School Name: Lochside Elementary

School District: SD#63 Saanich

Inquiry Team Members: Jenni Erickson: jerickson@saanichschools.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: sarahmiller@saanichschools.ca

II. Inquiry Project Information

Type of Inquiry: Numeracy & Literacy Project

Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Primary (K-3)

Curricular Areas Addressed: Language Arts – Literacy

Focus Addressed: Indigenous understandings (for example, Traditional Knowledge, oral history, reconciliation), First Peoples Principles of Learning, Land, Nature or Place-based learning

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? The focus of our inquiry was to build literacy skills through storytelling and storymaking; developing oral and written language through local Indigenous stories, SENĆOŦEN language learning, and place-based storymaking.

III. Spirals of Inquiry Details

Scanning: During the scanning phase, we noticed that students entering Grade One were eager to participate in storytelling activities, responding to stories with personal connections and an eagerness to share from their own experiences. We also noticed that time spent learning outdoors seemed to have a positive effect on students’ regulation and focus and we are eager to incorporate this type of learning into our practice. We wondered how hearing and retelling Indigenous stories that are connected to land we live on would support students in developing oral storytelling and communication skills, and how their connection to the knowledge and language of the W̱SÁNEĆ People (SENĆOŦEN) would develop as this learning takes place. We incorporated First Peoples Principles by recognizing that “learning is embedded in memory, history, and story.” We attempted to ground students’ literacy learning in the stories of the land, building connections between their learning and the history of the place in which they live and learn.

Focus: This year we continued to focus on connecting literacy activities with traditional Indigenous stories and knowledge as a means to support literacy development of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous learners. We wanted to continue our focus on story-telling, while honouring local stories. We chose three W̱SÁNEĆ stories that were valued as important and that we were given permission to share. We shared these stories with our students and revisited them in different ways throughout the year. We hoped to ground literacy learning in the history, oral-storytelling traditions, and Indigenous language (SENĆOŦEN) of the W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples.

Hunch: This year, we wondered how repeated opportunities to engage with Indigenous stories in different ways might support student learning. We had a hunch that focusing on just a few stories would help students gain a deeper understanding of the stories, and the connection between stories and place. In the past, we would often share a story once and then move on. This year, we were eager to provide different ways for students to engage with the stories, including oral retelling, play, art, and writing. We were also eager to explore opportunities to integrate W̱SÁNEĆ language learning into literacy activities. We had a hunch that even learning a few words or phrases could help deepen students’ understanding of Indigenous culture and language.

New Professional Learning:
– Worked with Sheralyn MacRae, the District Indigenous Program Coordinator; Jenica Moore, District Early Learning Leader; and the Indigenous Education department to access Indigenous stories and learning resources.
– Focused on our own professional learning of Indigenous stories with a focus on becoming proficient in oral storytelling.
– Focused on learning SENĆOŦEN words and phrases from each story.
– Attended Network of Inquiry and Indigenous Education (NOIIE) Learning Bursts throughout the year.
– Attended the 2024 NOIIE Symposium: ‘Connection + Community: People, Practices, Promises’. Had the chance to learn from presenters and network with other educators.
– Shared ongoing work focused on outdoor learning, nature journals, and storymaking with COPACS as a way to answer questions and listen to feedback.

Taking Action:
– Practiced re-telling W̱SÁNEĆ stories with a focus on incorporating SENĆOŦEN language. Our focus was on learning these stories by heart, so that we did not need to read them from a book.
– Connected with the district SENĆOŦEN teacher in order to build our knowledge of the SENĆOŦEN language.
– Shared place-based and Indigenous stories with our students each month connected to changing seasons, special places in our community, learning topics, etc.
– Supported learners in developing oral and written language through local Indigenous stories, SENĆOŦEN language learning, and place-based storymaking.
– Developed ‘story cards’ for local Indigenous stories featuring images, text, and SENĆOŦEN language.
– Began developing a rubric for oral language that could be used to measure student learning and success.
– Shared ongoing learning with fellow educators through the NOIIE Learning Burst and the 2024 Symposium.

