Hello all fans of Kinark Outdoor Centre!

My name is Valerie Coleman, I am here at KOC as a Social Media Marketing Intern (so it stands to reason that I have picked up blog duty!).   I am now 4 weeks new to this position and am really enjoying working here.  If you have ever been to the centre then you would know that the staff here are the most amazing, positive and energetic people!   I won't make this a terribly long post, but I'll let you know what I've been up to and what the plans are down the road.   

So far I have been doing a lot of research on the concept of "Nature Deficit Disorder", which, sad to say, I hadn't heard of before.   If you are like me then you will want to follow this link; Richard Louv  ...go ahead take your time, I'll be hear when you get back... oh good your back... And that's just a start, when you aren't reading this anymore take a look at the Children & Nature Network.   I could not believe that I had never heard of this before, although that being said my family and I engage with nature alot!  

So, now the social media part comes into play.   I am working on setting up, linking and updating several different social media sites to spread the word about KOC and how we are fighting back against NDD!   So, you can find us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogger, e-Newsletter and coming soon YouTube.   Please visit us everywhere and often to find out what is going on here at KOC and abroad.

I look forward to connecting KOC to even more people and creating great conversations!   If you have any suggestions for content you would like to see more of, my door... well, internet window is always open!

Cheers,

Valerie

 

Favourite Postcard Excerpts

Before the holidays we said goodbye (just for now!) to Messy Jesse who left us to embark on an adventure in a far away country. In the meantime, I will be taking over. Hi! My name is Jen Mac and I have been working at the Kinark Outdoor Centre for two years during the summers, off and on during the weekends last year and then joined the coordinating team full-time this fall to coordinate the Climate Change Program. I have a background in teaching and working with populations of different abilities. Two of my passions are outdoor pursuits and environmental education. I have witnessed first hand the transformative power of outdoor experiential education programs can have on people of all ages and abilities. Kinark combines all of these things very well and I have been proud to work here.

Over the next several weeks I will post blogs surrounding trends in the field, what is going on at the centre and the perspectives of a young teacher. Today, I will begin speaking of the Climate Change Program. To date, 44 classes have gone through our school program with a couple more scheduled to come up this month. At the end of our program students make a commitment to live lighter on the environment. To do this we have them sign a contract where they choose one of ten strategies which will reduce CO2 emissions. Each of these strategies has a number correlated with it determining how many kilograms of carbon will be saved if this activity is carried out. We send a copy of these contracts and postcards back to school with the teachers and then ask them to send them to us a few weeks after they attended the program to tell us if they completed the task and to give us details on their experience. This allows us to calculate the actual kilograms of carbon emissions were saved. We have received a lot of postcards back and these are some of my favourite comments:


“I promise to plant 15 trees. I will be planting trees until Christmas and I will have shorter showers for the rest of my life” - Teagan from Lady MacKenzie P.S.


“ I promise to recycle and compost. I have made this part of my weekly chores and I normally have a lot to go through” - Kristyn from Macaulay P.S.

“ I promise to plant a tree in my local environment. It was a very interesting experience. I even foun different types of insects while I was digging the hole. It has grown a little and I almost have a tiny apply tree” - Matt from Macaulay P.S.

“ I promise to not idle my car. I have talked my mom into going instead Tim Horton’s instead of going in the drive thru” - Ryan from Macaulay P.S.

“ I promise to plant a tree native to my community. I dug a hole in a pot and put in a pine seed and filled it in. Then I watered it. In the spring I will have a pine tree” - Evan from Rolling Hills P.S.

“I promise to choose organic foods. It tastes really goof and I don’t have to worry about chemicals” - Laura AKA the girl in blue from Muskoka Beechgrove P.S.

“ I promise to have showers shorter than ten minutes. I once tried to have a staggered shower by turning the tap on to wash soap off and then turning to off to put soap in my hair then turning it on again to wash it out. It was fun!” - Makaila from Muskoka Beechgrove P.S.

“ I promise to plant a tree. Well, I used my dad’s old boot and planted an acorn in it”
- Author unknown, postcard was not signed.

To date, students have saved 1 064 505 kg. Amazing! Great work everyone!


I keep getting distracted by the giant snowflakes falling outside my window. Happy New Year to you all! I hope you enjoyed the festive season. It was busy around Kinark this week as Greenwood College School had their grade 10’s here enjoying our winter programming, getting their year started on the right foot (or ski!).

Intern OUT !

