Program Overview

This special partnership between rare and the Waterloo Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) guarantees program dates for all Kindergarten classes in WCDSB schools located in Cambridge. The partnership features the rare directed Animals in Motion program and a self-guided Indigenous Land-based Learning experience at the WCDSB Indigenous Gardens at rare’s Springbank Farm.

As part of this collaboration, the WCDSB Indigenous Education team will cover all bus transportation costs, and rare staff will manage all bus bookings. Schools are responsible for the $10/student program fee for the Animals in Motion program.

Please see a description of the program and curriculum connections below: 

Program Description
Animals in Motion: Students will explore the life cycles of butterflies, dragonflies, frogs, and birds through engaging, hands-on activities — including butterfly and insect catching, pond dipping for pond critters, and bird watching with binoculars.
Self-guided Indigenous Land-based Learning experience: This self-guided experience will take place at the WCDSB Indigenous Gardens located at rare's Springbank Farm. The WCDSB Indigenous and Equity Consultant, and Student Achievement Consultant have prepared resources to support you in facilitating the self-guided portion of this visit. These resources can be found here.

Curriculum Connections

Belonging and Contributing:
OE1: Communicate with others in a variety of ways, for a variety of purposes, and in a variety of contexts.
‍OE28: Demonstrate an awareness of their surroundings.
‍OE29: Demonstrate an understanding of the natural world and the need to care for and respect the environment.
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Self-Regulation and Well-Being:
OE7: Participate actively and regularly in a variety of activities that require the application of movement concepts.  
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Demonstrating Literacy and Mathematics Behavior:
OE14: Demonstrate an awareness of the natural and built environment through hands-on investigations, observations, questions, and representations of their findings. OE22: Communicate their thoughts and feelings, and their theories and ideas, through various art forms.
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Problem-Solving and Innovating:
OE13: Use the processes and skills of an inquiry stance (i.e., questioning, planning, predicting, observing, and communicating).
‍OE24: Use technological problem-solving skills, on their own and with others, in the process of creating and designing (i.e., questioning, planning, constructing, analyzing, redesigning, and communicating).

Location
rare Administrative Centre
1679 Blair Rd, Cambridge, ON N3H 4R8

Program Length
Total: ~4 hours, 10 minutes
‍Animals in Motion: 1.5 hours
Self-guided Indigenous Land-based Learning experience: 1.5 hours
Lunch: 20 minutes
Additional time is allocated for transportation between sites and for the walk up to the gardens
There will be time for snack breaks during both programs, please let our educators know if you would like to take snack break.

Please see this example schedule for a typical visit.

Booking Details
Maximum 60 students per booking
Two groups (max 30 students each) are required — one group will participate in the Animals in Motion program while the other visits the Indigenous Gardens
Each group of 30 students will need to be further grouped into two groups for the Animals in Motion program.
Please note that there is a short uphill hike from the South Lot to reach the gardens. We strongly recommend that teachers review the written directions or watch the instructional video linked below before their visit to ensure a smooth transition between sites.

‍Click here for directions and a short video showing how to reach the gardens from the South Lot (bus drop-off).
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When booking, please select your arrival time at rare as your booking time and ensure you’ve confirmed travel duration in advance. Once submitted, you’ll receive a confirmation email and a calendar invite. If you don’t receive these, please check your spam/junk folder first; if still missing, contact education@raresites.org.

Please see our booking information and cancellation policies here.

If there are no issues with your booking, you won’t hear from us again until a few days before your visit. We’ll reach out sooner if any clarification is needed.
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