Medicine Wheel Garden Outdoor Classroom

In response to the Truth and Reconciliation Calls To Action #63 iii: "Building student capacity for intercultural understanding, empathy, and mutual respect" and in coordination with our school board initiative "First Nation, Métis and Inuit Strategic Action Plan", our Medicine Wheel Garden Outdoor Classroom will include several experiential learning areas for our school learning community of students, staff, families, and community members. These experiential learning areas will include:
• A medicine wheel garden with indigenous plants surrounded by stone seating and outdoor classroom frame
• 9 local food gardens including 6 raised-bed gardens (for herbs, vegetables, fruit, and edible flowers) and 3 in-ground gardens (a Three Sisters garden, an indigenous berry garden, and a pumpkin patch)
• 4 outer garden areas with indigenous plants, shrubs, and trees connected to the 4 cardinal directions of our centred Medicine Wheel Garden
• A wildlife observation/inquiry area with feeders, water supply, and log stump seating
• Interpretative learning signs
A visual landscape plan for our Medicine Wheel Garden Outdoor Classroom is available on our Herb Campbell Community Garden blog @ http://herbcampbellcommunitygarden.blogspot.ca/

Update (March 14, 2017)

Each day in school announcements, during school assemblies, and at all Peel District School Board meetings, the following announcement is shared; “We would like to acknowledge that we are on the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation. Nous voudrions reconnaître que nous sommes sur le territoire traditionnel des Mississaugas de la Première Nation de New Credit. "

As we continue to plan and secure funding for our school’s Medicine Wheel Garden Outdoor Classroom project, we are excited to move forward as a school learning community in “building student capacity for intercultural understanding, empathy, and mutual respect” in working with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit elders and educators and in sharing the progress of our project themes of: connect, engage, thrive, lead, live, and care.

And as we continue to work together as a school learning community of students, staff, families, and community members, we hope our sharing of photo and link updates will inspire others to consider actions of collaborative learning and support in their communities!

Update (May 25, 2017)

Our Medicine Wheel Garden Outdoor Classroom is continuing to develop as we work with indigenous elders and educators and community partners with current grant/subsidy/donation funding in purchasing indigenous plants and trees, materials for our outdoor classroom seating area, and materials for our local food gardens. As a school learning community, we will continue to: work with indigenous elders, educators, and resources to support "Building student capacity for intercultural understanding, empathy, and mutual respect" (the Truth and Reconciliation Calls To Action #63 iii), seek additional grant/subsidy/donation funding to include additional indigenous plants and shrubs in our Medicine Wheel Garden Outdoor Classroom as planned, and support our project themes of connect, engage, thrive, lead, live, and care in the present and future!

And we welcome all to check out the pics and link to our blog as we continue to build “student capacity for intercultural understanding, empathy, and mutual respect" (the Truth and Reconciliation Calls To Action #63 iii) through our project themes!