ICE explained

Students coming into Grade 9 quickly learn what The York School motto: “experiences teaches” means. It means going out into the field to gather first-hand knowledge and experience.

The Integrated Canadian Experience (ICE) integrates the English, Canadian history, Canadian geography, and civics classes to highlight their interdependence and to create an uninterrupted academic program where students can learn through direct experiences outside the classroom and apply this learning to intensive, full-process assignments in the classroom. Students learn to leverage first-hand experience, classroom activities, additional research, leading experts, and useful technologies to engage with their learning in meaningful ways.

Examples of learning in action include:

• Creating a series of student-led Jane’s Walks through various neighbourhoods of Toronto.

• A visit to Toronto Island to learn about its importance to Torontonians as a nature escape, interview locals on the island’s history, investigate the impacts of flooding, etc. 

• A unit on Northern Canada exploring food security, changing landscapes, resource extraction, health, education, and community followed by a Town Hall with experts from a range of industries relating to the North.

• Winter Camping where students discover their own resilience through a series of outdoor ‘survival skills’ activities, including the building of snow shelters.

• Connecting either virtually or through exciting travel opportunities with Canadians across the country to support regional research for a final documentary showcase.