As my internship comes to a close I would like to use this blog to reflect on my first nine months at the Kinark Outdoor Centre. I’ve had some amazingly fun experiences including being pulled 30 feet in the air on the Flying Squirrel in Challenge Course training, seeing Moose, Deer and Turkey right from the office window, talking about environmental issues with a great variety of people and joining a drum circle of over two hundred children at the Water Festival. One great memory is walking through the “Wacky Wetland Trail” (Fen trail) with my little green ukulele leading the day campers along the boardwalks while singing the Naturally Kids Discovery Day Camp Song.
Taking care of the Sustainable Living Centre (SLC) has given me good knowledge base around alternative energies and how to care for alternative buildings. This is not only a work asset but a personal one as I hope to build my home with similar principals. That type of thing happened with many duties during my internship. It also gave me an opportunity to network with businesses associated with alternative energies and sustainable living. Running events at the SLC also gave me an opportunity to network with local businesses and people who are involved in the environmental industry. Caring for the building presented some unique challenges that allowed me to expand my problem solving skills. The Naturally Kids Discovery Day Camp was an opportunity for me to engage children in sustainable living techniques and inspire young minds into positive environmental values.
The Climate Change Education program was the main educational component that I was a leader for and I enjoyed working in a fast paced classroom atmosphere. Teaching for school boards is different and important experience that I didn’t have before. The kids are very receptive since they are already in a educational setting and seem to be really engaged in the subject matter. Developing the program gave me valuable experience improving on games and activities for environmental learning. One challenge was finding the amount of CO2 saved by certain everyday actions which is difficult to gauge depending of a person’s lifestyle. This type of reporting is a common asset in environmental education since it is important to calculate how much of a difference is being made through these programs. My favourite part of the program was engaging kids in discussions and seeing them come up with ideas on their own. Those nuggets of inspiration are what make programs like this so important and effective.
Being the Intern gave me an excellent perspective of this organization since I was able to work with all facets of the outdoor centre. This made me aware of what type of work I truly enjoy and want to pursue. I’m very glad to say that the Kinark Outdoor Centre has offered me a seasonal contract position in the spring and summer of 2011 as an Outdoor Educator which I will use as an opportunity to engage in more environmental programs.

Thank you YEIP and Kinark Outdoor Centre for providing me with my dream job.

Thank you for reading my blog and I'd like to introduce Jen Mac the Climate Change Program Coordinator who will be updating readers on Kinark Outdoor Centre happenings!

"Messy" Jesse the Intern... Over and Out!

Friends of the Kinark Outdoor Centre

There are a few organizations that the Kinark Outdoor Centre work with to help achieve common goals and encourage mutual improvement in the field of outdoor education, therapeutic services and/or environmental learning. We thank them for their dedication!

Out To Learn is a division of Glenside Ecological Services Limited and endorsed by the Haliburton Highlands Stewardship Council, develops and delivers natural resource, ecological and environmental educational programs that are designed to provide participants with factual and theoretical information in an interesting and interactive manner. These programs are science and geography based with direct links to the Ontario curriculum. Drawing from our strong scientific backgrounds, programs are easily tailored to a wide variety of audiences, from Grade 5 to educators, professionals and citizens."
Out to Learn and the Kinark Outdoor Centre work together for the Naturally Kids Discovery Day Camp, the Climate Change Education Program and other public awareness days held at the KOC. Out to Learn also uses the Kinark Outdoor Centre as a site for school programming.

Speaking of kids mental health.ca is a forum for people to connect regarding kids mental health. As Ontario's largest accredited children's mental health agency, Kinark is proud to partner with the Child Welfare League of Canada and the Provincial Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in the launch of www.speakingofkidsmentalhealth.ca as a communication and resource tool for youth, parents, educators and mental health professionals. Click News and then Bloggers to see blogs form Kinark staff including a blog from Jim McHardy the Kinark Outdoor Centre Director.

The Haliburton-Muskoka Children's Water Festival (HMCWF) is an annual event that motivates students to become water stewards in their homes, classroom and community. By combining hands-on interactive activities with messages relevant to their daily lives, students 'soak up' knowledge on the properties, uses, connections and importance of water. With this knowledge, students become aware of the value of conserving and protecting water.

The HMCWF is held at the Kinark Outdoor Centre and uses the natural beauty of our site to enhance its message of water resource stewardship.

Water covers 75 per cent of the planet, and also makes up about 75 per cent of a person's body weight. Water is essential for all life on Earth. Without it, nothing lives and nothing grows.

