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Inspired by the natural world, we created art prints and turned them into cards. Inside, students introduced themselves with I Am poems and wrote letters to their exchange partners!

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Thanks to Hop Creek Farm for the field trip!

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Students in our grade 8 class at Don Ross Middle School went on a field trip to a local farm and did multiple forest walks during our poetry unit to get inspiration for nature poems that students are sending their pen pals to Salmon Arm.

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We sent our partner class in Grand Forks:

- Postcards for each member of our exchange class, written by our students complete with a -hand drawn image on the back.

- A booklet of leaf rubbings done by our students of fallen leaves collected from our local area

- Nature diamante poems written by our class with illustrations. (We have all so asked if our exchange class would like to write nature diamante poems and included the activity sheets).

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We sent our learning partners an introduction to us and to Shannon Lake. We included art, our favourite nature-based learning activities, pictures and maps, and a slide deck of the plants and animals that we see there.

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We shared our spring exploration and learning with our nature pals in Nanaimo. We made nature stickers from flowers we collected and pressed. They'll love these! We created simple instructions and also sent supplies so they could make their own too. We created a beautiful memory game of spring flowers and shrubs in our neighbourhood that children drew and painted with watercolours (stunning). We laminated them and included a visual guide so they could learn the names. We shared spring inspired Haiku poems, written and illustrated by our grade ones. We also gifted a favourite book of ours called, The Tree in Me. This was such a fun and meaningful experience, thank you HCTF.

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The students worked hard and were very excited to send the box full of beaver fact bookmarks to our buddy class. After many walking field trips to observe evidence of beavers in our community, the students created true and false questions about beavers to include on the bookmarks. We learned about the importance of beavers to the indigenous people of Canada, and had the opportunity to quietly observe a mother and baby beaver swimming in a nearby creek. A fun theme for the environmental exchange box this year! In addition to the bookmarks that were created, the students were very engaged in the letter writing portion of the exchange this year. Many of them have shared their names to connect via online games or kids messenger. Penpals of 2024... I guess that's how it is done!

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We were very excited to send off our box of Nuuchahnulth westcoast learnings to our partner class in Fernie! We had an elder into our classroom to teach us how to weave with cedar and included a woven mat for each of our penpals. We also learned about the significance of eagles in Nuu-chah-nulth culture and shared our learnings on cool eagel-shaped notes. Finally, we sent each of our penpals a eagle down feather as a keepsake that symbolizes strength and wisdom and power. We will hopefully send off one more box this year with more westcoast cultural and natural delights.

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Our Kindergarten class in Victoria was excited to share photos, collages, a video and some special natural treasures from around our school yard with our partner class (also Kindergarten) in Prince George.

Last month, we adopted trees on the playground at our school. We worked in teams to photograph these trees to create a record of how they look during the Fall. We took pictures of our trees from afar, up close, up high in the branches and down low near the roots. We then looked closely at our photographs as we drew and painted our adopted trees. Finally, we worked in teams and created picture collages of our trees. We invited our partner class to look at the photos of our paintings and find the picture collage that goes along with each painting/tree.

We also spent some time gathering beautiful natural objects from around our school in order to create some counting collections for our Kindergarten buddies. Note: we did test these out and practiced counting them first! We also created some fun self portraits using these collections. We hope our Prince George friends are able to use these collections in some way in their own classroom. We sent along a little video highlighting our self portraits and how we feel when we spend time in nature. We asked our partner class how being outside makes them feel.

Check out the video we shared here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6CcatqlRxE

We can't wait to share more about the environment around our school and learn more about Prince George!

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Our Grade 3/4 class collected samples from our homes, school yard, and local park to create a matching game for our exchange class. They also wrote letters and put together a photo book showing all of the amazing outdoor learning we have been doing during field trips around the community.

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For our second Environmental Box Exchange, my class helped to create two class books to share. "Grateful for Gardens" documents their favourite places/things to do outside. "I See Plants in Our Indigenous Plant Garden" is an early reader that teaches plant identification.

We also sent some memory matching cards using photos from our recent trip to Bridal Veil Falls, a Coast Salish Animal craft, some dried lemon balm from our herb garden with a recipe for lemon balm tea,  and a traditional Stó:lō story about Lhílheqey, also called Mt. Cheam, which we can gaze up while in our school field.

