SEEING
Program Overview and Resources
The Ik ka nutsi Park Program took flight in the 2019-2020 school year. This partnership provides Grade 5 and 6 students from Carseland Elementary School with the opportunity to visit Wyndham- Carseland Provincial Park on a regular basis.
A foundational aspect of this program has been to have Elders from Siksika Nation share Blackfoot culture, language, and Indigenous ways of knowing with the students.
The students have been learning Blackfoot words and stories as they relate to nature and their experience at the park. Learning in a meaningful context helps students to learn and retain these Blackfoot words and phrases and use them on a regular basis.
The students develop a deep connection and relationship to the land (gaining stewardship and ecological literacy skills). Students also gain a variety of health benefits from this program including:
-active living and physical fitness
-cultivating positive social relationships (collaboration, problem-solving and play)
-increasing self-confidence and resilience
A series of resources from the Ik ka nutsi Program are listed here:
1.
In this section, you will find a detailed long range plan for the Ik ka nutsi park program, a risk management plan for outdoor learning, and an exemplar of nature journal entries that detail student learning and experience. These items can be used as a possible template for your program development or as a guide with key themes and focus areas.
2.
In this section, you will find some ready made resources that can be printed off to use in your own learning space or as an exemplar or tool to generate ideas for your own resource development. We have also included links to a few resources/information guides created by others that we have used on a regular basis.
3.
This section contains the Blackfoot words and phrases that were part of the Ik ka nutsi Park Program.
4.
In this section, you will find some of the assessment pieces that were developed for the program.
