Calgary Zoo Visits YHS

On Monday, January 26, all students in Grade 1 to 7 were able to enjoy a wonderful presentation from Natasha Lloyd, the Reintroduction Specialist at the Centre for Conservation & Research at the Calgary Zoo.

Calgary Zoo is considered to be North America’s leader in the science of species recovery and reintroduction. Natasha has worked on a variety of conservation projects both here in Canada and around the world and shared many of her experiences with students, such as breeding cranes using computerized eggs to collect data, and helping to reintroduce ferrets to Canada. Grades 5 and 7 were able to learn more about endangered species in Canada like the burrowing owl and sea otter, identifying threats and the impact of extinction on our ecosystem.

Gr. 5s Learn How to Live Garbage-Free

Documentary Filmmakers Jen and Grant with Grade 5 girls.
Documentary Filmmakers Jen and Grant with Grade 5 girls.

Grade 5 students were truly inspired by a visit and presentation from local, award-winning documentary filmmakers Jen and Grant who made The Clean Bin Project.

The girls watched the movie prior to the visit as part of their inquiry into sustainability. They had many questions for the guests about the motivation to live for a whole year garbage-free, the challenges of not buying anything and what they learned from the experience. For example, a plastic fork that is used for about 10 minutes takes over 500 years to decompose. Grant shared that one crazy idea can have a huge ripple effect on how you continue to live your life and how people around start to change their behaviours. Students reflected on how their thinking about garbage and plastic was transformed by this exposure.

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Jen and Grant present to the Grade 5s.

We are excited to watch Jen and Grant’s next endeavour, the film Just Eat It – A Food Waste Story. Apparently 40% of our grown food is thrown away in perfectly edible condition while one in nine people do not have enough to eat in Canada. Jen and Grant ate discarded food for six months, spent only $200 dollars and even gained 10 lbs !

Thank you to Mrs. Martin for arranging this authentic learning opportunity.

Julie Harris
Vice-Principal, Jr. School