At-home education resources from Learning for a Sustainable Future
Welcome to Week 3!
Welcome to a new week of Learning Inside Out, weekly activities from LSF that bring teacher-reviewed, curriculum-connected learning activities straight to your home.

As you can see from the photo, some of you have already been putting the activities into action. We'd love to see more! Share photos of your kids or students on social media using #LearningInsideOut or email them to us !

Remember to "Step Outside" as much as you can this week (while respecting physical distancing practices, of course!) to get some much-needed nature time. The activities below will give you some great ideas for learning both inside and out!

Learning for a Sustainable Future (LSF) is a Canadian charity with over 25 years of experience working within the education system. Our Resources for Rethinking (R4R) database is an award-winning collection of resources that are peer-reviewed by certified teachers and connected to curriculum in all provinces and territories. R4R is recommended on many Ministry of Education websites.

About Learning Inside Out

Below you will find a selection of activities, broken down by various grade levels. These guides will be released weekly and archived on our Learning Inside Out page , so you can always access the full catalogue.

All activities have been modified from resources on our R4R database, simplified and adapted for at-home learning as needed. The activity descriptions below should contain all the information and links that you need!

If you'd like to view the full original resource on R4R, including curriculum connections for every province/territory, click the activity title.

We want this guide to work for you, so your feedback is invaluable to us.
Use the feedback button at the bottom of this guide, or email us at [email protected] .

Step Outside™ Nature Activities
Week 3: Bird Alert

LSF's Step Outside Nature Guides highlight flora, fauna and climate events happening in your neighbourhood right now (or maybe a little sooner or later, depending on where you are in the country).

The Mid-April guide is all about Bird Alert . It's full of links to learn more about birds, other animals and plants, invasive species, and more! Step outside with your kids today and see what nature is up to.
A note: we understand that access to the outdoors is highly dependent on circumstance, now more than ever due to social distancing practices. Whether you currently have access to a green space, your own backyard, or even just the view outside your window, we hope you will be able to connect with nature in some way through these activities, while respecting the social distancing practices in place in your area!
Read the story The Mystery of the Missing Hummingbirds (available in PDF or ePub format) to learn more about these fascinating little birds and about how to conduct a scientific investigation into the natural world.

Follow up
What do you think of the Mystery of the Missing Hummingbirds activity?
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Help out our feathered friends with this crafty activity using recycled materials! This is a great opportunity for older kids (or parents) to help out younger ones with cutting and assembling. The resource also includes an appendix of common Canadian birds!

What do you think of the Building Bird Feeders activities?
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Grades 2-5
These activities are all about penguins, inspired by the film Happy Feet 2. The movie is available on Netflix to watch before you begin, but watching the movie is completely optional —we have chosen activities that will work whether or not your kids have seen the film.

Activities include:
  • Game: What Makes a Penguin a Bird?
  • Craft: Feet Are Neat
  • Research: What I Know About Antarctica
  • Extras: Ideas for Action, Fun Facts, and more!
What do you think of the Happy Feet II activity?
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Grades 3-8
Get to know the feathered friends in your neighbourhood with Get to Know: Birds!

Learn how to observe birds' appearance and behaviours, and practice spotting signs of bird activity in your neighbourhood, whether it's out in nature, on your street, in your yard, or from your window.

What do you think of the Get to Know: Birds activity?
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Explore how human activities are impacting bird habitats with a walk around your neighbourhood to spot construction projects or development sites. If physical distancing prohibits this, students can use their existing knowledge of the area and focus on the research element.

What do you think of the Are We Disturbing Birds activity?
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With short readings, a video, questions and activities, kids will look at the evolution, diversity and sustainability of an ecosystem. In this case, they will explore factors leading to the explosion in the snow goose population and evaluate potential management solutions.


To complete this activity:
  1. Print the Lesson PDF (you can also view the PDF online for reference and complete the activities on blank paper)
  2. Complete Questions 1-3
  3. Watch this short documentary
  4. Complete Questions 4 - skip the class discussion in 4.i
  5. Complete Question 5 - Read the InfoZone and review the list of possible solutions. Rank the solutions and justify your ranking. Which are most/least feasible? Which could have the most/least impact? Why?
What do you think of the Snow Geese in Peril activity?
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Virtual connection is more important than ever—share your learning with us using #LearningInsideOut and don't forget to tag LSF!
Let us know how this helped your learning & teaching from home experience and what you'd like to see more of by filling out our brief feedback form!
Please share widely with any parents or teachers in your life!
Learning for a Sustainable Future
343 York Lanes, York University
4700 Keele St
North York, ON • M3J 1P3