Evergreen Brick Works School Program
Thank you for your interest in the Evergreen Brick Works Visiting School’s Program!
We are booked full for the remaining 2013 school year (April to June). To join the waitlist, please fill out an application via the link below. If a date becomes available you will be contacted by email and phone.
We will begin to book the 2013/2014 dates by May/June 2013.
Register online to book your class →
Here is what to expect when you bring your class to Evergreen Brick Works:
Program Approach
- Place-based: building a foundation of knowledge through a focus on local nature, culture and community
- Ecological: providing children direct contact with nature
- Hands-on: creating a compelling learning setting through multi-sensory, direct experience
- Active and mobile: moving the body to engage the mind
- Arts-infused: breathing life into learning through creativity, compelling narratives and arts activities
- Integrated: weaving together expectations from across the curriculum through ecological themes and engaging experiences
Program Details
- Available October through to June 2013
- Programs are full days
- Curriculum linked
- Available to Grades 1 to 6
- Class sizes of up to 30 students
Rates: $15 per student per day. Subsidies available for schools that qualify.
Program Offerings
| Grade 1 | The Living City | S&T; SS | |
| The local community is presented in the context of the natural community, and the idea that all living things need food, water, shelter, and space. We will show how the interaction of elements in a strong human community represents a healthy ecosystem. The Living City introduces students to Toronto’s surprising abundance of living things—fox, deer, coyote, rabbit, and a host of birds, insects and plants—and how close these live to our communities of homes, streets, grocery stores and schools. | |||
| Grade 2 | Water, Water Everywhere | S&T | |
| Students will follow the local ravine landscape and discover Mud Creek, which meanders through the heart of the city. Students will explore the dynamics of moving water by building dams and beaver lodges. Water is a feature central to communities around the world and Toronto’s relationship with water is a case in point. | |||
| Grade 3 | Earth Shelters | S&T | |
| Children are builders by nature. In this program they will use natural materials to create shelters that mimic the architecture of plants and animals. | |||
| Grade 4 | Our Home and Habitat | S&T | |
| This is a wide-ranging exploration of the hills and dales of Toronto’s unique ravine landscape. The ravines of Toronto play host to an amazing diversity of wildlife, and students will learn where and how these creatures live together in the same space with enough food, water, air and shelter. In a sustainable city, physical and human geography are in harmony, and the connection between people and place is strong and vibrant. | |||
| Geology Rocks | S&T | ||
| Evergreen Brick Works sits on the floodplain of an ancient river, where there was once an industrial quarry the size of the Rogers Centre. The quarry excavated clay and shale to make the brick that built the city; but the process of digging exposed half a billion years of geological time and an epic tale of nature’s most powerful forces. At the centre of the story is an ancient rivalry between two of the earth’s primal elements: fire and ice. | |||
| Grade 5 | Steeling Fire | S&T | |
| Energy begins with the fire of the sun. The fire flows through the green leaves and needles of the plant kingdom into the metabolism of animals, including human beings. But unlike other animals, human beings learned to ignite and exploit fire. Steeling Fire presents the captivating tale of fire in the city—from photosynthesis to hydroelectricity, from the campfire to the car, from internal combustion to global warming. | |||
| Grade 6 | The Web of Life | S&T; SS | |
| This program is an exploration of the astonishing diversity of life in Toronto’s ravine ecosystem. The wetland habitat in the Don Valley Brick Works Park plays host to more species than any other space in the city. The surrounding ravines provide homeland for fox, coyote, beaver, turtle, hawk and salmon. The ravines are also a portal into the past—the landscape known to the First Peoples and encountered by the European explorers. | |||
Register online to book your class →
“…I think the realization, for the kids and myself, that the city has a gem hidden, just walking distance from the subway, is simply incredible.”
– Teacher, Lord Dufferin School
“In the words of our kids... ‘Best trip ever’, ‘Can we come back’, ‘When?’”
– Teacher, Regent Park/Duke of York Public School
“I think that was the best field trip I have ever been on! Everyone enjoyed themselves so much it was such a pleasure to be with them….. They are still talking about it.”
– Teacher, Valley Park Middle School
Planning a trip to Evergreen Brick Works
Getting Here
In order to eliminate the need for a school bus, and also to create an experiential, geographical connection between the school and the field centre, we can begin the program at Castle Frank Station between 9:30–10:00am and walk your class to Evergreen Brick Works along the beautiful forested ravine trail.
A wheelchair accessible shuttle bus also runs from Erindale Ave Parkette, just north of Broadview Station, and runs on the half hour.
Getting Back to School
The free, wheelchair accessible shuttle bus will leave Evergreen Brick Works for Broadview Station at 2:15 and 2:45pm.
Teachers’ Corner
Share your ideas and experiences on how to extend the learning back to your school. Learn about what others across the board are doing to engage students in nature experiences.
Contact Us
If you have questions about the program, please feel free to contact us at:
sarnold@evergreen.ca or 416-596-1495 x302.
Evergreen is grateful to HSBC Bank Canada for their support of the HSBC Student Bursary Program
