Earth Day 2025 coincides with the start of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, a shift in the season where teachers and students look to the outdoors for learning inspiration.

A group of VSB teachers, passionate about outdoor and place-based curriculum, attended an Environmental Educators Provincial Specialist Association (EEPSA) professional development event that took place on the Sunshine Coast.  During the workshop, teachers learned about a community plant themed Film Festival dreamed up by Simon Hocking, a grade 5/6 teacher, who shared his lesson plans.

Feeling inspired, VSB teachers from six schools decided to create their inaugural Elementary Earth Day Community Plant Film Festival. Each video submission focused on an Indigenous plant from where we reside - on the ancestral and unceded lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) & səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh Nation).

“We finally saw the culmination of months of professional collaboration and student engagement come to fruition,” beamed Cara Laudon, Grade 5/6 teacher from Nightingale Elementary.

From stop motion animation to documentary style of videos, students created short movies that were both imaginative and informative.

The participating schools were:

• Douglas Elementary
• Nightingale Elementary
• Nelson Elementary
• Strathcona Elementary
• Maple Grove Elementary
• Cavell Elementary

On April 22^nd evening more than 150 members of the school community were in attendance to watch the student films. Congratulations to all the students who participated in VSB’s first ever Earth Day Elementary Film Festival!

VSB staff