We really enjoyed learning from our partner class and the students loved the excitement of receiving a box!

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The grade 3/4 students at Ecole Isabella Dicken Elementary completed their last quick exchange and it has been sent off to our Division 8 partner class in Vancouver. On our Wild Wednesday adventures, the students observed birds in our local wetland. We discussed three local bird species that are important in our area and completed some research. The students then produced bird ID cards for black-capped chickadees, osprey, and great blue herons.

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Our Grade 4 class in Kamloops partnered with a Grade 4/5 class in Surrey. For our exchange we studied the biodiversity around Gamble Pond. Throughout the seasons we took pictures of the pond from our classroom window and visited as often as we could. We researched animals and plant life, created slideshows and trading cards. We included a picture book of our visits. Our favorite items were backpack tags that we created with our 3-D printer. Each one had something on it that represented our pond. We really enjoyed this learning opportunity. Thank you!

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For a last quick year end exchange, the students used their trip to the beach last week and found small beach treasures to send to our friends in Agassiz. We created a book of the history of the Esquimalt Lagoon, Indigenous history of the land, a map and pictures of our class at the beach. We found a very unique longhorn beetle, and created a guessing game. We sent along some Indigenous art to colour of animals from the Coast Salish Sea. Hopefully the students who have never been to the ocean enjoy this mini experience! Happy Summer :)

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The Kindergarten students at South Canoe enjoyed sharing their investigations about insects. They created a mural of the lifecycle of a butterfly. They also wrote a sentence and drew pictures of their favourite insect. We included some of our favourite picture books and ID guides.

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Our Grade 4/5 class in Victoria (Saanich) learned about the Garry Oak ecosystem and its importance to Coast Salish people. We are fortunate to have Garry Oak trees on our school property and Garry Oak meadows within walking distance of our school. We went on field trips to learn about this endangered ecosystem. We sent our exchange class a nature sketch book with drawings of the Garry Oak tree (a keystone producer), and animal, bird, and insect species that live in this ecosystem; a Garry Oak plant identification guide; a copy of questions the students were curious about at the beginning of the unit (posted on Padlet); and answers to these questions in the form of trivia cards, that we made at the end of the unit. We also sent our exchange class photos of us on field trips in Garry Oak meadows.

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Our Grade 1/2 class in Vancouver was partnered with a Grade 1 class in Kamloops and we enjoyed learning together about our local environment and the biodiversity that surrounds our school. We explored outside using our senses and included math, writing, art, social studies, and science as we put together a collection of items to send to our exchange partners. Our favourite items are the "I Wonder" class book where students asked questions about our partners' school and community as well as the egg carton scavenger hunt.
We look forward to hearing back from our partner class!

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Our grade 3 students have been corresponding via penpal letters throughout the duration of this program. In our final box, we have included tree rubbing from three most dominant tree-types in our area, as well as labelled photographs of the pond ecosystem beside our school. We really enjoyed participating in this program.

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Some photos of our ecosystem.  We also exchanged letters with our new friends from Osoyoos.

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Division 9 was excited to take part in our ecosystem scavenger hunt and share our findings with our partner class. We spent lots of time outside looking for found objects to create lovely works of art, including a weaving project. Students also wanted to share our work so our buddies could do a similar activity in their local area. Along the way we learned the names of some of the native plants growing on our school grounds.

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Oops forgot to take a picture before boxing it all up. Our grade 3 class wrote acrostic poems about Community. It is so wonderful to see what everyone else is doiing and get ideas!

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Our grade 7 class in Nanaimo partnered with a class in Armstrong.
Traditional Story: In our box we sent an indigenous story that teaches how to identify a Douglas fir cone. We included a variety of tree cones with the story and hope the Armstrong students can identify which of them is Douglas Fir.
Forest Tea: we collected wild-foraged plants so the students can make a forest tea. We listed the nutritional and medicinal qualities of the plants we included.
Poetry: Our class has been practicing poetry using imagery and personification. We collected local leaves, pressed them, and wrote short personification poems on them.
Local/Invasive Plants: We shared several local and invasive specimines in our box. Our class worked hard in a local part to remove invasives and plant local species.
Science Lab: we learned the students in Armstrong were studying climate change. We sent along samples of ocean water and shells from Departure Bay along with a Science Lab for observing and testing the effects of ocean acidification.

