THUNDER BAY -- Cloudy skies and cool winds at the waterfront is summer-like enough for many kids, teachers and parents enjoying the near-end of the school year.
More than 20 Kindergarten schools took part of The Celebration of Learning Through Play at Marina Park Thursday. The festival grounds held 35 different play centres for children ranging from tree planting, painting and digging for dinosaur bones.
“We’ve just brought it outside and invited Kindergartens to come here so they can have a great time learning and playing with hundreds of other children,” said Ellen Chambers, Lakehead Elementary Teacher’s of Ontario president.
The event was hosted by LETO and Lakehead Public Schools.
The celebration is opportunity for kids to interact with each other, to learn through different activities and to showcase what Kindergarten is all about, according to event organizer and elementary teacher Corinne Scarfo.
Scarfo said she got the idea for the event after she volunteered at the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario’s Block Party held in Toronto in 2011.
“Corinne was there and wanted to bring it to Thunder Bay,” Chambers said.
Scarfo added that this is the first year the event has been organized with the support of the local teachers’ union and the public school board.
“A lot of hard work has gone into it and many, many months of planning,” she said.
Chambers said the success of the event so far has made her emotional.
“It does, it’s a lot of work and I know what goes into something like this and when you look around, these are all volunteers and they’re all mostly teachers dedicating their time to children and that makes me feel pretty good.”
