EcoSchools Success Stories from the PDSB and DPCDSB will be displayed to celebrate the achievements of our EcoTeams. Visitors to the Gallery will be invited to participate in a scavenger hunt for a chance to win an amazing prize. Certified schools can pick up their plaques and seals at the Information Booth.

To show our appreciation of your school’s support for Ecofest, the school with the most students in attendance will win a Wye Marsh Birds of Prey Assembly for the whole school. This unique environmental education opportunity is valued at approximately $ 1000.00 (*NO CASH VALUE).

 

To be eligible, register your name at the Ecofest Information Booth located near the festival entrance. Numbers will be tracked in a database throughout the day, and the winner will be announced at the end of the festival. A  certificate will be sent to the Principal of the winning school.

Join the Friends of the Britannia Schoolhouse again this year and share in the fun while participating in a variety of old fashioned, earth friendly games and activities. Try your hand at making rope, a lavender wand or paper drinking cup. Test your skills at walking on stilts, playing a rousing game of Skittles or taking part in a sack race. Drop into the Schoolhouse and visit with the Schoolmaster or mistress. Enjoy a stroll through the perennial beds and vegetable gardens and purchase a plant for home. All this and much more to be found outside to the north and south of the Schoolhouse building.

 

Jump into hands-on activities that explore how environmental education in your school yard or local park can offer unique ways to enhance the curriculum. By exploring this “Naturalist Intelligence” approach to education (the first addition to the original seven Multiple Intelligences) participants will connect with the diverse experiential education needs of learners. Get out of your seats and participate in innovative, cross-curricular eco-activities that will focus on these areas: Biodiversity; Habitats & Communities; Human Organ Systems; The Arts. Participants will take home a package of free teaching lessons, resources, posters and more. This session is geared towards junior/intermediate but activities are able to be modified for other grade levels.

 

This PD session will run at 12.15pm & 2.15pm. Spaces are limited, please arrive on time.

 

Brad Bass co-authored the Climate Change, Health & Adaptation curriculum guide and is the principal developer of the COBWEB software that is used in the adaptation workshop. 

 

This workshop will introduce you to some innovative and interactive methods for introducing students to the concepts of systems science for use in biology, economics, environmental science, geography, physics and world religions.  Originally developed for a TDSB curriculum package called Climate Change, Health & Adaptation, these interactive approaches to complex systems have also found application to a wide range of topics such as observing ecosystems, energy conservation, evolution of spatial processes, competition vs. cooperation and the free-rider concept.  Most of the methods are interactive, they may involve movement or role-playing and they are fun.  A limited number of CDs with the complete adaptation curriculum and software will be made available to participants in this workshop.

This PD session will run at 1.15pm and 3.15pm. Spaces are limited, please arrive on time.

It will be served from 12:00 – 3:00 pm just outside the PDSB Board Office. Students with their Ecofest bookmark receive a discount.

EcoTeams across the Region challenged their schools to ‘Ban the Bottle’. Inspired by this action, Ecofest will not be selling bottled water, but instead will be encouraging our festival-goers to bring their own re-usable water bottle. To ‘sweeten the deal’, you will be able to add a scoop of flavoured drink mix to your bottle.

Prizes have been generously donated by our festival partners. Draws will be occurring throughout the festival. Tickets are free, but you must be present at time of draw to claim your prize. Last year’s raffle prizes included:  a rain barrel, trees, plants and conservation area park passes.

Take a tour of the Hybrid Electric MiWay bus. Check out the bus bike rack to explore how bikes and buses work together to promote sustainable transportation.  Students with their Ecofest bookmark can receive one free MiWay student ticket (while supplies last).

What has ecoCaledon been up to? Visit their booth to find out?

Explore hands-on natural history with skulls, furs, fossils and more. Get close to nature using sticks, seeds, rocks and cones to create your own “ephemeral art” installation.

Hands-on activities will help you learn why certain materials are “recyclable” and some are not as part of Peel’s blue box and green bin programs.  Meet Binny and Phillip, the Region of Peel waste ambassadors!

Unleash your eco-friendly inner artist! Learn how to make your own recycled paper and non-toxic paints.