October 10, 2022: Take Me Outside Day is almost here! Join virtually to learn from amazing Indigenous speakers and explore outdoor learning using digital resources.

Take Me Outside is a non-profit organization committed to raising awareness and facilitating action on nature connection and outdoor learning in schools across Canada.  They believe in a future in which spending time outside playing, exploring and learning is a regular and significant part of every student’s day. They also work collaboratively with other organizations, school boards and individuals to encourage children and youth to spend more time outside through various projects and initiatives. The ultimate goal of Take Me Outside is to encourage more time spent outside during the school day to counterbalance excessive screen time and sedentary tendencies. This week in the mentoring circle, we will explore Take Me Outside Day and review their digital programs which are simple, fun and accessible to all.

To encourage schools to extend the learning environment beyond the desk and four walls and to use the great outdoors as part of the regular teaching practice, Take Me Outside has its own day! Take Me Outside Day helps to raise awareness about outdoor learning by encouraging teachers to take their students outside. In 2021, they had 8,900 educators and nearly 400,000 learners across the country join the event, watch the video below! Next week join Take Me Outside Day to listen to many incredible Indigenous authors, activists, and knowledge-keepers they have lined up from October 17th – 21st (find the schedule below). Become a champion for outdoor learning in your school and community! The impact you can help create through spending time outside has the potential to spark inspiration for a lifetime.

Monday, October 17th: Indigenous Knowledge & Perspectives

Tuesday, October 18th: Health & Well-being

  • 8:30am PT – Live Physical Activity with PHE Canada 
  • 10am PT – Health and the Outdoors Discussion with Olympic Medalist Haley Daniels

Wednesday, October 19th: TAKE ME OUTSIDE DAY!

Thursday, October 20th: Environmental  & Climate Change Education

Friday, October 21st: Celebration & Day of Reflection

  • 10am PT –  Reading and reflection with author Cecilia John

Can’t wait to start your outdoor learning journey? This week, Take Me Outside is offering free virtual workshops facilitated by experts and leading organizations to get dive into the essential foundation of Indigenous perspectives in outdoor learning. One of the workshops features Natural Curiosity and award-winning author David Robertson who will delve into how facilitating learning on the land is in essence entering into a relationship with the land and with the peoples whose land you’re learning on. Reminding us that outdoor learning would not be possible without access to the natural world that has been stewarded since time immemorial by the many Indigenous peoples who have walked and continue to walk and steward these places on Turtle Island. Register for Take Me Outside Day to access this event and more!

As a nationwide organization, Take Me Outside wants everyone across the country to spend time outside each day. In doing so, they encourage us acknowledge the history of the land, starting with the history of Indigenous peoples and their essential perspectives and principles in relation to place. While these stories have all too often been absent in colonial understandings of territory, many resources are now available to begin filling in gaps and Indigenizing knowledge systems. Take Me Outside has an online library with over 130 educational resources including Indigenous-focused resources. For example, watch below the webinar: Finding Hope Through Connecting to the Land featuring Chief Joe Pierre who shared the Ktunaxa Creation Story and inspired educators to help connect their students to the land.

Take Me Outside is committed to creating a future for outdoor learning where diversity, equity, and inclusion are fundamental and foundational pieces that illuminate the beauty and strength of all learning communities. Take Me Outside recognizes that not every school-aged child in Canada has equal opportunity to engage in outdoor learning at present and that not all educators have equal opportunity or experience with taking learning outdoors, due to a wide variety of barriers. For that reason, they developed a section with digital educational resources where you will find tools and resources to assist you in making sure your outdoor learning can address all identities. In the video below watch an example of experiential outdoor learning with Morley Community School and Vincent Massey School students.

Looking for something more interactive? In partnership with the Outdoor Learning Store, Take Me Outside hosts free virtual workshops and some focus on Indigenous knowledge and perspectives. All of the workshops are recorded and can be viewed on their Outdoor Learning Virtual Workshops page. In the workshop recording below Gillian Judson and Heidi Wood introduce a new resource for imaginative, Place-centered and Indigenous Education. “Walking Forward: Learning from Place” interweaves First People’s Principles of Learning (FPPL), Imaginative Ecological Education (IEE), and teacher inquiry. This resource applies an Indigenous lens to The Walking Curriculum (TWC), reframing the first 30 walks in TWC in ways that connect to the nine FPPL.