VES Community Events: Exploring the World Together
At Virtual Elementary School (VES), learning goes beyond completing lessons or checking off assignments. We believe students learn best when they are curious, engaged, and connected to the world around them. That’s where online community events and virtual field trips come in!
Our students join us online from across Ontario and beyond, logging in from cities, small towns, and rural communities, each bringing their own unique perspectives with them. While they may be learning from different places, we want them to have experiences that connect them together through real-time questions, reactions, and shared moments on screen.
Where Moments Take Shape
These live virtual events bring unique experiences directly into students’ homes, offering opportunities they might not otherwise have access to. Virtual learning offers flexibility and independence. VES community events create moments where students learn and collaborate together.
Each event gives students a break from their regular coursework and invites them into something different: real places, real experts, and real stories. Through these events, hosted by Exploring by the Seat of Your Pants, students meet scientists, researchers, and educators who take them behind the scenes of fascinating work happening around the world.
These sessions transform learning into something students actively experience, encouraging questions, curiosity, and excitement in real time.
Our Virtual Field Trip Travel Log
Our Virtual Field Trip Travel Log
Stop #1: Rocky Mountain Bear Country
Stop #1: Rocky Mountain Bear Country
Bear Essentials: From Snacks to Snoozing
Our journey took us to the Rocky Mountains, where students learned all about black bears and grizzly bears. We uncovered what these bears eat, where they live, and how hibernation really works. Along the way, we also learned about the challenges bears face in the wild and simple ways people can help keep them safe and thriving.
Stop #2: New Zealand’s North Island
Stop #2: New Zealand’s North Island
Tiny Birds, Big Mission: Inside the Kiwi Hatchery
We travelled virtually across the globe to the National Kiwi Hatchery in New Zealand during chick season. Students went behind the scenes to see how kiwi eggs are incubated and hatched and learned how this important conservation work helps protect one of the world’s most unique birds.
Stop #3: A Journey Back in Time
Stop #3: A Journey Back in Time
Dino Detectives: Fossils, Bones, and Prehistoric Clues
With paleontologist Dr. Emily Bamforth as our guide, we travelled millions of years into the past during a virtual visit to a dinosaur museum. Students learned how fossils are discovered, how ancient ecosystems are reconstructed, and how scientists piece together prehistoric stories using clues hidden deep in the Earth.
Stop #4: Destination Mars
Stop #4: Destination Mars
To Mars and Beyond
Our travels didn’t stop on Earth! Students ventured into space alongside Dr. Abigail Fraeman from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Through real updates from the Curiosity Rover, they learned what scientists are discovering about Mars’ history and what it’s like to work in space exploration today.
The Map Is Still Unfolding
The Map Is Still Unfolding
Pack your bags!
VES community events and virtual field trips continue throughout the year, with new stops on the map that introduce students to fresh ideas, fascinating places, and inspiring stories from around the globe. Each event adds a new page to our shared travel log, offering experiences that go far beyond everyday lessons.
Register today and be part of our next stop on the journey!