Welcome

This blog is a part of the Teston Village Environmental and Outdoor Education Site.
Please visit the full site at https://sites.google.com/view/tvpsoutdoors/home.

Wednesday 4 July 2018

The Beauty of Stormwater Ponds


If you're looking for a place close to home to observe wildlife, you could do a lot worse than checking out your local storm water pond. Ducks, geese, songbirds, turtles and frogs are residents at many stormwater ponds and you can also observe a variety of plants. There are two ponds near Teston Village PS. Tierra Pond is on Mast Rd. at Tierra Ave and Mast Pond is between Mast Rd. and Treasure Rd. just south of Del Francesco Way.  

Early mornings are a great time to visit. The pictures above were taken at two storm water ponds near my home at about 6:00 am. The nice thing about visiting this early is that there isn't much traffic noise (hopefully) and the birds and frogs are quite vocal. If I've done my work properly, there should be an audio player below that will let you listen to a couple minutes of audio recordings below.

As always, when around water, children should be closely supervised. Many stormwater ponds are posted with warnings not to swim or skate on them because water levels can change rapidly. While the plants in and around stormwater ponds help improve the water quality, it's definitely not appropriate for swimming in or drinking as there may be high bacteria levels.




Blue heron in morning mist.

Blue heron taking off (I guess it didn't like me running by).

Red winged black bird (loudest calls in the audio recording above).

Sunday 24 June 2018

Sometimes it's Better to Watch from a Distance...

Like when you're watching Alaskan Brown Bears feeding for salmon.



If you visit the homepage for the Brooks Falls Brown Bears in Katmai National Park, Alaska, you can select from several views of the Falls and the bears. There are live views all day and night but several of the feeds also switch over to highlights in the night, so you don't get bored. Apparently it's not quite prime time to watch the bears feeding on salmon, that will happen later in the summer, but it's a beautiful spot to watch anyway.

Wednesday 30 May 2018

20+ Things to do Outside or for the Environment This Summer Video


 

You can visit our full list of over 30 activities, links, resources, and a printable checklist to keep track of how many activities you do this summer at https://sites.google.com/view/tvpsoutdoors/families.

Tuesday 29 May 2018

How are your plants growing?

How are your plants growing?
These are the ones that I (Mr. Monahan) planted and are growing in the staff room. Notice how much they're leaning toward the window. That's an example of a phototropism (where a plant reacts to light). All seven pots (all seed types are growing well). I may need to bring them home to my garden soon.

Friday 18 May 2018

Get Growing!

Your child may have arrived home with a new plant over the past couple of days. This is a part of a focus on environmental, outdoor and experiential education. A combined effort between the school council and staff has provide every child from Kindergarten to Grade 8 with the opportunity to plant a seed in a biodegradable pot. That means that once their plant starts growing, and you know it’s going to be warm enough outside, you can put the whole pot in the soil and it will break down over time with no waste.

We have a site dedicated to this initiative that you can visit at http://testonvillage.ca/getoutside. Clicking on Get Growing in the top right corner will take you to a page that shares tips for growing each of the types of plants that students were given. If your child picked a sunflower, get ready for a really large plant!

You and your child are also encouraged to share pictures and or stories about the plants and their progress throughout the summer via our contributions page (you will need their YRDSB GSuite username/password).

Good luck and get growing!





Wednesday 16 May 2018

30+ Things to do Outside or for the Environment This Summer

Looking for things to do with your family this summer?  Check out this list of over 30 things that you can do for free (or very low cost). It's also shared on our Families page.

At the bottom of this post, you can find a printable copy of this list to keep track of how many you do this summer. Add your own ideas too!

Why not share some of your experiences with the Teston Village PS community by contributing a photo of yourself or your family participating in one of these activities. Share your contributions on this page (note: you'll need to be logged in to a YRDSB GSuite account to share photos)
  1. Go for a hike (Use the All Trails app or website to find a trail near you)
  2. Take a child, grandparent, etc. outside
  3. Pick up garbage in your neighbourhood: (Use the  Litteratti app to contribute to a global litter database)
  4. Catch a bug and let it go. (Can you identify it?)
  5. Make a list of birds that you see. (Use Merlin, Audubon, or this site to identify the birds)
  6. Go geocaching.
  7. Play at a park.
  8. Visit a provincial park (Free admission on July 20 - learn more here)
  9. Grow some food and eat it or give it to someone (Get Growing with Teston Village PS and share a picture of your plants).
  10. Take pictures.
  11. Visit a farmer's market.
  12. Pick your own vegetables and/or berries at a local farm.
  13. Find dark sky and watch a meteor shower.
  14. Fly a kite.
  15. Jump in puddles
  16. Play cricket.
  17. Talk to your neighbours on the street.
  18. Take over the street for a game of road hockey, cricket or soccer.
  19. Skip stones.
  20. Listen to frogs at a pond or crickets.
  21. Be a citizen scientist.
  22. Create a habitat or birdhouse.
  23. Let dandelions grow/ use them in salad / don't use pesticides
  24. Plant flowers that will attract pollinators (i.e. a butterfly garden).
  25. Turn off the TV/Game system.
  26. Play Tag, Follow the Leader, or Hide-and-Seek with your kids.
  27. Stand back and watch your kids play.
  28. Let them take age-appropriate risks.
  29. Teach them to be safe and let them go to the park with a friend or on their own (depending on their age).
  30. Try to use your air conditioning as little as possible.
  31. Ride your bike (Wear a helmet - be a role model if you’re an adult, it’s the law if you’re under 18).
  32. Have a walking meeting outside.
  33. Feed birds (the right way).
  34. Go to the beach.
  35. Play catch or throw a frisbee. 
  36. Have a picnic on your front lawn, backyard or at the neighbourhood park.
  37. Walk or bike to do your next errand if possible. 
  38. Make a sundial or rain catcher.
  39. Find rocks, sticks, pinecones, leaves etc. and make art or crafts with them.