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We are a grade 1 classroom. We sent off our exchange box with information about fern, moss, and fungus we found in our local environment. We went outside for a outdoor alphabet hunt and tried to find items that start with each letter of the alphabet. We also included our talking stick and pieces of wood that we use to help us when doing numeracy.

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Hi I’m a grade 7 home schooler in 70 Mile House B.C. I’m just getting ready to send my exchange box off to a little school in Summerland BC. I’ve included lots of my wildlife photos that I’ve taken in my area , such as an eagle , great blue heron and moose. Since we live near the Fly Creek Wetlands and have lots of beavers I’m also including a small beaver skull and important info on the good work that beavers do. My family and I were involved with the S.I.M ( Southern Interior Mule Deer ) project so I’m also including lots of stuff about that.
I made a little wooden puzzle game to that has all different kinds of wood from trees that grow in my area. As well there are the pictures from my trip to the Canadian Wildlife Museum in Vernon ,that we visited last summer. I also drew a detailed map of our area and marked all the important animal sighting spots on it. I can’t wait to see what the other class will send me in their box!

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The Grade 3/4 Class was excited to create bird feeders and send them to our partner class in Vancouver. We have since made our own bird feeders and will use them to observe and learn about birds in our local area. With this information, we will work on a local bird ID book to send in the spring. We packed carefully and hope that the bird feeders arrived in tact!

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Westcoast treasures headed to the mountains

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We have just sent off our first box to our class in Revelstoke full of all things westcoast from our island home.  We had an elder come into our class and teach us how to weave cedar and explain the significance of cedar to Nuu-chah-nulth cultures. The same elder also shared with us about the role that eagles play in Nuu-chah-nulth culture so we wrote on eagle-shaped stationery the highlights of this presentation and included an eagle feather in a little glass vial for our buddy class. We wrote an introductory letter and postcard to each penpal and included a set of Indigneous Plant Memory Matching Card Game. This is going to be one of two boxes that we will send this year...stay tuned!

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Blue fuzzy butts, tree frogs, yellow woolly bears, cross-orb weaver spiders and spotted sawfly larva are some of the amazing creatures we discovered this fall!

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Our Kindergarten class loves to explore in our Indigenous Plant Garden in the school yard each morning. There are so many wonders! One fall day as the sunbeams streamed over the top of the mountain, clouds of tiny flying insects were illuminated and caught our attention. The students inquired as to what these creatures could be. As we looked at their features and checked with Google, we discovered that the creatures were called "Blue Fuzzy Butts" (also known Woolly Aphids)! The students loved this name and told all the rest of the classes about their discovery at recess. We put together a book of our many garden wonders and discoveries to share with our new friends in Langford/Victoria. We also shared a few nature items from our schoolyard to send and inquire if our new friends also had these plants in their area.

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We have finally sent our box off to Port Alberni. Students created brochures about Kamloops as well as art showing areas of Kamloops. Can't wait to receive our box and hear about what Port Alberni thought of ours.

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First box is finally off and on its way to Prince George! We spent the fall learning about our local landforms and some Indigenous stories about them. To share all our new knowledge about this, we sent a picture scrapbook, handmade bookmarks with beaded tassels of what makes our city unique, and penpal letters to our partner class to help them learn about our urban environment. Can't wait to keep the sharing going!

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We have sent off our first box of the year to our partner class in Kamloops! As well as this booklet filled with info about our school, our neighbourhood, and some of the plants we share it with, we sent observational watercolour paintings we made of leaves that we collected and pressed in the fall. We are looking forward to hearing back from our partner class in the new year. We wonder if they will recognize any of the leaves we painted!

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Our class was fortunate enough to take a field trip to our local provincial park, Goldstream. There we hiked through the park to the nature house, where a park ambassador told the students a fantastic story of the Salmon life cycle. The students looked for birds over the estuary, then continued along the rive to see the salmon spawning. The island hasn't had nearly as much rain as it should have by now, and parts of Goldstream river were dried up. It was amazing that the salmon were still able to return and spawn. The students shared a variety of artifacts. First the students created the salmon life cycle, very keen on including the dead ones! The students picked pictures from our trip and wrote a one sentence explanation of the picture, and combined it into a journal. We sent a fun Indigenous art project we enjoyed doing, with examples. A map of Goldstream park, where we hiked, and watched the salmon, and a story the students read. There is also a special surprise from our laser-works group in the high school. Overall, the students had an amazing time on our field trip, it was so wonderful to watch their minds process and see the salmon in real life. It was a great learning opportunity to share the event and all about salmon with our Enviro-buddies.

