On Thursday, March 5, 2026, we welcomed a class of Grade 1 students from McBride Elementary Annex for a field trip in the Champlain Heights Trails.
After disembarking from their school bus, the students gathered with their teacher, Shelley Kayra, in the sacred circle at the Douglas Fir Teaching Garden, in South Vancouver.
Free the Fern Executive Director (a former teacher), Grace welcomed them all and shared a Coast Salish tale of mice surviving a forest fire by hiding in pine cones (tale original told to us by Leona Brown of the Gitxan Nation)
The students then identified a salmon, two eagles, a frog, and an otter carved into cedar logs by John Spence of the Squamish Nation.
Following which, we went on a plant walk. Grace shared knowledge about the native plants, traditionally used for food, medicine, weaving and dying (this knowledge has been passed to us from Rita Kompst of the Musqueam Nation and Matthew Williams of the Squamish nation).
The students then gathered up found forest objects (rocks, pine ones, sticks, etc) and made some nature art together.
Donning colourful gardening gloves, the students then climbed into the bush to remove invasive English ivy. They all “pulled together” to remove the ivy vines that were spreading on the forest floor and threatening to climb the trees. By the end of the field trip the students had filled up one large green bin (360 L) with ivy!
Returning back at the sacred circle in the Douglas Fir Teaching Garden, the students then shared highlights of their time together and the knowledge that they had learned.
What a joy it was to spend time in nature and experience it all through the eyes of the children!
If you are interested to book a field trip with us please reach out! We can do custom field trips for all ages (grades K-12).