a lot of nature and stuff like that in there, things that kids are naturally interested in, so it just kind of leant itself to playing more outside and learning outside.
"I knew it was an initiative from the ministry; they had given us lots of information that said they'd like to see kids outside with these spaces."
So, using the resources on the Province's website, she went about designing an outdoor space that includes a small amphitheatre, social areas, a talking circle and a real vegetable garden just outside the Kindergarten doorway for easy access.
She explained the philosophy behind it:
"Our playgrounds have become so, I don't want to say sterile, but they don't attack all the different ways kids like to experience things. Our playgrounds have big open spaces for sports-minded kids and we have a little bit of climbing apparatus, but it doesn't help those kids who are creative in other ways, like with singing or we get kids putting on plays here on the stage during recess time. We don't have a lot of communal spaces where kids can come together so a lot of kids just sit here in our social areas."
They also plant and tend the garden. Hansen said the garden has been a real eye-opener for the children with respect to where their food comes from. During the first week of school they harvested potatoes and made French fries.
"The garden is just amazing," she said.
Of course, nothing happens without money. Hansen received financial support from both the school division and the School Community Council. And she had a little more help with some free labour.
"My husband is a construction teacher over at Sacred Heart [High School], so I have friends in high places," she laughed.
"He's always looking for projects that his students can do where they can give back to the community, so this was an awesome experience for some of those boys who are alumni of St. Paul's."
While reluctant to blow her own horn, Hansen is very pleased with the honour being bestowed upon her.
"It's pretty amazing," she said. "Teachers work their whole lives to get recognition like this, so it's pretty cool."