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Our grade 3/4 students at TM Roberts Elem in Cranbrook exchanged boxes with Cove Cliff Elem from Deep Cove. Our focus was "East Kootenay Landforms" and the flora and fauna of our area. Students exchanged letters with a buddy and were fascinated with how different Cliff Cove's ecosystem is from our own. Cliff Cove sent us lots of cool information about their trees, plants and ocean life.

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Our class was very excited to receive the Environmental Exchange Box from Nanaimo!

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We were excited to send a second box to our Kindergarten friends in Salmon Arm! We have discovered so many living creatures in our forest that we are excited about…so we wanted to share our findings, along with our drawings of snails, pill bugs, slugs and other interesting creatures. We included some of our favourite books to read and some activities that we enjoy doing. We also sent a Racing Mat for the outdoors if our friends want to race snails or Pill bugs! 🌲😊 We are thankful for our Kindergarten friends in Salmon Arm and all that we have learned from them this year!

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Springtime Exchange.  Salmon Arm to South Surrey

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Springtime Exchange.  Salmon Arm to South Surrey

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The students were so excited to send another box to our new friends at Ray Shepherd. What fun to have a willing audience to share and celebrate our learning with.  This spring, our Kindergarten class had many opportunities to visit local ponds.  We were gifted with magnifying glasses through a Go Grant this spring.  We brought these along with us when a HCTF naturalist accompanied us on a few of our pond adventures.  We looked closely at pond water, looked at ID cards ... and discovered all sort of amazing creatures.  The students then created a mural of things we saw around the pond - and also had a chance to create step by step replicas of Claude Monet's Water Lily Pond.

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After receiving such a wonderful package of a scrapbook of local beauty, letters, local Indigenous language cards, and a book, students wanted to reciprocate. Our box included some Musqueam greetings, books, 2 of our favourite outdoor games that teach about predators and life cycles, postcards and beaded bookmarks made entirely by students. They have loved participating in this program and can't wait to meet their buddies virtually later this month.

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How could we reciprocate after receiving our wonderful eagle knowledge, feathers and cedar weaving from our exchange class? The grade 4/5 class decided to study the local Elk Valley watershed and the keystone species that live in the area. Our box includes keystone species information cards with homemade fly keychains, representing the importance of the Elk River in the valley that we call home. Each keystone species card includes the importance of this species to the Ktunaxa people, and provides an overview to help identify the living things in the wild. Learning to tie flies was a fun experience, and new to most of the students.

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Our K/1 French Immersion class spent the year learning about what lives on our school grounds and in the local forest throughout the seasons. The students created a book about winter, a book about plants that live close to our school, and a book about plants and animals that live nearby. Students collected plant items that were unattached to share with the kindergarten class in Nanaimo. Students also created leaf prints in clay and we sent some to the class. We really enjoyed learning about the natural world and spending time exploring outdoors!

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Way back in November, we sent our letters to our exchange school about the Adam’s River Salmon run as well as how we were raising salmon at our school.

We are now getting ready to book end the year by sending a video or our salmon release that we just did today. The kids are so excited to show their exchange box friends how big our fry grew this year.

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We sent off our exchange box today! We filled the box with tree artwork, stories written by my class about local plants and animals, and some information about what makes our local area so special, in terms of the natural environment. We added some nature-inspired bookmarks I ordered, just for fun!

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We have been working on an Invasive Plants Project and removing blackberries, morning glory and English Ivy from a wild area. We also brought native plants back to the forest. We planted Bleeding Hearts and Camus Bulbs. In our box we included some shells because we are by the ocean and our partner class is not as well as letters from students, a story and a Coast Salish weaving as well as a loom for our partner class. This is our second exchange. https://fork-lore.com/2014/05/23/bleeding-hearts-in-springtime/

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Our box is en route, filled with cards for our exchange partners, a fact file we created about local plants, and some student artwork (not pictured) featuring views of the North Shore city and mountains, including the famous Two Sisters, the twin peaks that protect and bring peace to the Coast Salish land.