Checking: Our main objective was to strengthen literacy skills through our focus on oral language skills and local W̱SÁNEĆ stories. Part of the evidence we used was our District Literacy Assessment which showed significant improvement in all areas of literacy over the course of the year. Anecdotally, the students demonstrated a deeper understanding of the stories and incorporated them into their own retellings and play. It was a joy to see these stories become a part of their shared background knowledge, and to witness the ways in which they would connect these stories to their own lives and experiences of place.

In the future, we would like to further develop our oral language rubric in order to better understand and assess oral language abilities and the way in which it supports reading and writing proficiencies.

With repeated opportunities to engage with just a few stories, students were able to go deeper into their understanding and questioning of the stories. Their understanding of what they were learning and why it was important was deeper and richer than it had been in the past. We were able to observe this through the strength of their oral retellings and the ways in which they embedded the stories into their own play.

Picture Descriptions: Photo of the student and camas bed is a re-telling of the W̱SÁNEĆ story, “The Sisters Who Married Stars,” in student’s nature journal (left), play mat and story toys are a playful invitation for story re-telling (middle), and Basket of fir-cones are re-telling props for the Coast Salish story “Little Mouse and the Great Fire” (right)

Reflections/Advice: We hope to continue with this work, deepening our own understanding and knowledge of W̱SÁNEĆ stories and the SENĆOŦEN language. We will continue to seek out connections with W̱SÁNEĆ knowledge keepers to continue this learning.

We would like to continue to build up resources to support storytelling including story cards, play-based materials, and retelling tools and strategies. Next steps will be to collaborate with our school teacher-librarian and other district staff in order to share our learning journey.

Our advice to other schools with a similar interest is to start small and build a strong understanding of your area of focus. Do not feel that you have to begin and end your inquiry in one year. Being able to travel around the spiral of inquiry multiple times, going deeper into our own learning and understanding, has been incredibly powerful. Take your time and grow your understanding alongside your students and with the support of your learning community.

School Name: Lochside Elementary

School District: SD#63 Saanich

Inquiry Team Members: Jenni Erickson: jerickson@saanichschools.ca,
Sarah Miller: sarahmiller@saanichschools.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: jerickson@saanichschools.ca

II. Inquiry Project Information

Type of Inquiry: NOIIE Case Study

Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Primary (K-3)

Curricular Areas Addressed: Language Arts – Literacy, Language Arts – Oral Language, Language Arts – Writing, Science

Focus Addressed: Indigenous understandings (for example, Traditional Knowledge, oral history, reconciliation), First Peoples Principles of Learning, Land, Nature or Place-based learning

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Exploring the connection between literacy development and nature-based learning experiences involving place-based Indigenous knowledge, storytelling, and learning through the natural environment.

III. Spirals of Inquiry Details

Scanning: During the scanning phase, we noticed that students entering Grade One had a strong base of storytelling through story workshop sessions in Kindergarten. We also noticed how most literacy instruction and exploration happened in the indoor environment. We wondered how building opportunities for storytelling in the outdoor environment, while connecting this to Indigenous land-based stories, might engage and support learners in their literacy development, oral language skills, understanding of Indigenous culture, and connection to the natural world. We used the four key questions to gather more information about this hunch. We discovered that most students felt connected to adults in the school, however, they did not always have a clear idea of what they were learning and why it was important. We incorporated First Peoples Principles of learning by forming strong relationships with each student so that we could connect to each student, hear their stories, and truly understand where they were at in their academic and social-emotional learning. We also noticed that experiential learning had a positive impact on engagement and motivation and wanted to incorporate this into all stages of the inquiry.

Focus: This year we focused on how opportunities to connect literacy activities with Indigenous knowledge, storytelling, and learning in the natural environment could support the literacy development of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous learners. We both have a passion for outdoor, place-based learning and over the past few years we have attempted to connect this with Indigenous knowledge and stories about the land. Our school resides on the traditional territory of the W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples, and we have been so grateful to be able to focus our learning on building connections to this place with our students. We were curious about how we could use this as a platform to engage students and intentionally connect it with oral and written literacy development.

