Bridge to Outdoor School

Plan

As our Dual Language program has grown in D6, we have noticed a disproportionate number of Spanish speaking and/or Latinx families who choose not to send their child to Outdoor School. Based on both teacher and administrator feedback as well as our dual language parent advisory group feedback, three main areas of need have been identified.

1. Our Spanish-speaking and/or Latinx parents do not feel comfortable sending their students on overnight trips into the woods as this is something they are unfamiliar with. Many parents identified worries around safety and the unknown.

2. Our Spanish-speaking and/or Latinx families do not have the necessary gear to send with their students to keep them warm and dry.

3. Much of the information sent home about Outdoor School, meetings held about Outdoor School, and messaging at Outdoor School is done in an English-only context making that information inaccessible to many of our Spanish-speaking and/or Latinx families.

Our project need addresses these three areas by:

1. Providing several day-long and one overnight Outdoor School opportunity for Spanish-speaking and/or Latinx families (parents and 4th/5th grade students) allowing them to experience Outdoor School and diminish anxiety around many aspects of the trip

2. Creating a cache of cold weather and rainy weather appropriate gear so that materials and packing lists are no longer a barrier for families

3. Producing bilingual Outdoor School materials to send home and use for meeting facilitation. Creating bilingual signage and handouts for our Outdoor School site to welcome our Spanish-speaking families in addition to better conveying information to all families.

Our project will increase the quantity of Spanish-speaking students participating in Outdoor School by 100%. Our Spanish-speaking students will create stronger, more genuine peer connections based on the uniqueness each student has to offer participate in learning about the outdoors and our natural environment thereby developing a stewardship mentality learn about and connect their personal identity/history to the cultures, experiences, perspectives and languages of Indigenous peoples of our region develop a sense of self-efficacy allowing them to pursue further outdoor opportunities Our Outdoor School program, as a whole, will greatly benefit from a more diverse group of attendees who bring different life experiences, viewpoints, and cultural touchpoints to the group. Both our English-speaking and Spanish-speaking students will benefit from spending more time together, in a diverse group, and learning about / connecting more deeply with students outside their daily "friend group".