Outdoor Learning Conference 2025: Full Schedule

Welcome to the 2025 Outdoor Learning Conference

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11:00am MDT

Teaching Math Outdoors for K-5 Educators FULL

Friday May 9, 2025 11:00am - 12:15pm MDT

Explore new ideas and my tried-and-true favourites for teaching math outdoors in this engaging workshop! Learn how to make the most of the features of a variety of outdoor spaces to create engaging, hands-on math lessons. Using natural materials, math tools, and inexpensive DIY resources, we'll engage in activities that teach key concepts like number sense, place value, addition, subtraction, multiplication, fractions, and more. This session is designed for educators working with K-5th grade students and will provide practical strategies you can use immediately!

Speakers

Rachel Tidd

Executive Director, Wild Learning

Rachel Tidd is passionate about using outdoor and place-based learning to enhance literacy and math instruction. She is the author of the book Wild Learning: Practical Ideas for Bringing Teaching Outdoors and the Wild Math® and Wild Reading® Curricula series. Rachel is a former... Read More →

Friday May 9, 2025 11:00am - 12:15pm MDT
Raven

Environmental and Climate Change Education Workshop

2:00pm MDT

Healing with the Land: Indigenous Perspectives on Forest Immersion and Children’s Wellbeing LIMITED

Friday May 9, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm MDT

Raven

Speakers

Jacqueline Bennett

Manager of National Programs, Child & Nature Alliance of Canada

"I am passionate about creating authentic connections between people and the land as a pathway to fostering health and wellbeing. I live, work, and play on the traditional territory of the Mi'kmaq and Beotuk. I am proud to be a Nêhiyaw-iskwêw, with heritage from Kahkewistahaw First... Read More →

Friday May 9, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm MDT
Raven

Indigenous Ways of Knowing Workshop

3:15pm MDT

"Because I Wanted Everyone to Know We Need to Take Care of Our Lands": Exploring Children's Rights and Generating Their Perspectives of the Outdoors LIMITED

Friday May 9, 2025 3:15pm - 4:30pm MDT

Raven

In this workshop, we will explore what children have to tell us about their outdoor play environments and cultivate our own “voices” about our outdoor experiences. Framed through the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, we will share findings from a recent participatory research study, The Voices of Play, that investigated children’s use of the voices of drawing and photography in outdoor play environments within an early childhood education and care setting. Our hope is that you will be able to learn from the children’s voices and perspectives and reflect on how their knowledge may relate to your own experiences and settings. We also hope that these results help adults in choosing or designing outdoor play environments to best support children’s health and well-being from their perspectives. As an expansion on this information, we will also engage in the experience of drawing and photographing our outdoor connections with the outdoors.

Speakers

Dr. Kimberly Squires

Assistant Professor, University of Guelph

Kimberly Squires (she/her) is a Registered Early Childhood Educator, Ontario Certified Teacher, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition at the University of Guelph. She is also on the Board of Directors for the Council of Outdoor Educators... Read More →

Starlene Ruttan

Educator, University of Guelph

Starlene is a Child & Youth Worker, Registered Early Childhood Educator (RECE), Ontario Certified Teacher and a Forest and Nature School Practitioner. As a daughter, wife, mother, auntie, friend, and educator – she works to inspire both children and adults to make positive lasting... Read More →

Kim Barton

Friday May 9, 2025 3:15pm - 4:30pm MDT
Raven

Health and Wellbeing Workshop

Outdoor Learning Conference 2025