At-home learning resources from Learning for a Sustainable Future
WELCOME BACK!
Welcome back to Learning Inside Out! With the return to school upon us and safety precautions differing from region to region, there are uncertain days ahead. One thing is for certain: the more often students can learn outside, the safer & better off they will be!

In order to support you as best we can, LSF will be continuing to offer weekly resources that can fit into whichever version of "back to school" you find yourself in, as a parent, educator or both!

We hope that these resources offer some creative options to engage students and support parents & teachers this fall.
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 both outdoor learning in the school yard or at-home 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 info@LSF-LST.ca. We would also love to see photos of students engaging in the activities, please e-mail us any pictures or videos you have!
Week 1: Step Outside Early September Your Local Insect Symphony
Nothing says “end of summer, beginning of school” more than the buzzing drone of the cicada (which means buzzer in Latin), a large insect that spends most of its life busily sucking on plant roots. Learn more about these curious insects, other local creatures & local happenings around your neighbourhood through these interesting exploratory, hands on learning activities this week.

This week's activities are based off of our Early September Step Outside guide, so check out the rest of this guide to learn about even more local happenings including bird migration, animals storing food and preparing shelter and upcoming meteor showers you may just catch a glimpse of!
Grades K-3
This engaging outdoor activity features an exploratory approach that fosters a genuine connection to the natural world. Students use science skills to survey living organisms in a local green space and describe their findings with pictographs and drawings. The activities also strengthen math skills in counting and describing data using simple graphs. Strengthened by excellent support materials like student worksheets, the learning experience provides an increased awareness of the value of microhabitats in supporting global biodiversity.
What did you think of the Nature Survey Activity?
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A young boy and his grandfather set off for an overnight trip in a local camping area. They plan to look for cicadas during the night. The story text is supplemented with factual information about the insect that matches the focus of the fictional text on each page. The representation of nature in the book is incredibly beautiful and the cicada illustrations are scientifically accurate. This children’s book serves as a companion to the Early September Nature Guide that connects back to school with the familiar sound of the cicada.


Find an oral reading of the story for free here!

Find the activity instructions here!
What did you think of Searching for Cicadas?
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Students take to the outdoors to survey the number of living things they encounter in local natural area. Armed with extensive checklists, students will tally the number of each type of living thing they encounter during a whole day taxonomic event involving the identification of families and species. After the BioBlitz, students take time to identify the invasive species and decide how to count them in the biodiversity tally.
What did you think of Close the Doors! Bioblitz?
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Grades 9-12
Cicada Hunters
This outdoor activity serves as a companion to the Early September Nature Guide that connects 'back-to-school' with the familiar sounds of the Cicada. Students are provided with easy to implement instructions for the safe capture, observation and release of these unique insects. The activity allows students to witness first-hand many of the structural features and behaviors described in the nature guide.
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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!
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Please share widely with any parents and teachers in your life!
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.
Learning for a Sustainable Future
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