Grade 4 students at St. David Catholic Elementary School were thrilled to discover their September video submission was honoured as a national winner in the 2021 Take Me Outside Student Video Contest.

The Take Me Outside Student Video Contest is a national competition aiming to get students outside by encouraging them to submit their best, self-made video, featuring how they like to spend their time exploring the outdoors in Canada.

With a tight deadline of Sept. 17th and less than two weeks back at school, Mrs. Toffoli’s class were up for the challenge and placed second nationwide in the class category. In reward for their tremendous work, the class received gift cards from MEC to help get them outside even more!

“I am so proud of my classmates and my teacher because we won second place in Canada.” Edrea, Gr. 4 Student

“I am so happy that we got second place. Our hard work paid off.” Diymtrius, Gr. 4 Student

Mrs. Toffoli and her teaching assistant Brandon Antonioni ensured students had the support and resources to inspire the creativity needed to create the video and follow the rules.

“When I first heard about the contest, I knew right away St. David School had the perfect backyard. We have such amazing trails and a great outdoor classroom that showcases Canada’s beauty. The students worked hard on this contest and came up with some brilliant reasons why learning from and on the land is important to them.” Stephanie Toffoli, Gr. 4 Teacher

“At St. David School, we continue to work to enhance our teaching pedagogy to ensure that we include not only Indigenous theory and knowledge in our lessons but also ways of being. An important part of Truth and Reconciliation is learning on the land and acknowledging the teachings around us in nature. We thank our Indigenous community partners and Elders that continue to support our learning on the land, as well as thank wonderful organizations such as “Take Me Outside” for the encouragement they offer to all schools to take that step outside and enhance our learning.” Dawn-Marie Wemigwans, Principal

The winning video can be found at: St. David Catholic Elementary School’s Take Us Outside Video.

For more information about St. David Catholic Elementary School, please visit, www.st-david.sudburycatholicschools.ca

Students in Mr. MacNeill’s grade 7 & 8 class signed up for the annual Take Me Outside for Learning Challenge. The challenge is a commitment to ongoing outdoor learning throughout the school year. Mr. MacNeill, his students and 700 000 other students across Canada made the commitment to learning outside at least one day per week.

This year marked the 11th annual Take Me Outside to Learn Day and in partnership with Canada’s Non-profit Outdoor Learning Store and MEC, they hosted a full week of speakers, activities and events that not only engaged students but deepened their connections with Indigenous perspectives, strengthened their health and well-being with outdoor learning, and increased their knowledge on climate change and the environment.

On Thursday October 21st, Mr. MacNeill’s class along with seven hundred classes across the country were excited to participate in a live inspirational talk and Q&A with Dr. Jane Goodall and the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada. Dr. Goodall spoke about growing up without television and social media and how she spent most of her time outdoors. She stressed the importance of living in harmony with nature as it improves our mental well-being.

The Jane Goodall Institute explained the opportunity for students to participate in their Roots & Shoots funding program. Roots & Shoots focuses on Jane Goodall’s inspirational message of hope, reminding participants that every individual is important and every individual can make a difference. Through a unique 4-step program, educators lead youth from inspiration; to mapping their community for sustainability issues for people, animals and the environment; to taking action to solve those issues; and then celebrating the impact they have made. Through this journey, youth are engaged to take action on sustainability issues and become compassionate leaders.

We can’t wait to hear about the action project ideas that Mr. MacNeill’s class will discuss next week!

For more information about this initiative please visit Roots and Shoots or for additional support in filling out an application contact: christina.raso@sudburycatholicschools.ca

Sudbury Catholic District School Board

Tag: Take Me Outside For Learning Challenge

St. David Class Wins National Student Video Contest

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