"Classroom" Blog Post Archives

Living Lab Insect Guide: Now Available Online!

Classroom, Community, On the Land, On the Sea

Discover our relatives through the Living Lab Insect Guide, which highlights insect species found across the traditional territories of the Coast Salish Peoples. Learn their names in W̱SÁNEĆ (SENĆOŦEN), Songhees–Esquimalt (lək̓ʷəŋən), English, and Latin. The guide features contributions from knowledge holders SELILIYE (Belinda Claxton), J,SIṈTEN (John Elliott Sr.), ȻOSINIYE (Linda Elliott), SX̱EDŦELISIYE (Renee Sampson), TE,TES,ȾE (Lyndsey Henry), and Tye Swallow. Graphics and layout by Jessica Joseph and Kyle Clarke.

The full guide can be downloaded here: https://livinglabproject.ca/insectguide/

May 6, 2025

PEPAKEṈ HÁUTW̱ 2025 Update

Classroom, On the Land, Uncategorized

What’s up at PEPAKEṈ HÁUTW̱

Finished the school year with a celebration!

Our summer kicked off with a celebration of all the students’ hard work at the PEPAKEṈ HÁUTW̱ garden over the school year. Students from ȽÁU, WELṈEW̱ Tribal School, W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Secondary School, and W̱SÁNEĆ College were invited to our ĆENQALES: W̱ILṈEW̱ SȻÁĆEL SḴÁPEȽ (Indigenous Peoples Day Gathering) to enjoy all of the fruits, flowers, and friends the garden has to offer. Michells Farm donated 5 flats of strawberries for this event; it was great seeing the fruit stained faces of the students as they have been eagerly anticipating strawberry season all year. We are very thankful for all of effort and care the students have shown over the school year to help support PEPAKEṈ HÁUTW̱, their community, and the environment!

Off to Girona

Kyle Clark

During the summer, members of the PEPAKEṈ HÁUTW̱ team (Judith Lyn Arney, Sarah Jim, and Kyle Clarke) were invited to attend and speak at the 2024 Living Knowledge Conference in Girona, Spain! Our team learned about various restoration efforts and social wellbeing initiatives from around the world. The PEPAKEṈ HÁUTW̱ team shared about Relational Restoration and the work we do throughout the W̱SÁNEĆ Homelands. Kyle also presented with the Living Lab team about the development and implementation of year-round Ecostewardship Camps for lək̓ʷəŋən Youth. While in Girona we also took in the sights, met up with close friends and family, and ate good food. Thank you to the community in Girona for being great hosts, we look forward to strengthening the relationships we have built during our time there.

Restoring SṈIDȻEȽ

Throughout the summer our team was diligently working to maintain and steward SṈIDȻEȽ. Summer is the busiest time for our restoration team due to the vigorous growth that comes with the added sunlight! Our efforts were supported by volunteer days and Learning on the Land workshops from all different kinds of groups; we couldn’t support SṈIDȻEȽ in the way we do without help from the larger community.

Preparing for the new school year!

School is back in session, and we are ramping up for another year full of garden and restoration fun! Our team has been hard at work planning and organizing the upcoming workshops for the PEPAKEṈ HÁUTW̱ Native Plant & Garden Program as well as the Restoration stream for WŚANEĆ School Board students. Each year we build off past successes, and this year will be the best year yet. The students are eagerly awaiting their return to the garden and restoration sites! We can’t wait to kick off another wonderful year of learning and helping strengthen our community.

November 2, 2024

ReconciliACTION Oak Bay Network – National Day for Truth and Reconciliation 202

Classroom, Community

ReconciliACTION in Oak Bay

For the ReconciliACTION Oak Bay Network, September was focused on preparations to honour the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and in building and extending relationships to support the work.

The Network collaborated with Oak Bay High School on the first school-wide ceremony to mark the day, attended by 1500 students and staff, and connected with a student leader who will join our steering committee as we begin to develop more joint initiatives with the Oak Bay High community. These include planning appropriate ways to use next November’s tenth anniversary of the raising of the Sno’uyutth (“Spreading Good Energy” in Lekwungen) Welcome Pole in front of the high school to assess how far Truth and Reconciliation has been advanced in Oak Bay in the past 10 years and identify ways to accelerate and deepen the commitment in our community over the next 10.

ReconciliACTION representatives have picked up where they left off last spring and have been speaking at the high school ceremony and to classes this fall about the work underway in our community and how students can get involved.

For the fourth year, the ReconciliACTION Oak Bay Network hosted a community ceremony on Sept. 30 at the Sno’uyutth Pole. It was attended by 200 residents, including all six Oak Bay Councillors and the Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Murray Rankin. Personal pledges for Truth and Reconciliation were distributed to attendees: https://reconciliactionoakbay.ca/

ROBN also participated in the Victoria Foundation workshop on “Collaborative Leadership for Impact,” reached out to Oak Bay business leaders, and began a conversation with Oak Bay about the potential of creating a shared Council-Community Action Plan on Reconciliation in Oak Bay.