Hunch: Our school does not have a large population of Indigenous students and, as such, we receive a proportionally smaller amount of support for Indigenous education. Indigenous education is largely left to the discretion of each classroom teacher. We had a hunch that Indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing were not being introduced as readily at our school, as they were at other schools in the district. The connection between Indigenous knowledge, environmental stewardship and literacy learning seemed to be an important focus for introducing all students, and especially Indigenous students, to Indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing.

New Professional Learning:

• Attending the NOIIE Symposium in April, 2023
• Learning about other Spirals of Inquiry Projects, and the inquiries and focus areas of other students and teachers was very inspiring.
• Expanding our own familiarity, understanding, and library of Indigenous stories and land-based knowledge and stories. We are learning and teaching on the traditional territory of the W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples, and began looking for local stories shared by W̱SÁNEĆ teachers and knowledge keepers, and extending to other Coast Salish stories and teachings as well.
• Learning from local W̱SÁNEĆ storyteller, Toby Joseph though school visits.
• Accessing Strong Nations Publishing, we were able to bring local and non-local Indigenous stories and non-fiction books into our classrooms, read them, and share them with our students during outdoor learning experiences.
• Working with our District’s Indigenous Education department, we extended our learning and resources with focused Indigenous Education collections (ex. ‘storytelling with puppets’ and ‘ethnobotany’).

Taking Action:

• Expanding our library of books and oral storytelling resources has been a very helpful and enriching process for our professional development. Listening, reading, and learning Indigenous stories has helped us become more confident and capable in retelling and sharing these stories with our students.
• Continuing to engage in repeated visits to the natural outdoor environment surrounding our school has continued to shift and change this year, as our own understanding of Indigenous stories and knowledge has grown. As we have listened and learned about W̱SÁNEĆ and other Indigenous place-based stories, we have been able to connect this knowledge with our outdoor learning program.
• Increasing our resources and knowledge of local Indigenous stories has helped us support our colleagues through meaningful conversations and access to these shared materials. For Indigenous Peoples Day, we were able to collaborate with other classes and teachers to provide sessions connecting outdoor learning, Indigenous stories, and knowledge of native species in the nature area called, ‘Beyond the Fence’.   

Picture descriptions: Students engaging with the local environment, practicing SENĆOŦEN plant names and drawing plant characteristics, and responding to Indigenous stories and knowledge in their nature journals.

Checking: One of the strongest outcomes from this inquiry was an increased knowledge and understanding of Indigenous stories for both ourselves and our students. Students were consistently engaged and motivated by the local stories, and inspired to create their own stories afterwards. Their understanding of story structure and the purpose of oral legends increased. We saw this through their retellings of the stories, their own storytelling, as well as in their written recordings of stories. This also connected to an increased understanding and knowledge of the natural world through lessons learned through the stories. The lessons and knowledge found within the Indigenous stories were often repeated afterwards by the children. We would both like to continue with this work as we are just getting started in our own understanding and knowledge of local stories. We see the power and motivation these stories hold, and we would like to continue using them as a strong cultural connection and inspiration for all students, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous.

After asking students the four questions at the end of the year, we saw tremendous growth and richness when answering the question, “what are you learning and why is it important?” The profound tradition of Indigenous storytelling seemed to elevate the importance of the students’ own stories. At the end of the year, they could easily identify why their stories, and their learning, were important.

Reflections/Advice: A big takeaway from this inquiry is that we, as educators, need to do the hard work of educating ourselves on Indigenous history and culture, and seek out respectful ways to share and incorporate Indigenous knowledge into our teachings. We cannot expect all of this to be done by the Indigenous community. We hope to continue educating ourselves on Indigenous history, culture, and specifically, local land-based stories. We also hope to expand our knowledge of the SENĆOŦEN language, so that we can incorporate this into our classroom program as well.

When learning outdoors, we found the deep-rooted connections between Indigenous knowledge, nature, and story to be highly engaging and motivating for students. We would encourage other educators to find similar opportunities to explore their local environment and to connect this learning with Indigenous knowledge. Our advice to other schools would be to look for opportunities to build your own knowledge. At the same time, contact your district and local Indigenous community (through proper protocols) to slowly and respectfully build connections.

