Welcome to Naturally Inspired Learning

I am a nature lover, life long learner, Part-time Professor at U Ottawa inspiring teacher candidates! When I’m not teaching, my favourite time of day is when I am out walking in the woods behind our house with our chocolate lab, Marley! We regularly see deer, (we even saw a newborn fawn last summer), porcupines up in trees (or sometimes a little too close to Marley!), a little red fox, squirrels, sometimes a coyote, and yes- there is a little black bear who lives out there somewhere! We have a natural pond where we find frogs, toads on the paths, minnows, and several types of turtles. A large blue heron also visits regularly for a snack! Other birds we see are beautiful woodpeckers, chickadees, bluejays, robins and gold finches. We also have 5 large raised veggie boxes where we grow most of our vegetables in the summer. We have started a small orchard and have harvested apples the last two years- we are still waiting for pears on our pear tree. We are also trying to do our part to save the bees by planting many bee loving plants. Stay tuned this year to see the bee house I bought that is made to attract cutter bees- which apparently are the best pollinators!

My hope is that this site will inspire you to bring some nature into your classroom with the ideas I will share. I hope you will subscribe to my blog to receive the latest updates and seasonal ideas. Click on ‘Latest Posts’ to check out my recents blogs including a snow provocation. Winter is long here- so I love to embrace it and share the joy with my students!