Raincoast Field School
“The goal of the Raincoast Field School is to increase outdoor learning opportunities for students in our local public schools.”
Raincoast Field School is an outdoor education program designed to meet BC curricular outcomes while providing hands-on learning opportunities for students in our local public schools. It is a collaborative program developed by the Raincoast Education Society (RES) and the teachers at the Tofino and Ucluelet elementary schools.
Field trips and activities are led by a qualified full-time instructor with extensive experience as a science educator, and encompass multiple aspects of curricular outcomes including science, numeracy and literacy. Many outings also feature traditional Aboriginal knowledge provided by a First Nations Cultural Educator. The program is constantly evolving, with lessons being built or recycled to best fit with the unique themes of each class as determined by the teacher.
Progress
Full programming is provided to the Wickaninnish Community School in Tofino (since 2014) and the Ucluelet Elementary School (since 2018) through Raincoast Field School. Each and every student from K to grade 7 gets to participate in at least one field trip per month during the school year – that’s over 200 Raincoast Field School trips delivered per year!
Follow along
Raincoast Field School programs are currently being run in Tofino and Ucluelet elementary schools (K-7). Follow along with our programs below.
#tofinofieldschool
Introducing Taylor! Our new Tofino Field School Coordinator ☀️🌻🌱⚡ Taylor comes to us from the Prairies, born and raised just outside Winnipeg, MB. She spent her early years getting down and dirty in the great Canadian Shield habitats; boating, fishing, and backcountry camping.
After her high school graduation, she took off for the West Coast and has since never looked back. She began her studies in the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia. There she completed her undergraduate degree in Natural Resource Conservation. During the past 6 years, she has lived all across BC; Vancouver, Salmon Arm, Cumberland and Williams Lake—but has always had a special love for the west coast. Taylor has worked as an environmental consultant focusing on Northern Goshawk monitoring. She also has worked in the forest industry as a Junior Biologist. Taylor has her Electro-fishing Certificate and monitored important fish bearing streams for impacts from forest development.
Along the way, Taylor rediscovered her passion for teaching and began volunteering as a teacher assistant in elementary schools. She was ecstatic to see classrooms becoming more involved with outdoor learning. Taylor feels her new role with the RES will allow her to have a perfect balance between teaching and her background in environmental biology.
Taylor is oh so happy to be back on the coast and doing what she loves. She’s even more excited to put together some amazing lesson plans and get the students outside. Give her a wave if you see her around town!
#tofinofieldschool #tofino #getoutside #yourtofino #pnw #outdoored #outdoorclassroom #backtoschool #britishcolumbia #welcome
@raincoasted
May 27.
Kindergarten/Grade 1 classes from both Ucluelet and Tofino headed to the beach to make new friends and learn all about the local plant species found on the West Coast. We warmed up playing a game of photosynthesis tag. Students teamed up with a friend from the other community and worked together to find all the species on their plant list. The afternoon was spent finding new friends in the intertidal area at Big Beach. It was a great day meeting new “buds”!
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#getoutside #ukeefieldschool
#tofinofieldschool #plants #buds #intertidal #newfriends
May 23.
Field School visit to Esowista! Students oriented themselves by learning traditional place names in Nuu-chah-nulth. They also learned about the symbolism of different colors; including the vivid red in Indian Paintbrush – red represents life!
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#getoutside #yourtofino #tofinofieldschool #explorebc #plants #traditionalknowledge
May 22.
Students headed out to the beach for a morning of traditional storytelling with Gisele Martin! Nuu-chah-nulth stories and legends are so fun, and also offer much insight on how to best care for our lovely planet 😊❤🌎
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#getoutside #tofinofieldschool
#yourtofino
#storytelling #tlaoquiaht #hahoulthee #rainforest
May 16.
We often hear about common human uses of plants; some can be used medicinally, for food, clothing or even for art. Another important perspective is to focus on the care of plants, rather than their use. How can we take care of these living beings that surround us? And ensure long-term health of the ecosystem? These questions are a big part of the foundation of Nuu-chah-nulth culture, and Nuu-chah-nulth language is actually rooted in the philosophy of caring for living things around us. In fact, each of the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations' territory is referred to as the Nation’s ‘Ha-houlthee’, meaning the ‘land which is cared for’. What do you do to care for living things around you?
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#getoutside #yourtofino #tofinofieldschool #forest #culturaleducation #protecttheearth #pnw #rainforest
#ukeefieldschool
Meet Carrie, our Ucluelet Field School Coordinator! 🌲
Carrie was born in Calgary, Alberta and grew up in the Rocky Mountains exploring and camping with her family, which spurred her lifelong love of nature. Carrie completed her Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Calgary in Environmental Science. She has since worked in a variety of environmental and education positions across Canada.
Little did she know that her passion would lead her to the North after volunteering to work on a project in the Northwest Territories as an environmental assessment coordinator. This ultimately led her to spending over ten years in the Arctic. ❄️ Feeling like she wanted to make a bigger difference, she returned to school to complete her Bachelor of Education degree. After completing her B.Ed., Carrie moved back to Nunavut as a classroom teacher and as the Environmental Education Specialist with the Government of Nunavut.
Carrie now calls Ucluelet home, spending most days outdoors exploring the coast with her husband and two kids, and getting used to the idea that the ocean isn’t frozen six months of the year.
Follow her field school adventures 👉 @raincoastfieldschool and @raincoasted
#ukeefieldschool #ucluelet #education #raincoasteducationsociety #outdooreducation #getoutside #backtoschool #welcome #outdoorclassroom
June 26.
Little buddies and big buddies teamed up today to hunt for local plant species. Little buddies were able to share some games and different plants they learned this year with their big buddies. After lunch, big buddies taught their little buddies about species found in the intertidal area on the beach. What a great way to share what we learned together! Thanks Kindergarten/Grade 1 and 3 for a wonderful year!
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#getoutside #ukeefieldschool #ukee #buddies #plants
June 19.
What do tide pools, rainforests, bogs, mudflats, and kelp forests have in common? Besides the fact that the Grade 4 class visited all of them, the class also found many connections between all of the ecosystems they studied over the past year. Students wrapped up their learning creating poster boards for each of these amazing ecosystems. .
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#getoutside #ukeefieldschool #everythingisconnected #ecosystem
June 18.
This year Grade 1 students have been learning all about living things and the adaptations these organisms have that help them survive. Today we brought it all together and connected all the wild things together. Students then learned the three guiding principles of Nuu chah nulth culuture, ʔiisaak (showing respect), Uu-a-thluk (to care for things), and Hishuk ish Tsa’walk (everything is connected). .
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#getoutside #ukeefieldschool #ukee #everythingisconnected #adaptations
June 17.
Living in Ucluelet means living and sharing our wonderful space with wildlife. Wild Safe BC representative, Bob Hansen, spoke to the class about ways that we can share this beautiful place with our furry friends. Students then went to check our wildlife cameras to see what has been strolling in the forests. Though we found some wolf scat with a mouse skull, the cameras revealed only neighbourhood domestic cats.
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#getoutside #ukeefieldschool #ukee #wildlife #wildsafebc @wildsafebc
Support
Raincoast Field School is made possible with the support of the administration and teaching staff at local schools, and the generosity of organizations, businesses, and individuals within the community. The curriculum is designed to build upon itself each year, representing a long-term commitment to the students. Our instructors are highly skilled educators in a full-time position with the RES, committed to the program, and the community they teach in.
Need help?
If you have any questions about our courses, our events, or just us in general – we’re here to help!
Raincoast Education Society
Shaping an environmentally sustainable future for the Clayoquot and Barkley Sound region through education and community stewardship