School Name: Lochside Elementary

School District: SD#63 Saanich

Inquiry Team Members: Jenni Erickson: jerickson@saanichschools.ca, Sarah Miller: sarahmiller@saanichschools.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Name/Email: Jenni Erickson/jerickson@saanichschools.ca

II. Inquiry Project Information

Type of Inquiry: NOIIE

Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Primary (K-3)

Curricular Areas Addressed:

• Language Arts – Literacy
• Language Arts – Oral Language
• Language Arts – Reading
• Language Arts – Writing
• Other: outdoor education

Focus Addressed:

• Indigenous understandings (for example, Traditional Knowledge, oral history, reconciliation)
• Experiential learning
• First Peoples Principles of Learning
• Indigenous pedagogy
• Land, Nature or Place-based learning

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Exploring how incorporating Indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing into repeated outdoor and nature-based learning experiences will support Indigenous and non-Indigenous literacy learning and foster student connections to place.

III. Spirals of Inquiry Details

Scanning: We began this year with the intention of building upon our outdoor education program and extending this to meet the needs of our learners and foster their connections with the natural world. During the scanning phase, we noticed that many learners, and especially Indigenous learners, needed extra literacy support. We also noticed that their families were keen to incorporate Indigenous knowledge into the classroom and were well connected to the Indigenous community. It was important to us to incorporate the First Peoples Principles of learning during our scanning phase, particularly the idea of developing student identity in relation to their local community and environment.

Focus: We decided to focus our inquiry on understanding and building a connection between early literacy development, outdoor education, and Indigenous education as we are curious about the relationship between these three areas. Both of us are passionate about nature-based learning, and as primary teachers, we are always looking to strengthen student literacy skills. Upon getting to know our students this year, we observed that many students, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, were needing additional support to acquire early literacy skills. We chose to focus on looking for ways to connect routine outdoor learning experiences and literacy activities with Indigenous stories, knowledge, and ways of knowing in order to see how students might learn and engage with their learning differently.

Hunch: We noticed that when our classroom focus was on Indigenous knowledge, or when we had Indigenous elders into the school, our Indigenous learners were particularly engaged. These experiences often included oral storytelling and sharing of local knowledge of plants and animals. We had a hunch that connecting early literacy opportunities to Indigenous knowledge, oral storytelling and outdoor learning in the natural environments around our school, would inspire and support these students in literacy and in their sense of belonging and purpose. Furthermore, we wondered if frequent opportunities connecting Indigenous ways of knowing and nature-based literacy activities would elevate the learning opportunities and outcomes of Indigenous and non-Indigenous learners in our classes.

New Professional Learning:

• Building our own understanding of local Indigenous stories and legends. Our school resides on the unceded territory of the W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples, and we sought to learn more about the traditional natural space around our school through books, Indigenous knowledge keepers and resource bins (created by the Indigenous department in our school district).
• Visiting the Horticulture Center of the Pacific’s W̱SÁNEĆ Ethnobotany Trail to learn more about native plants to the area, Indigenous knowledge of these plants, and to observe different native plants in different seasons to become more familiar with them.
• Working with our school library technician and teacher librarian to become familiar with resources surrounding Indigenous storytelling, plant guides, and resources connecting outdoor, Indigenous, and literacy learning.
• Continuing to access and read professional books incorporating Indigenous knowledge, Indigenous stories, local ethnobotany, and nature-based learning.

Taking Action:

• Repeated visits to a local, natural, outdoor environment. This included weekly time spent in a natural space adjacent to the developed school grounds called ‘Beyond the Fence’ and weekly visits to a local forested park within walking distance of the school.
• Incorporating nature sketchbooks into our routine, with prompts linked to a variety of Indigenous stories, local plant and animal knowledge (ex. Knowledge of native and invasive species of blackberries), cyclical stories and knowledge of the 13 moons of the W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples, and other literacy and nature-based prompts.
• Weekly learning experiences often involve making observations, sharing thinking through writing and drawing, listening to stories, playing and experiencing these stories, and exploring the outdoor spaces.
• Building a routine involving students choosing familiar ‘sit spots’ to visit and observe, respond to the aforementioned prompts, and build a connection to the natural environment.
• Developing our students’ awareness of the invasive and non-invasive species of plants in the area beyond the fence and involving them in learning about the importance of native species, traditional uses of these plants by Indigenous communities, and opportunities to be active in rehabilitating the environment through the removal of Himalayan blackberries to make room for native plants to grow.