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Our box is on its way! We are excited to share our box filled with photos, postcards, life cycle cards and a book so that we can share what we learned about salmon with our penpal class.

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Our EE Box is on it's way to Colwood Elementary today ~ hopefully in time to arrive before Spring Break! My class thoroughly enjoyed writing letters to their pen pals about the flora and fauna they observe in their local environment as well as during visits to a nearby urban farm. Our environment is clearly very different from that of our partner class who wowed us with photos of mushrooms and artifacts from a neighbouring forest.

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Our first box is finally on it's way! It contains photos, letters, a green space map, and a nature weaving gift. We may have also sent along a brag photo of our crocuses blooming in February :)

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We have focused on our neighbouring areas: the Cat Stream and the forest beside it.  We are sharing our traditional introductions, ceremonial tobacco and the protocol to make offerings in the forest, our experience with inventing paint and paint brushes- and the materials for students in our partner class to try the same activity.

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So many wonderful goodies are en route to our partner class on the other side of the pond over the mountains.  Our grade 5 island class learned a couple of new skills in creating gifts for our penpals including how to weave with cedar and wrap yarn around sticks found on the ground during our 'Take-Me-Outside' Thursdays.  We were fortunate to have a couple of Nuuchahnulth elders into our room to share their knowledge with us and to teach us the significance of eagles and eagle feathers, which we turned into beautiful necklaces to share with our buddies. My class is over-the-moon excited at the prospect of corresponding with someone close to their age but living in a completely different part of B.C. Thank you to the Environmental Exchange Box, we have opportunity to learn more about our coastal valley environment. We look forward to seeing what our partners exchange in return :)

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Gratitude circle and acknowledging the Sinixt land we are learning and exploring on with each of our outdoor experiences. 

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Our first box is being mailed out today! We are excited to share some of our learning and exploring from this Fall such as sound maps at our local 'Bear Path.' We also completed a leaf inquiry where we identified the different leaves on our school grounds and neighbourhood. Students are excited to share those findings with the Vancouver Grade Twos!

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Received in North Vancouver from Castlegar!

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Received in North Vancouver from Castlegar!

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Thank you Ms. Foster's class for sending your wonderful replies to our letters, and to Ms. Foster for matching us up so well with our penpals!
We enjoyed reading the book The Heart of a River this morning, all about the Columbia River, and comparing it to our great river, the Fraser.
We are looking forward to writing back to you!

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It was very exciting to fill our first box for our new friends in Salmon Arm! We wanted to share many of our numeracy activities(and tools that we use) with them and hope that they can enjoy them as much as we do when we go to the forest. We also included some photos of our tree art and our self portraits that we created out of nature to inspire them to make their own. Our daily adventures to our forest provide us with the perfect classroom, we created a book called ‘The Forest is..’ with our drawings and feelings. Another one of our activities was creating an Alphabet with items out of nature to hang in our classroom, we sent a set of Alphabet photos to our Kindergarten friends for their classroom. The Environmental Box Exchange is an incredible opportunity for my students and myself. I am so grateful to be partnered with Janelle! We have shared many, many ideas (and photos) by phone call and text…along with laughs and encouragement! This opportunity has provided me with the gift of friendship and someone amazing to connect and collaborate with. Thank you! Ellen ♥️ #wishingwetaughtinthesameschool

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The Kindergarten Class at South Canoe Elementary shared some highlights from our Sunflower Inquiry.   The students have been learning about being curious, asking great questions, and seeking answers.   They wanted to share their learning with our South Surrey Kindergarten Class.  We also shared an Alphabet Treasure Hunt created from Tree Cookies, and a Snowman Tinker Box (using a Reggio Approach). Natural objects sent will be "on loan" to our exchange class.  They will returned to us in a future box, and we will returned to the park where we collected them from.    The Exchange Box experience is a true gift.  My exchange partner has become my friend, even though we have not met in person. We share ideas and send photos of our classes regularly.  It is one of the best Professional Development experiences I have ever had!

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Cranbrook to Kamloops!
We had so much fun reading our letters from our penpals and learning about the life cycle of salmon. In return, we sent some games, identification activities and letters to share our knowledge about the macro invertebrates that live in the creek near our school and the squirrels that we see on our forest adventures!

