 One of the things that sets us apart from other child care centres is our commitment to the environment. At Discovery Child Care Centre, we are committed to creating a healthy environment for the children in our care, their families, our staff, and our community. Both properties are exclusively maintained by organic methods: no pesticides, herbicides, fungicides or insecticides are used on the premises; we diligently use the blue box recycling program, practice water conservation (including rain barrels) and we compost too. We recycle all diapers (where available), and we are Ontario’s first child care centre that is BullFrog Powered using 100% green electricity. We have over 200 families and only put out one trash can per week per site! We also only use environmentally friendly cleaners/sanitizers at the centre (no bleach found here!). New for summer 2009: Discovery-Harvie Road is having Geothermal heating/cooling installed! But we don’t stop there. We bring our environmental philosophies right into the classrooms where the children learn using hands on experiences. The children learn to practice the three R’s (Reduce, Re-use, Recycle), water conservation and composting in the child care setting. They are also involved in hands-on learning opportunities that further re-enforce these habits. The children are actively involved in their own organic garden. They are taught alternative methods to using pesticides and insecticides, such as companion planting and the use of beneficial bugs! The children harvest what they have grown and use the ingredients for further learning opportunities, such as cooking. Over the years the children have made jam, pickles, salsa and so much more.... YUM! At the end of the growing season, the children take a trip to the Barrie Community Food Bank and donate a portion of their harvest of fresh, organic produce. Our school age program started a Green Team this past winter. They are involved in “getting the word out” to families of Discovery as to what they can do to help the environment. They also help the other classrooms with their weekly recycling collection. The entire school age program participates in a neighbourhood clean up in the spring. Garbage and recycling was gathered and sorted. New projects underway as of Spring 2007:
New Learning Centres being added: (Phase One) Building/Constructing Zone: hands-on physics/engineering principles, experiment, problem solve, cooperation, team work, working with natural materials, tree blocks Natural Plants: Trees/bushes/flowers/rocks: areas for exploration & discovery, natural habitat for wildlife Natures Tree House: dramatic play, social/emotional development, problem solving skills, conflict resolution, caring pro-social behaviour Sound Garden: experiment with sound, creative exploration, use water to create sound, listen to wind chimes, play the Marimba (phase 2), Children’s Gardens: plant, grow, nurture, taste, smell, touch, observe Sunshade Covered Sandbox: experiment, build, cooperate, problem solve, construct Running Water Feature: (Phase 2) revel in the sites and sounds, habitat for wildlife, discover, explore We first need to teach children to love the earth before we can ask them to save it.
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