Through support from the community, a little organizational help from the Wellington Catholic Experiential Learning team, and the will of some determined grade 6/7 students from St. Ignatius of Loyola Catholic School, chickadees and house wrens will have some snazzy new homes across the city.
Earlier in the school year, Carolyn Brown’s grade 6/7 class spent time in science learning about biodiversity, ecosystems, habitats, and endangered species. Following some in depth discussion about conservation, the class was quick to ask, ‘How can we help?’
While the class was initially hoping to find a way to support the endangered barn owl by building nesting boxes, logistics led Brown to pivot to creating bird boxes for chickadees and house wrens. Although it is true that these are not endangered species, all birds in North America are under stress.
“The students were initially disappointed about the barn owl, but were quick to adapt and get on board with the new bird box plan,” said Brown.
David Lamble, bird banding specialist and retired teacher supported the class by providing a blueprint for the bird box design.
“Then it became a question of how can I make sure my students' ideas and voices are being heard? Where can we get all the materials and tools for this project? In comes Ryan Lawrenson,” she shared.
Ryan Lawrenson is the Experiential Learning Instructor for Wellington Catholic District School Board, providing unique hands-on learning opportunities to all classrooms. Lawrenson’s department supplied the building materials, tools, and safety equipment. He then recruited students to precut the boxes to Lamble’s specifications.
“We met with people in the industry to learn about appropriate material and design specifications for these students. Then students from another school prepared the kit for the students to make them,” shared Lawrenson.
Chris Lane, teacher at St. Joseph Catholic School in Fergus, enlisted the handywork of his students, working in conjunction with Lawrenson to create the kits. Not only did the St. Ignatius community benefit from the grade 6/7’s idea, but the kits were also sent to St. John Brebeuf Catholic School and placed around their community in Erin.
“This is the first year we have done this project, and we hope to continue to do it in the future” he said.
“At the end of the day, it is truly amazing to see what can happen just by asking questions. Reaching out to the people around you in your community and within the school board can lead to some really amazing outcomes” added Brown. “I am very thankful and grateful to all of the people involved in this project. It's certainly something I would love to do every year.”
For Brown it was amazing to see the students’ engagement and eagerness to learn and build using their hands.
“To see their ideas come to fruition and for them to know that this type of learning is possible is motivation in and of itself. School doesn't always have to be about textbooks, worksheets and google slideshows. It can also be about hands-on experiential learning. Throughout the project what we noticed is that even basic skills like how to handle a hammer properly and use nails, as well as how to measure and read blueprints became teachable moments. There was so much learning leading up to this point but also so much learning that happened today. Spending an afternoon working on these birdhouses will serve them very well in their future,” she shared. “I think students had an extra skip in their step as they were leaving today knowing that they are in fact making a difference for our local bird population and that their conservation efforts are important.”
Now that the boxes have been built, the next step for the St. Ignatius class will be to place the bird houses out around the school property.
“We hope to have students come year after year and see that their efforts and the work that they have done matters. It matters to Guelph, and it matters to our community,” she added.