Take Me Outside Day 2021

Summary Report

Take Me Outside Day 2021 was a huge success! Over 8,900 teachers signed up and approximately 400,000 students participated. We had 1.1 million impressions on twitter, and it’s great to know that we’ve reached so many people who are just as passionate about spending time outdoors as we are!

Thank you to all the educators and students who participated!  

Take Me Outside Day 2021  focused on three key themes: Indigenous Knowledge, Health and Wellness and Environmental Education.

Monday: To support our theme of Indigenous Knowledge,  Indigenous Celestine Aleck joined us to discuss our responsibility to take care of mother earth. Celestine read her books “ Taking Care of our Mother Earth” and “….   Celestine taught us the importance of storytelling in relaying messages about how we can improve the current state of our environment. 

Mi’kmaw guest speaker Carolynne Crawley joined us to discuss the important topic of place in her presentation “All My Relations”.  As Carolynne mentioned, our relationship to place has significant meaning and impact on our relationship with the outdoors. 

“We are becoming stewards of the land as we play and learn on the unseeded Algonquin territory of the Anishinabe people. We are looking forward to experiencing the land as the seasons change this year” -JK/SK Teacher from Ottawa, Ont.

Natural Curiosity facilitated a professional development session for educators titled “From Acknowledgement to Action: Learning about the land through Natural Curiosity”. This discussion highlighted and introduced a different pedagogical approach on teaching through the lens of Indigenous perspectives. 

“My favourite activity was the “Acknowledgement to Action” webinar for educators.  It introduced me to a new resource that I have purchased and shared with my staff.”- Principal,  Okanagan Falls, BC.

Tuesday: We focused on health and wellbeing and welcomed a certified and youth trained yoga teacher to help us get physically active while working on mental health strategies such as breathing and mindfulness. 

” We loved the yoga session so much we now do yoga once a week! ” -Teacher from Sudbury Ont.

We also had the pleasure of introducing the Canadian Olympic Athlete Panel who spoke about the connection between physical and mental health and the outdoors,and their personal experience with triumph and perseverance.The importance of using the outdoors as a tool to help improve mental and physical health was a significant takeaway from all of our panelists! 

“In these [pandemic] times, I continue to believe being outside and connecting ourselves to nature is both a big part of teaching kids the value of self-care and stress-relieving in itself.” -GR 7.Teacher from Ladysmith, BC

Great Minds Think Outside facilitated a teacher workshop on how to engage your students in outdoor learning! The workshop highlighted some potential barriers and provided strategies on how to overcome them, activities to use when learning outdoors, and gave an overall sense of why it’s important to transition learning beyond 4 walls. 

Wednesday : Take Me Outside Day!  Educators were encouraged to spend time outdoors with their class, to collectively experience spending time outdoors.

“[Take Me Outside Day] was a great day. We journaled, completed a vocabulary scavenger hunt, sang songs, explored the forest behind the school, and even had a picnic lunch. The weather was warm and beautiful! Many students told me that it was the “best day ever”.”  Grade 1-2 Teacher, Nepean Ont. 

Environmental activist and singer Remy Rodden joined us on Take Me Outside Day  as a musical guest and sang songs that highlighted our duty to protect nature and the environment.

“We  enjoyed Remy Rodden’s fun songs! So glad we took time to celebrate the Earth in a new and fun way!” -Teacher from Sudbury Ont.

Thank you to the educators who posted pictures using our hashtag #takemeoutsideday. 

Thursday: In celebration of our theme “Environmental Education”, we had the honour to introduce Dr. Jane Goodall to our audience!  Dr. Goodall spoke on the importance of environmental education for all ages. Her personal experiences in the outdoors as a young girl and her professional experiences with chimpanzees in Africa was super inspiring! As one participant puts it: 

“[My students] were so inspired by Dr. Jane Goodall’s wisdom and lifelong work and were so excited to hear how Flo trusted her with her baby!” -Grade 3 Teacher, Toronto Ont.

Friday: To end off Take Me Outside Week, we asked educators to engage their students in a day of reflection, reflecting on the events that took place during the week. This day was not only for students, but for educators too!

We are so thankful for the amazing participation in Take Me Outside day this year. Stay tuned for our upcoming initiatives!