Tuesday, February 21

I hope you had a nice long weekend.

Just a note for period 1 students, tomorrow we have a presentation by Katimavik in both afternoon classes. Katimavik is an organization that provides young people with an opportunity to spend a 'GAP' year developing personal skills in outdoor recreation, environmental sustainability through volunteering in programs and activities that help numerous Canadian communities. It is my hope that you will attend one of the sessions (either p. 3 or 4), which means you should communicate with your teacher(s) this afternoon to ensure that they are ok with it.

To follow up with wintercamp, there are three things that I would like you to complete:

(For those students that didn't participate in wintercamp, see Article Assignment and Wintercamp make-up Assignment)

1. Wintercamp Self-evaluation - In the sidebar, you will see a heading Self-evaluations and a link to the Wintercamp Self-evaluation form. Complete it and submit it.

2. To complete the last two assignment, you will need a google account and an invitation to the blog.

If you have a google account already, fill out the form 'Google Account' in the sidebar.

If you don't have a google account, then you need to activate the one you have through the school and then fill out the form 'Google Account' in the sidebar.

To activate your google account, go to g-mail and log in with S########@cairinewilsonss.ocdsb.ca (###### is your student number)

The password is cwilsonss (change the password as soon as you are logged in)

Now fill out the form 'Google Account' in the sidebar.

3. Wintercamp Reflection - Go to Mr. Brouwer's Site, under your course code, find the Wintercamp folder and look up the 'Wintercamp Reflection'.

Please read the instructions carefully, as it is not a re-telling of the events. It is a reflection that asks to you to evaluate the experience and share the things that you learned in the process.

Use the steps, don't just start writing.

Finally, you have your first article due this Friday.

4. Article assignment - Go to Mr. Brouwer's Site, under your course code, find the Article Assignment folder and look up the 'Article Assignment'.

Read the instructions carefully. Also realize that there is some more resources in the Article Assignment folder, like a sample write up and how to properly source your article.

5. Wintercamp Make-up Assignment - You will write an article for a magazine, on-line magazine, newspaper or specialty website that will share the wintercamp experience with the general public. To do this, you will have interview a minimum of two people who experienced the wintercamp.

The article should look like an actual article you would find in a magazine. It needs to be well written and the ideas should be presented in an organized fashion. Articles generally look better when pictures are included.

Wintercamp

Feb. 16, 2012

On Thursday night, the students of the Grade 10 & 11 Outdoor Ed classes spent the night sleeping out in the cold. The lead up to this year's wintercamp was quite interesting, as the snow was covered by a layer of ice that made it difficult to get the Quinzhees piled up high enough. This lead to some last minute (some late into the night) work to complete the Quinzhees and others making a variety of different winter shelters.

The night promised to be a good one with warm temperatures and some light snow. It was fairly warm, but the flurries only lasted about 15 minutes before it turned into a steady drizzle for most of the night. With memories of last year, where we cancelled the overnight because of heavy rains, students were determined to make this evening happen. There were some adjustments to waterproof the shelters further and others realized that they would be spending a night in a Quinzhee that would feel damp.

For the most part the evening went quite well, with nice fires, good food and a solid game of manhunt. There were a few that were challenged in starting their fires and keeping them going to cook their dinners. A few students were also not careful enough in keeping their sleeping stuff dry. Bouncing around like penguins in their sleeping bags in the rain didn't make for a good start to a night of sleeping in a Quinzhee. Needless to say we had a few people head home that evening.





The night itself proved to be quite challenging for some, as the dampness of the night made for a chilly night, while others had a great night sleep. We will let the students tell their stories and the lessons they learned during our wintercamp in the comments attached to this post.

NCSSAA Nordic Skiing Results

The results are available via the link on the sidebar.

Congratulations to all of our skiers. You did a great job today.

Parent Information Evening

Wednesday, Feb. 8 @ 6:00 pm in the Outdoor Ed room.

