Brenda Keay teaches a Grade 1-3 Montessori class at Silver Star Elementary in Vernon, BC. A teacher for 31 years, Keay has taught a variety of classes from Grades K to 6 but was drawn to the Montessori program because it focuses on hands-on learning and independence in students. 

“Kids are innately curious and want to learn,” says Keay, who discovered Live It Earth after her school district purchased a subscription. “The Montessori approach works well with Live It Earth because it really sparks lots of excitement, lots of curiosity and questions. So it really aligns with what I do with the kids on a day-to-day basis.

“It’s a great way to get the kids revved up and the topics are really good. So the kids enjoy them.”

Keay adds that while it took a while to get her class into the rhythm of Live It Earth’s monthly programs, it’s now become something they expect and get excited about. 

“Each time I teach a Live It Earth lesson I get more comfortable with it because it’s all laid out the same—it’s just different topics,” she explains. “You guys have done all the work for me!

“And at first the kids were a little confused on what to do. But now they know it’s the same as what we did for the last program. That repetition and routine have been really good for them.” 

Exciting for kids AND teachers

Keay says another joy of using Live It Earth in her classroom is that she gets just as excited as her kids and learns right along with them. 

“Having the experts providing information and answering questions is awesome”, she notes. “I can’t replace that. So I’m right there with them. That’s the fun of it too; it sparks me and gets me interested and excited to learn along with them.”

The Live It Earth activities, which are created with the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework in mind, are another thing Keay highlighted about her experience

“The activities are really well-thought-out,” she says. “They’re doable and not really difficult. And they’re easy to find. The kids see them and they get excited about them. I don’t know who designs your activities, but they are spot-on!”

Putting a spark in the classroom

Keay and her class have done some interesting projects that resulted from their Live It Earth lessons, including making their own narwhal tusks and a Christmas swag campaign that raised money to donate to the World Wildlife Foundation for narwhal preservation.

“They got pretty excited because they got to adopt a narwhal,” she says. “So it’s neat for them to be able to take that kind of ownership.”

Overall, Keay says Live It Earth has inspired a lot of excitement and learning in her class. 

“Live It Earth has put a spark into my classroom,” she says. “We really enjoy the variety of activities and challenges. My students are engaged and eager to learn more about whatever topic we’re doing.

“It just gets them going. And when they have a bit of information, a bit of knowledge, it seems like they really want to expand on that or show it off to others by talking about it.”