Innovation- Environment as 3rd Teacher 

We are preparing students for a world in which they have to solve problems that haven’t yet been created as a result of jobs that also- have not yet been created. Within this context we had to think about how to set the stage for the type of thinking and innovation that they would need in navigating that world. The Ministry of Education through their capacity building series did a monograph on Environment as Third Teacher through which we were encouraged to think about how we can use all aspects of the classroom as a “teacher”. We began to think about this – how could we do this intentionally with our entire school- from the moment children walk onto the school grounds, the halls and the playground all the way to their classroom. We began thinking about the walls and the school grounds. As you walk through our school you will see the many ways in the way we have approached this. Our staffroom has a learning wall in which we have begun tracking our learning as a staff over the course of the year. Our primary wing has a series of environments that have intentionally been done to integrate language, math, science, social studies, drama, art and more. Our FDK Wing has a series of murals that encourage our students to see themselves and each other positively and that can be used to extend a variety of concepts for them such as matching, near and far, shapes and colours among other concepts.