This information session is an opportunity for parents to see what the Outdoor Ed program at C.W. entails, as well as, provide parents with the means to follow what the classes are doing and how their child is performing in the class. This is also the venue to ask any questions.

Even if you have been to a meeting before,

there are a number of new things that you may want to see.

I hope to see you there.

Welcome to Outdoor Ed in 2nd Semester

It is going to be a great semester!

My apologies for the afternoon classes, as I am with the XC Ski team at a meet this afternoon.

Now the goal of today is to familiarize you with the blogs and sites that will be your main information and resource for this course. For those of you that have taken outdoor ed with me (Mr. Brouwer) in the past, you will be familiar with most things here (help others), although there will be a few new things. This process will also uncover for you the things we will be doing this semester.

Please read all the steps carefully and follow the instructions.

It is my expectation that you will complete all the tasks at hand during the time that you are provided. This is an important concept for you to grasp, as I will be away on various trips throughout the semester and sometimes you will be asked to complete work with another teacher or in study hall. If you don't complete the work there, we will have to use 'outdoor' time to complete the work later. I try to avoid giving busy work, but instead try to use this time to cover some of the written components of the class.

Let's find out what we are doing this semester!

Step #1: Go to the side bar (on right) and find Mr. Brouwer's Page and click on it.

This will bring you to my site and you will want to click on your course code in the sidebar on the left of the page. IE. PAD2O - grade 10

This is where you will find all your assignment, forms, sometimes information from lessons and extra background information. As my goal this semester is to go as paperless as possible, this is a page you need to use often.

Now, scroll down to the start up folder and click on the PAD2O Units - Spring 2012 (or 3O or 4O) and view it or download it. (you may also want to look at 'How to be Successful in OE')

Here you can see the units and trips that we will be doing this semester.

Recognize, the Parents Info Session - next Wednesday, Feb. 8 at 6:00 pm. Please let your parents know ASAP, why don't you text them right now.

Step #2: Go back to the Outdoor Ed Blog, there is a link in the sidebar.

Now, scroll down until you see the calendar. You must use the calendar, copy it, write it on your forehead!!!!

Step #3: On the top of the main page of the Outdoor Ed Blog, click on the follow me on Twitter link.

I will tweet what has been taught in class on specific days and you're expected to utilize this in two ways; First, if you are absent from a class, you check here to make sure you don't fall behind or miss important information. Second, when getting ready for a test, here will be your review.

Step #4: Back on the main page, recognize the various information items and links in the sidebar. What's due or coming up, cooler talk of the week, reading & recipe blog (you will be posting there), weather forecasts for all areas that we will play in, autobiographies and photos.

Step #5: Complete an autobiography for yourself. Choose the appropriate course code and answer the questions, then submit.

This gives me a little more background on you to help me prepare the course and plan the trips.

Step #6: The first trip we do is wintercamp (PAD2O/3O) and Gatineau overnight (PAD4O), go to Mr. Brouwer's Site and find the equipment list that you will need for these trips. Read it!

Step #7: From the same spot, download 'Clothing for the Outdoors' in Start Up folder.

Use the Trip Tips manual to answer the questions and when finished, print them or save them for your notes.

Step #8: PAD2O/3O - On the Outdoor Ed blog main page, find the Wintercamp post from last semester and click on the comment link at the bottom right of the post.

Read a number of people's reflection and make notes on the top 3 things people did well and the top 3 mistakes that were made.

PAD4O - Click on the Gatineau Winter Map and figure out the route we will take on our winter overnight.

We will carry snowshoes and our skis with us and on day 1 will travel from Lusk Falls to Lac Phillipe Cabin, then on day 2 we will XC Ski to P16 parking lot.

I would like you to think about a route and determine the distance that will need to be covered.

You may have to use the Gatineau Summer Map to help you locate the Lusk Falls. The Falls are located at the South West end of the park.

Step #9: Congratulations, you understand the importance of working hard and getting down to business. Use the remainder of the time to browse through some of the resources provided below the calendar on the main page of the Outdoor Ed blog.