Photos: (Left) Songhees knowledge keeper Florence Dick at the Sept. 30 community ceremony at Oak Bay High School

(Right) Oak Bay High School teacher Steven Price at the Sept. 30 community ceremony at Oak Bay High School

November 2, 2024

Tapestry’s Changemakers in Action: Climate Across the Curriculum Conference

Classroom, Community

Register NOW for Tapestry’s Changemakers in Action: Climate Across the Curriculum conference at Belmont Secondary on Friday, February 16, 2024.

This conference is for K-12 Teachers and Community Educators. It will be held from 8:30 to 3 PM on Friday,, February 16

Living Lab staff and network partners are excited to be presenting two workshops at this exciting event:

Land-Based Learning
Decolonizing Curriculum

Registration info is located here:

https://tapestryconference.ca/climate-action/custom-climate-action-overview

This event is proudly hosted by SSEEPSA – the Salish Sea Environmental Educator Professional Specialists Association.

February 5, 2024

UVic Partnership with Local School Districts

Classroom

Schools and Youth Teams / Network Hubs

Classroom

Big Canoe Program

Classroom

Living Lab provides enrichment to the Big Canoe Program, a place-based learning program at Shoreline middle school. The program allows middle school youth (grades 6-8) to learn about the importance of the Gorge waterway on traditional Lekwungen territories.

April 15, 2020

Talen Tests The Waters From Bowker Creek

Classroom

During River’s Day (Sept. 22, 2019) Talen, with help from some Oak Bay High students and Biology Teacher, Mr. Derek Shrubsol, collected some water from Bowker Creek. At UVic, the water was filtered and then the filter paper placed on media that not only helps bacteria grow, but is treated in a way that helps in the identification of the bacteria (some are blue, some red). This success (see image) is the first step in the development of a program that will eventually allow students to monitor water (streams, lakes, bays) that matter to them. Thanks very much to Dr. Asit Mazumder at UVic for providing the reagents and equipment necessary for this water testing.

October 3, 2019

SAYL in the University of Victoria’s Biology Lab with Dr John Taylor and Matt Miller

Classroom

The University of Victoria – Biology Lab with Matt Miller and John Taylor.

After we collected sand and water samples from Cadboro Bay, we brought them to the University of Victoria’s biology lab to be analyzed. We had a special guest drop by to share some zooplankton for our youth to study.

Matt Miller showing our youth some of the equipment they’ll be using. He walked them through the entire process of preparing the saline solution, micro-filtering the samples, preparing the slides and setting up the micro-scope.

Eugene Sam and Cynthia Sam preparing their saline solution to separate the components in the samples.

Eugene filtering the water sample to see if there are micro-plastics present in the sample.

Rylan Pelkey preparing his sample for testing the presence of micro-plastics.

He is filtering his saline solution to isolate his sample so he can view it under the compound microscope.

Linda-Jane Fisher isolating her sample for lab work.

It was great to have one of our Songhees parents watch what our youth group do with our Living Science Lab work. Lily-belle Louie joined us for a part of the day. Her son Logan was the youngest member joining us for this 2-day UVic-SAYL Science Camp.

Matt Miller and Logan Louie doing lab work. Logan joined us for the 2-day science camp. It was amazing seeing him fully engage with all our teachers.

Angelina Sam at UVIC’s biology lab.

Cynthia Sam in UVIC’s biology lab.

Rayn Cook-Thomas viewing samples under a compound microscope.

Matt Miller’s presentation on microplastics.

Type 2: Secondary Microplastics

Way that microplastics end up in the ocean

Chemical impacts of microplastics

Sample of one of the microplastics found in our water or sand sample from Cadboro Bay.

Visiting biology professor Dr. Inigo Novales-Flamarique from Simon Fraser teaching our youth about photosynthesis

Phoenix Clark looking at some zooplankton under the microscope.

Matt Miller and Maeve Lydon introducing the youth to zooplankton.

Songhees Youth and UVIC team in the biology lab.

August 29, 2019

UVic Living Lab Project science adventure

Digital Scholarship Commons and Science Venture

Classroom

We were able to spend the last part of our Science Camp with UVIC’s Digital Scholarship Commons and Science Venture.

Dr Matt Huculak and his team introduced the youth to coding and circuit boarding.

Digital Scholarship Commons with Dr. Matt Huculak and team

Dr Matt Huculak introducing Angelina Sam to circuit boarding. Digital Scholarship Commons

Digital Scholarship Commons – Arduino cart for circuit boarding.

Linda-Jane Fisher and Angelina Sam coding to prepare for the circuit boards.

Ladies and coding and circuit boarding.

Rayn Cook-Thomas and Cynthia Sam circuit boarding.

Matt Huculack and Songhees youth

Coding

Logan Louie and Phoenix Clark getting their circuit boards ready to be coded.

Logan and Phoenix making NOISE with their circuit boards. First, they had to code a program, then they prepared their circuit boards and finally programmed them to work together. This particular contraption made a very interesting sound.