Surrey teacher wins national award for forest-based kindergarten program

For six years, Ellen Petersson's kindergarten students have spent part of every school day in the forest beside their South Surrey school, rain or shine, wind or snow.

Ray Shepard Kindergarten teacher Ellen Petersson was recently recognized for her work promoting environmental awareness through daily outdoor lessons.Using pinecones to practice math, making art with leaves on the ground or studying science by watching insects, the weather and the changing seasons, the students would tackle classroom curriculum in a completely natural setting.

And it’s that approach that’s earned Petersson the Susan Langley Earth Steward Teaching Award, a national honour from Learning for a Sustainable Future recognizing contributions to sustainability education in Canada.

"People often ask me what we do in the forest every day," said Petersson, who teaches at Ray Sheperd Elementary. "The truth is that we do everything.

"At five-years-old, children may not yet understand climate change, biodiversity loss or sustainability in the way adults do. But they absolutely understand wonder. They understand curiosity. They understand caring for a place they love."

Petersson traces that belief to her own childhood experiences of camping and exploring forests with her parents.

"If a child grows up remembering the forest as a place of joy, belonging and discovery, then they will be far more likely to protect it in the future," she said.

The program has also drawn in the wider community. In 2020, a local senior known to the class as "Grandfriend Don" began joining the outdoor lessons. Grandparents, retirees, parents and community elders soon followed.

"The children gain patience, wisdom and a sense of belonging," Petersson said. "Our Grandfriends gain energy, joy and connection."

Petersson also brings Indigenous ways of knowing into her teaching, including the principle of reciprocity: when you receive something from the land, you give something back. For her students, that means building bird feeders in winter, making bug hotels in the fall and keeping natural spaces clean.

Ultimately, Petersson hopes that by instilling the love of nature early on, her students will continue to care for the environment and the world around them. 

"We need the children to love the earth before we ask them to save it.”