Welcome to Cassandra

Cassandra, is very excited to be joining the number of schools to offer Full Day Kindergarten (FDK) in September 2013.  In staying true to our strong ECOschools foundation, we are looking to create a dedicated outdoor learning area for the Kindergarten students where they will be able to learn, grow and play in a safe and structured environment designed for their size, development and ability. 

This learning area will be located directly behind the small parking lot on the west side of the school with easy access for the projected 3 FDK classes (75-90 students).  We hope to take advantage of the natural features of the area, including the angulating terrain, trees and bench.  This space will be a rich, child-centered, natural environment supporting the FDK curriculum with areas to enhance active development and experimental learning.  We believe that in order for this project to be successful it must be community friendly, low maintenance, sustainable, and an area with many learning spaces and activity zones.  As a long term goal we hope students will come to understand that learning happens indoor and out, all year round.

It has been an exciting process so far.  Parent council representatives, teachers, ECOschools’ staff and partners, including the Evergreen Foundation, have been working to make this a model for other schools across the TDSB and beyond.  We want to hear your input!  Please take some time to see the work done, resources available and have your say – share your comments and suggestions.

Moving forward, we are hoping to have a final plan submitted for construction drawings and a budget early in the new year, to be able to start building in the spring to ensure we are ready to go for September.

Thank you for your support,

D. Hawker-Budlovsky

Principal

A Bit of Background

Kindergarten area is approximately 3600 sq ft.
90 FDK students are expected to use the site (60 students at a time)
3 kindergarten teachers + 3 early childhood educators will be the primary professional users
Grade 1, 2 and 3 will also use the site
Installation will take place by August 2013





Location and Surrounding Area

 

 

 



Preliminary Design Concept

 

Vision, Goals, and Expectations

Vision, Goals and Expectations

Diverse natural environment for learning
Child centered
Staying true to natural palette of materials
Materials are sustainable and from local sources
A safe space that allows for graduated risk taking
Community friendly- welcoming, comfortable, engaging
A home-base and jumping off point for accessing other natural spaces on site and in the community
Low maintenance- easy to re-set for daily programs
A demonstration space- a lab
Showcases best practice
The focus is FDK but teh space could be used for grades 1 to 3
A 'dependable' space- efficiency with respect to how the space works for daily programming
Storage of materials, tools, equipment, loose parts
Indoor and outdoor offer an equal opportunity for learning
The space offers learning centers or activity zones
Connectivity, transitions and circulation through the space are well thought out

 

Design Charrette

On Friday November 2^nd 2012 Evergreen ran a design charrette with over 25 Evergreen School Ground Greening Consultants. By partnering with Crowdbrite this design session was able to generate design and programming ideas from experts in school ground greening and encourage feedback on the preliminary design concept. The participants were asked to review the following questions and provide their insight:

Comment on how the surrounding context and proposed master plan could influence the new FDK space?
What opportunities are there to link the new FDK project site with the existing natural features on the school ground?
Comment on how to address some of the challenges stated by the school design team

In three groups, the participants spent two hours reviewing the proposed redesign of the site and making recommendations about how to better use the site as an outdoor learning area for the full day kindergarten classes. Their recommendations included really cool best practice outdoor learning elements such as:

Mobile hand wash station

A mobile cart that provides a moveable wash station to use for art and other activities requiring clean up

Loose parts play

Making water troughs out of dead ash trees that students can use for water play and also used to water plants

Meet and greet shelter

A shelter for kindergarten students with seating that is appropriately sized as well as a roof that has solar panels on one side and a green roof on the other

Trolley and track

A track that is across the site with a trolley that can be used to transport programming materials to and from storage allowing for less time spent on take down and set up

Overall, this charrette strengthened the design process by allowing for feedback from a team of professionals. Now, let us know what you think!

Evergreen School Ground Greening Consultants,
Annual All Hands in the Dirt Forum at Evergreen Brick Works

A sub-group presenting their top 3 design elements for the site 

Using iPads and MacBooks to update the Crowdbrite canvas live

 

 

 

Staying Inspired...

 

 

What are your favourite three?

 

Beaver Lodge

Berms

Bridge

Climbing Poles

Entrance

Games Table

Wobble Log

Log Pile

Loose Parts Play

Trails



Low Ropes

Mini Forest



Play Zones

Play House

Play House

Sand Play

Shade and Gathering

Shade and Gathering

Shade and Gathering

Storage Idea

Topography

Trails

Water Play

Water Play

Shade

Ampitheatre

Hill Slide

 

A Preliminary Design for Cassandra!

We are very excited to be moving forward with our Kindergarten Outdoor Learning Environment.  With the feedback we have received and working with partners at the Board and working within specific guidelines a final draft proposal has been submitted to the Board for approval and costing!  This will be a very costly project and may need to be completed in stages. 

Your support and input is appreciated.  The “Pennies for Change” coin drive raised of $1500.00, the school, school council and the Board has committed funds and we are reaching out through grants and business for their support as well. 

We are still aiming to begin installation this spring to make sure that we are ready for September!