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How neat to be able to connect with another Science 7 class in French! We decided to share one of our favourite spots with them: Maiden Lake and the world of wetlands behind it. This lake is a 10 min walk from our class. Students spend a lot of time their and decided to research and write photo essays to share some of their favourite spots and species. We ended up with letters about flowers, a family of geese with fuzzy newborns, mountain legends, and how lucky we are to have wild spaces nearby. Students also added in some fossils from a field trip to a nearby creek, and chunks of coal, which is the major industry here. Thanks for the opportunity to share our special places!

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Our first exchange students sent letter to introduce themselves and ask questions.  They were so excited to get their letters from Cranbrook.  For our second exchange we included information about the Comox Valley, a tree journal and a photo album filled with pictures my students took.  We had a little lesson on photography and then used the school Ipads to take photos of place and natural things around the school.  The kids took some really amazing photos and were really proud of themselves.
This is a great program and I can't wait to do it again! Thanks for the opportunity.

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Exchange #2 from Agassiz to Kamloops (Heal-all flowers to represent healing thoughts and prayers)

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Exchange #2 from Agassiz to Kamloops (Heal-all flowers to represent healing thoughts and prayers)

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We were delayed in getting off our 2nd package. When my students learned about the 215 students who never made it home from Kamloops Residential School, they thought of their EnviroBuddies in Kamloops. As our class gathered to connect, someone noticed the purple heal-all flowers blossoming in the center of our sharing circle. One student asked if we could add these to our exchange box. Another student asked if we could add a message that said, "May the Creator bring healing to each heart." We wrapped up a variety of different nature items in tissue paper (including the heal-all flowers). We also included a book of our recent field trip discoveries, a letter, a newspaper article of our salmon release, and some colouring pages honouring the 215 children.

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Caring for Creatures from A-Z in Our Indigenous Plant Garden

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Caring for Creatures from A-Z in Our Indigenous Plant Garden

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Our K/1 Class in the Fraser Valley was delighted to be a part of the exchange. For our first exchange, we created an ABC book with photos of creatures that we have seen in our garden or in nearby outdoor field trips. We included the Halq'emeylem name for the animal and a few interesting facts about the animal. The students love being in the outdoors and making new discoveries. We shared some plant artifacts as well. Our class loved finding millipedes and centipedes so we designed some out of paper and coloured patterns on them for our EnvironBuddies.

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Our school grounds has a small forested area with big cottonwood trees, a Douglas' fir, and some other deciduous trees and many different birds visit this area as well as other areas of our school grounds. Our class spent most of the year going on bird walks counting and observing the different birds we saw. We made a bird book and each student contributed one of the birds we saw or knew visited our school grounds in the past. Our book has 18 bird species! We also learned about the different trees that grow on our school grounds. We created a book of the leaves of some of the trees. We are also working on rhyming so we created a rhyming poem about the animals that we see on our school grounds. We have really enjoyed learning about the local natural world through the environmental exchange box program!

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For our first exchange we sent letters to introduce ourselves to our partner class in Delta. My students were over the moon when they had received their letters in response. For our second exchange we sent God's eyes from the branches we collected on one of our nature hikes. Our final and third exchange will be brochures of some of our local stream  inhabitants. Fantastic program. Thanks!

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For our first exchange we sent letters to introduce ourselves to our partner class in Delta. My students were over the moon when they had received their letters in response. For our second exchange we sent God's eyes from the branches we collected on one of our nature hikes. Our final and third exchange will be brochures of some of our local stream  inhabitants. Fantastic program. Thanks!

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For our last exchange we are sending a class book we made called Diary of a chicken. We went to a local farm to collect eggs and we incubated them in the classroom. The students came up with all the ideas and writing, and designed their own photo. Our chickens are finally in their chicken coop :) And we are waiting to collect the eggs. We also sent some rocks we collected by the river, chicken feathers from the farm, "flower bombs" for our buddies to plant and grow surprise flowers. As well as some photos and drawings from our drone presentation at our school. We got to see a birds eye view and the entire roof and playground.

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Ms. Fleischaker's class created some art from objects found in nature.  How amazing they turned out!!

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Our grade 1/2 class, located in Pacific Spirit Park, was thrilled to exchange with our partner class in the Kootenays.  We looked up the school on Google maps and it was interesting to see the similarities and differences in our locations.  In our final swap we included a guessing game of different specimens found in our 3 favourite park spots, a selection of poetry, and a poster of living things we have seen in the park.  Thanks for this great opportunity!

