Small Classes
Oak Learner’ Micro School maintains 6:1 ratio in all classes, allowing for personalized and enriched learning opportunities.
Outdoor Education
At least 2 hours every day is spent learning outside in our community and natural surroundings.
Experiential Learning
Hands-on learning and site-based learning.
Arts-Enriched Curriculum
Enhanced learning through the Arts, including daily dance, music, movement, art and creative expression.
Learning Exceptionalities
Personalized instruction to support all learners, including Gifted, LD an Mental Health needs.
STEAM
Integrated learning through Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math.
Oak Learners offers progressive, interdisciplinary, inquiry-based programming in a student-driven, teacher-facilitated, alternative learning environment.
Each learner goes through a cyclical process of identifying their unique strengths, needs, goals, and interests. Through collaboration with teachers, peers, parents and members of their community, they design inquiry-based projects to guide their learning over the course of a term.
Each day at Oak Learners brings new learning opportunities through an integrated and immersive approach to elementary education. Ontario Curriculum content and skill achievement guidelines are covered and enriched through a holistic approach to learning in a project-based inquiry model, leading to a much deeper and richer learning experience for the students.
Take a look inside our classrooms:
Lower Elementary Curriculum
Integrated Literacy
Overview
Reading and Writing form the building block for communication FOR and ON learning. At Oak Learners, reading comprehension and oral communication skills are taught within other subject areas, such as Science or Social Studies. Children develop strong literacy habits and communication skills through meaningful experiences with text.
Skills Gained
Students in the Primary Program at Oak Learners will:
*Develop a deep phonetic understanding and expansion of language use, This includes spelling, sounding out, pronouncing and reading words and sentences.
*Engage in more advanced communication via use of new words, sounds and verbal comprehension.
*Use advanced descriptions and expanded terminology, along with distinguish between nouns, pronouns, adjectives and other types of words.
Teaching Strategies
The lower elementary school program is delivered by passionate teachers that use an alternative and experiential learning tactic in order to influence the most beneficial learning for your child. Through years of experience, the teachers continue to instill confidence and comfort in the school environment while encouraging the children to expand their knowledge and understanding, inside and outside of the classroom. The encouragement of curiosity in an educational setting will only help the children find the passion for school that Oak strives for.
Mathematics
Overview
Math is all around us and students at Oak Learners are taught to recognize Mathematical patterns and apply problem solving skills through real-world applications. Mathematics instruction at Oak Learners takes a very hands-on approach, using manipulatives as well as leveled workbooks to provide an enriched approach to learning Math.
Skills Gained
Students in the lower elementary mathematics program are focusing on a continuum of learning. Every skill is scaffolded off of a successfully learnt topic in math. Key concepts they will learn are:
*counting everyday objects
*learning concrete versus regular concepts within math, and how they expand off of each other
*applying skills into everyday items, such as counter, objects for measurements, etc.
*learning about more abstract ways of collecting units of measurements
*understanding how mathematics evolve and build off of each other -> perfecting addition and subtraction, and beginning the introduction into multiplication and division
*focus on topics such as collecting data, organizing and displaying data, interpreting data, probability, properties of geometry, units of measurement, location and movement, counting, estimation, place value, fractions and decimals, among other topics as well.
Teaching Strategies
Each Mathematics class in the Lower Elementary program will follow a three-part lesson: 1) Minds On (i.e., activating prior knowledge); 2) Action (i.e., students have the opportunity to work in small groups to solve a problem and share their strategies, via “”conference style””, with teachers and peers); 3) Consolidation (i.e., independent practice with teacher support). Many Math classes will take place within the community so students can witness the subject in real-world contexts.
S.T.E.A.M. *Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts Math
Overview
At Oak Learners, we believe that STEAM Education plays a very important role in educating young leaders of the 21st Century. The more students can observe, explore, question and design the world around themselves, the more they have the opportunity to construct true understanding of new concepts.
Skills Gained
Technology is the future and although it cannot fully predicted what the employment opportunities or challenges that our students will face in the years to come, we can certainly prepare them to ask questions, engage in design challenges and think like innovators through an integrated approach. The most important skills that students will learn through engaging in STEAM activities at Oak Learners are problem-solving, communication, creativity, collaboration and critical thinking. Through hands-on skills such as website and app development and design, coding, building and engineering, students will feel confident in bringing their STEAM skills to life.
Teaching Strategies
Oak Learners takes a hands-on, experiential, project-based approach when teaching STEAM so that students can be fully immersed in each step from start to finish. Each design challenge begins with a question and students, as innovators and creative thinkers, devise ways to solve the problem.
The Arts
Overview
We believe that Arts Education plays a very important role in educating young learners. We make sure to integrate Art, Music, Drama and Dance throughout our days, throughout every subject area. The Arts brings learning to life and provides a context for deep emotional and social learning.
Skills Gained
In Visual Arts, students will gain skills in each of the five elements of art: line, colour, shape, form and texture and use these skills to create beautiful and functional art pieces that express creativity and individuality. In the Lower Elementary program at Oak Learners, Eco Art and digital art are also important components, where students will learn skills in art such as the different forms of it. This can include sculpting, collaging, painting, and uses the environment as a source of art supplies. In Drama, students will work collaboratively to learn skills in performance and improvisation, with the incorporation of dance routines and techniques. In Music, students will learn theory and composition through consistent enjoyment of songs that include layers and different sound textures.