Photo (above): Students recording their ideas and reflections in their nature journals.

Photo (above): Students planting cedar trees in a local park.

Checking: During our inquiry, we used the four key questions to check and see if our actions were making a difference in supporting Indigenous and non-Indigenous students in their literacy learning, as well as helping foster student connections to culture and place. We noticed that as the year went on, students were increasingly motivated to take part in our outdoor learning sessions. They developed a sense of connection and ownership to the areas we visited and were invested in helping to take care of these places. This especially came through when asking, “What are you learning and why is it important?” In their answers, students cited such reasons as, “to help take care of the plants and animals because they take care of us,” and “to learn about how Indigenous people lived because they know a lot about this place.” During the checking phase we also looked at their literacy skill development. All students demonstrated steady development throughout the year. Writing activities connected to our outdoor learning and Indigenous knowledge consistently generated higher motivation and engagement from many children. Again, the question of “why is it important” seemed to play a key role in student engagement in this particular writing activity; students could clearly identify the importance of learning about and writing about their local environment.

Reflections/Advice: This inquiry helped us explore the connections between outdoor learning and Indigenous stories/knowledge connected to place, and really look into how our students could build skills and connections in these two key areas through regular outdoor literacy activities. One area that we found worked really well for us was the addition of outdoor ‘nature journals’. In their journals we added weekly pages that incorporated Indigenous knowledge of plants and animals, stories and legends, pictures of the 13 moons, and other prompts that were used to guide discussions and activities. By using our nature journals in this way, we noticed that students were able to record their thinking through words and pictures, build connections throughout the year, and reflect on the wonders, thoughts, and discoveries made in their nature journals.

In going forward with this inquiry, we would like to focus on bringing in more community members from the local Indigenous communities. This was initially our intention, however, it proved a challenge due to the effects of the pandemic. We can imagine that greater inclusion of the local Indigenous community will only help to strengthen the sense of community and connection students feel, as well as the sense that this learning is important.

In terms of advice, the process of working with a colleague with similar interests and curiosities was invaluable. The inquiry process itself helped us to focus, reflect, and learn from some of the key questions that we had about our own teaching process.

School District: SD#63 Saanich

Inquiry Team Members: Sarah Miller: sarahmiller@saanichschools.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: jerickson@saanichschools.ca

Type of Inquiry: NOIIE

Grade Levels: Primary (K-3)

Curricular Area(s): Science, Social Studies

Focus Addressed: Core competencies (for example, critical thinking, communication, problem solving), Experiential learning, Flexible learning, Land, Nature or Place-based learning, Self-regulation, Social and emotional learning

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Exploring how repeated visits to a familiar, natural outdoor setting will affect play and interactions between students and the environment.

Scanning: We began this year with the intention of providing our students with regular and frequent learning and play experiences in the natural world. This included time spent on school grounds, as well as weekly visits to a local forested park. During the scanning process, we noticed that students gravitated towards games involving running and chasing. They seemed to be using the space in the same way they would use the school playground or gym, and this often lead to aggressive forms of play and upset feelings around play negotiations (ie. zombie tag). Our hunch was that many students in our class were unfamiliar and unpracticed at playing and interacting in natural outdoor spaces, and that they needed support and scaffolding to play and interact in this new type of environment. During the scanning process, we drew connections from the First Peoples Principles of Learning describing the importance of connectedness, reciprocal relationships, and the importance of place.

Focus: We selected this area as we are both advocates of the importance of learning and playing outdoors, and helping children develop a connection with the natural world. We noticed a disconnect between our expectations for this outdoor time and the actions and behaviours of our students. We were hoping to help our learners build a repertoire of new ways in which to play and engage in the outdoor world, and through this develop a meaningful connection to place.