Check out these organizations more by clicking the blue lettered hyperlinks. Thank you to these organizations who have supported the Kinark Outdoor Centre! Kudos!

Sincerely,

"Messy" Jesse the Intern

Nature Classroom renovations!

This fall the Nature Classroom at Kinark is getting an overhaul. New paint job, new format, more fun! The classroom also holds three new program computers! The Climate change program has been using this room since the spring and the Kinark Outdoor Centre staff are eager to unveil this great place to learn. The classic "nature stuff" is in there like the taxidermy ermine, beaver chews, bird nests and information resources. New environmental education materials are available to teach about Climate change, natural resources, alternative energies and waste minimization and disposal. The room definitely brings a grand atmosphere to the classes that visit it so far. The students are always eager to hear about the things on the shelf as well as the posters on the wall. Keep checkin out the blog, Facebook or www.koc.on.ca for more info.

"Messy" Jesse the Intern

Water Festival takes over Kinark!

On September 27th and 28th in 2010 the Haliburton Muskoka Children's Water Festival took over the Kinark Outdoor Centre for two days of action packed learning. 834 students from 12 schools participated in 40 different stations around the Kinark Outdoor Centre.
The day started students arriving from the surrounding communities as well as briefing the 90 volunteers from Trent University who helped run stations. Primary students then broke off into smaller supervised groups that went to the stations that interested them. Lunchtime was in the main field with 6 large tents (thanks to the Township of Minden Hills and Castle Carnarvon for your help) where students ate and attended the largest drum circle I’ve ever seen. Barry Hayward led over 200 students at a time in a rhythmic community that shook ear drums. Barry brought a full load of drums, shakers and other percussion instruments and gave the students an opportunity to use all of them.
Stations included curriculum based games that fit into four categories which included water protection, conservation, technologies and attitudes. Some games were simple and very active (ex. Rolling Through the Shed: students donned Velcro vests and rolled down a vinyl “watershed” picking up particles and chemicals along the way), while other games were very demonstrational and educational (ex. Lay an egg: students placed cut out eggs in appropriate nests along a boardwalk and learned about wetland habitats)
According to the HMCWF website “Two of the primary objectives of this holistic-focused event are to develop personal awareness of the importance of water, and to foster respect for the natural environment. It is hoped that by increasing awareness and respect, as individuals we will make a commitment to use natural resources wisely.”
For more information go to http://www.hmwaterfestival.ca/ and remember… “Water covers 75 per cent of the planet, and also makes up about 75 per cent of a person's body weight. Water is essential for all life on Earth. Without it, nothing lives and nothing grows.”

Sincerely,

"Messy" Jesse the Intern

Building projects this fall at the Kinark Outdoor Centre

There are five beavers building a new lodge just 20 metres from where the Outdoor Centre keeps its canoes. They are busy using renewable resources (sticks) for structural support and other natural materials (mud) to make their winter home comfortable and warm.

There are also some humans working to make the Sustainable Living Centre warm and beautiful. This past October was busy with the Climate change having many Grade 5 classes through the program and two workshops teaching the public how to sustainably add to their homes.

The Natural Plaster Workshop with Sebastian Renal was very successful and allowed this intern to live up to his nickname of “Messy” Jesse! Mixing sand and clay takes a lot of care, consideration and willingness to get covered in sand and clay. Plastering it on the wall was sort of like putting icing on a cake. It didn’t taste quite the same though. We patched leaky spots and coated some walls with Alis paint which is made of natural pigments and flower paste. One participant actually made a beautiful symbol on our shed and we covered it in Mica which shimmers in sunlight.

The Solar Hot Water Heater Workshop with Sean Flannigan was also a great success with participants building their own thermal collectors out of simple materials. Teams of two put together a wooden case that held layers of insulation, a black piece of plywood, copper piping in a grid pattern and plexi-glass on top. The pipes were pressure tested and re-soldered until perfect. Participants were taught how to install the solar collector in their homes and how to maintain their panels.

We still have a few rain barrels left and anyone can contact me at Jesse.Christensen@kinark.on.ca to order or go to www.rainbarrel.ca/minden.

More blogs are coming very soon!

Keep up with us online at www.koc.on.ca or www.sustainablebuilding2006.com or www.kinark.on.ca or Jim McHardy’s twitter https://twitter.com/KinOutDoor or Jim McHardy’s blog http://www.speakingofkidsmentalhealth.com/blog/jim/ or search for Kinark Outdoor Centre on Facebook

Sincerely,

“Messy” Jesse the Intern