Teaching Strategies
In the Lower Elementary program, the students are immersed into the Arts in a variety of ways. Students are provided with diverse instructions that allow them to use their creativity and become comfortable with their own ideas. Oak Learners urges the students to learn a variety of art forms and techniques and allows the students to be expressive in whatever way they would like.
Outdoor Education
Overview
Outdoor Education is the centre of everything we do at Oak Leaners. Research has demonstrated that interacting with nature on a consistent basis is highly beneficial for the mental health and well-being of children and teenagers. In particular, the World Health Organization has found that children raised with exposure to green spaces are 55% less likely to develop mental health concerns, such as stress-related illnesses. Also, children have demonstrated improved concentration, increased productivity, better behaviour and more positive relationships amongst their peer group when frequently learning in an outdoor environment.
Skills Gained
Utilizing the outdoor classroom as the “third teacher”, students at Oak Learners have the opportunity develop skills in stewardship, navigation, observation and stewardship. Skills in other subject areas are not learned in isolation; rather, students see how they are used in the community to ask questions and devise plans to solve real-world problems.
Teaching Strategies
All subject areas can be taught in an outdoor environment; however, the learning involves interaction with the outdoors and using our natural world as an opportunity for deeper understanding. Through Literacy, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies and the Arts, students gain knowledge about their role as stewards and take responsibility for their role in preserving their environment. In particular, students are given many opportunities to see ‘treasures’ and ‘troubles’ in their community and work towards devising solutions.
Start the Admissions Process
We are currently accepting applications for the 2024-25 school year for all Grade Levels, JK through Grade 8.
Complete an Intake Questionnaire to begin the process today!
Highlights from our School
Back to School 20% Off with Mabel’s Labels Fundraising
Looking for school supplies going back to school, summer camp, or for extracurricular work? Look no further! Mabel’s Labels Fundraising back-to-school sale on all school label packs starts now until the end of July!
2022-23 Diversity Unit: Snorkeling in the Bahamas
Through watching a mini documentary on the Bahamas, our students grew interested in the world’s oceans! We asked as series of questions to guide their learning and launch us into a cross-curriuclar study.
Oak Learners Classroom Teacher Interview – Maggie Robertson
At the heart of Oak Learners are the teachers that work with students every day to create an environment for the learners to excel with every project, task, and endeavor they complete. We wanted to interview some of our teachers to see their perspectives on their teaching field, get to know them better, and see what inspired them to become a teacher. The first interview we did is with Maggie Robertson, a teacher at Oak Learners wanting to share her experiences! Enjoy!
Importance of Matching Students with the Right Teacher
The concept of teaching and learning matching is that it impacts learning in a way that encourages students to respond more positively to instructional methods while informing faculty about effective teaching practices. This encourages collaboration between the teacher and student which in turn reduces classroom management issues.
Recent research has shown that it is not as effective for a teacher to change their teaching preferences to suit the students in their classroom because they may not be as comfortable teaching in that manner.
Partner Showcase: Humber College
Oak Learners has teamed up with Humber College and various other colleges to gather talented students across Canada to work inside the school. We interviewed one intern student from Humber College that joined the Oak Learners team, Joshua, to speak more on what they have learned whilst working with Oak Learners, how their experience went, how Humber College saw the experience, and what takeaways they have from the internship with Oak Learners.
Art Class (Ages 6+) – Oak Learners Class Showcase
Oak Learners is hosting an Art Class for ages 6 and up every Saturday from 12:45pm-1:30pm! If you’re looking for an art class for your child, look no further! Our art teachers are passionate, enthusiastic, and knowledgable. Oak Learners provides a safe environment for the kids and allow them to experience the satisfaction that comes from guided self-expression. The focus of our art classes is exploring artistic skills, exploring creativity, and so much more!
Oak Learners Summer Camp 2022
Oak Learners Summer Camp overview. Spots are filling up quickly for our Summer Camps and the time to act is now! We offer a unique summer camp experience designed to engage children and make them want to return year after year.
4 Tips for 2022 New Years Resolution Planning
Happy 2022 New Year! It’s that time again to start planning for your yearly resolutions! To start you off with some goals, or to just inspire you, here are 4 tips to get your New Year started.
World Mental Health Day 2021 | Making Mental Health a Priority
World Mental Health Day is about raising awareness and educating the young minds of this globe about mental health issues and maintaining mental health.
Summer Camp 2021 Success for Oak Learners
With 2021 Summer Camps fully booked and even a waitlist being created, you could say this year was a great achievement and success for all staff and members at Oak Learners. Parents and children were excited to return back to yearly Summer Camp and connecting again with their fellow peers and camp counsellors.
The 3C’s for Classroom Happiness
We’re excited to announce that Kelly Farrell, Oak Learners director, is featured on the front page of the August 2021 issue of the Etobicoke Lakeshore Press!
Partner Showcase: Meet Donna Reed, Yoga Instructor
I became a Certified Yoga Instructor in 2012 and an Age Group Developmental Swim coach in 2004. My teaching journeys along the way have included, Yoga at a Women’s Prison, an Orphanage, Drug/Alcohol Rehab Centers, Schools, Yoga Centers, Private Clients and Retreats.