Hunch: At school, children have access to play areas and equipment that often pre-define the play options (ex. gaga ball pit, tag games on the playground). Time to play is also limited and defined due to scheduled recess times. This year, place and time for play were further restricted due to Covid guidelines. Opportunities for extended, un-prescribed play in nature were limited and often unavailable during school hours on school grounds. In addition, the school practice of individual, one-time only field trips does not provide students with the time needed to develop the experience and skills necessary for working and playing in nature.

New Professional Learning: Professional learning in the area of outdoor education has been an on-going process for us and many of our colleagues. Focusing on this inquiry question inspired us to take our own learning deeper. The opportunity for professional collaboration and discussion was a big part of our learning, helping us to distinguish valuable areas to focus on. Engaging other outdoor education professionals, shared reading of outdoor education books, and developing our own knowledge of the outdoor environment all contributed to a greater understanding and richer inquiry experience. To help share our learning from our inquiry project with the school community, we provided ongoing opportunities for the staff at large to expand their knowledge base and comfort level around outdoor education. This included hands-on learning in the natural spaces at our school as well as a school-wide book club. A goal for next year is to further share our own passion for outdoor learning with colleagues and families.

Taking Action:

• Repeated visits to a local, natural, outdoor environment (daily outdoor time on school grounds, weekly visits to school nature trail, weekly visits to local forested park)
• Explicit teaching and class discussion to develop different ways to play and engage in the outdoor environment
• Involving learners in a community circle to share their emotions and concerns around existing play and to generate new ideas and solutions
• Scheduling of large blocks for outdoor learning that included time for both structured and unstructured exploration
• Establishing routines and rituals for entering and leaving the space intended to help foster a connection and appreciation for the space (welcome song, shared stories, song of thanks)

These strategies were added on throughout the year as we scanned and questioned the learners and saw areas of need. In combination, these strategies helped to address our areas of concern and fostered a richer and deeper experience for our students.

Checking: We used the four questions as part of our scanning process to develop a baseline at the beginning of the year. We noticed that many of our students had a limited number of connections within our school. Our children were in kindergarten and grade 1, and their limited schooling, shortened 2019/2020 school year, and Covid regulations all restricted the number of adults in the school that they knew and that they felt knew them. In regards to the questions about their learning, they often were at a lack of how to respond to these questions at the beginning of the year. As we progressed through the year and incorporated the strategies mentioned above, we noticed that their responses became richer and more personal. They began to see themselves as learners and contributors in their outdoor learning experiences, and their responses reflected this. For example, one group became involved in an ongoing shelter building activity. They knew what was important to their learning, where they wanted to go next, and the steps and support they needed to make this happen. The strategies we implemented were a good start in helping to deepen and enrich the outdoor learning experiences for our students. We see this as a beginning for ourselves and our students, as we continue to seek ways to build a purposeful and meaningful outdoor education program. At the end of the year, one student shared his realization that, “nature takes care of us and gives us all we need.” This helps us to set our intention moving forward to not only deepen our students’ connection to people who support and believe in them, but to also create that same connection and belief that nature will do the same.

Reflections/Advice: This inquiry helped us to see the incredible power of collaboration and discussion, both with colleagues and also learning alongside our students. The process of scanning and developing hunches helped us develop a good starting point for where change could be made. Involving the students, both in gathering evidence through the four questions and as active participants in developing and implementing the strategies, created space for learning and reflection. As we said earlier, this has only deepened our own interest and curiosity in this area. We would like to continue questioning and investigating our own practices while pursuing further professional development and learning. Our advice to other teachers and schools with a similar interest is to start small, with just one step, in collaboration with others with a shared interest. For us, our first commitment was a weekly visit to the local, forested park. Once this was established, we were able to add to this program, question what was working and what wasn’t, and make meaningful changes. Doing this in collaboration with colleagues provided the support and accountability to see this plan through. The power of a shared interest helped to maintain momentum and excitement for ourselves as educators. The experience of a shared inquiry grounded our thinking and decision making around everyday practices and will continue to do so going forward.