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My class LOVED the exchange box program. We made a class book explaining some of the nature we have around our school to send along to our exchange class in Colwood. We also sent some items that my students wanted to know if the other class had around their school. Finally we did a video call with the class and asked questions about what they sent us. It was a blast and I wil definitely be doing it again!! Thank you HCTF

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Our grade 1/2 class was so excited to participate in the Environmental Exchange Box Program. We made a book to introduce the students in class, collected nature samples, wrote a class onomatopoeia snow poem, and included lots of pictures of us learning outdoors. We are looking forward to receiving our box after Spring Break!

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Our Grade 1/2's have learned so much about the bio-diversity and local environment as a result of the Environmental Exchange Box program. We counted and tallied the deciduous and evergreen trees surrounding our property, learned about the Cedar tree and Ginkgo Biloba tree (now a popular meeting spot at lunchtime) and explored nature through our senses. We collected some interesting samples and made a matching game for our exchange partners to try!

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My class really enjoyed our exchange with another French Immersion class in Courtenay. We learned about the ecosystem near their school and read beautiful poetry they wrote about animals or activities that are a part of their ecosystem. We sent them animal stories, leaf rubbing art and letters where students wrote about their favourite nearby outdoor areas.

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We loved starting our exchange box in October. We sent pictures, stories, poems and maps to our exchange school. We todl them about Fall in teh Cariboo. When we got their box back everyone was so excited. Right now we are getting ready to send our second box all about a Cariboo winter. We think our exchange schoolwill besurprised.

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Our grade 3’s did an exchange with a grade 3 class in Nanaimo. We wrote pen pal letters telling them some of the things that we have in our ecosystem in a park across the street from our school. They then sent us pen pal letters about the ecosystem that they are surrounded by. We are now going to compare and contrast our ecosystems to see how they are similar and how they are different. Our students were so excited to see that they have snowberries indigenous to their area just like we do in Kamloops.

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My grade 5 class here in Port Alberni was thrilled to receive an early Christmas present from our partner class in Burnaby. We were sent pictures/letters of their handmade nature mandalas and a lovely little bag created by the students in the manner of Coast Salish weavings! My students are super excited to exchange again this spring!

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Our grade 6&7s were so impressed by this exchange! So many great discussions around similarities and differences, and proximity questions around access to trails close to our schools. Looking forward to our next exchange!

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As a grade 1 class we made this class book. We have pet crickets in the class, and they “escaped” to follow us on a nature walk. Each page shows the cricket looking at an animal local to Kamloops, and finally us saying hello on the back. We also created “Conker porcupines” using chestnut shells and googly eyes. I included a letter to the teacher, sharing some fun info about Kamloops, an explanation of the items and some  student questions. We plan to exchange two more times 😊 email me if you have questions or you’d like to see the book @alyssab@kamcs.org

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My grade 3s are very proud of these pen pal letters that are heading in the mail tomorrow! They each described in detail a fall visit to a neighbouring urban farm and also included a mini, handmade Coast Salish style weaving for their exchange partner. Hope we have the chance to mail out boxes more than once this year!

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First Exchange of 2019-2020 School year from Laurelle Larmand grade 3

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First Exchange of 2019-2020 School year from Laurelle Larmand grade 3

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Welcome to our Environmental Exchange Box Program!

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Welcome to our Environmental Exchange Box Program!

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We hope you have fun exploring, share your photos and adventures here with each other

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LacLaHache students check the growth on these 'same trees' at the burn site with RPF's, and a simplified regen. survey.

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3.99m plot cords were used to count the number of trees in a 50 square meter plot... how many trees per hectare?

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100 Mile Elem.Students Replant burn areas May 2018

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100 Mile Elem.Students Replant burn areas May 2018

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108 Mile Greenbelt off Tatton Station Road

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More Replanting in the 108 Greenbelt from 2017 wildfires

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More Replanting in the 108 Greenbelt from 2017 wildfires

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Five schools attended!

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St James St Ann's GO virtual workshop story board from an activity.

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St James St Ann's GO virtual workshop story board from an activity.

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Snow Way to Hide!

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Great Day, +2C much better than -25C!