November 20th is National Children's Day, which marks the date that the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child. At the Learning Centre, we just wrapped up our Waterways exhibit, which is part of our ongoing Making Children Visible initiative. As part of this initiative, we move the explorations and learnings of the children in our child care centres into the wider world.

We have just closed our Waterways exhibit, and are feeling energized by the rich discussions that this project has invited.

We spent time at the Renfrew branch of VPL, where visitors to the library encountered the ideas, theories and explorations of the children of Satellite Pines 3–5 program. We also spent an evening at Westcoast CCRC and welcomed members of the public, families, and several ECE students as well. A highlight was seeing children reflect on the materials that we shared, often comparing their own experiences with the Renfrew Ravine with the ideas of the Satellite Pines children.

Over the course of the exhibit, we shared with the community the questions and ideas that the children continue to work with while spending time with the Ravine. Making children visible in our society and sharing our vision of children as capable, empathetic citizens is a core value of our childcare programs. Sharing the depth of children’s theories and learnings with the greater community reflects our belief in children as individuals capable of asking questions about the world, seeing injustice in society, and offering solutions when we listen to them as citizens of today.

Pedagogical documentation served as a tool and a way for the process of meaning-making to happen for educators, allowing adults to pay attention, discuss, and deepen the inquiry with further pedagogical significance. It was evident how much of the educators' work with children's ideas and theories through this process enables the space for children to become protagonists in the community we share. Their explorations together focus our lens on children's right to be recognized as active participants in the world; we strongly believe this advocacy is at the core of the educator's role and this exhibit has brought into motion another layer to this work.

On the last evening of the exhibit, we hosted a panel and discussion with Nancy, Sarah and Gabby (Educators from Satellite Pines), as well as Leigh, who works with Educators in the role of Pedagogy and Approach Support. We had a lively discussion about the exhibit and the children’s theories, and the questions and discussion brought by those who attended made for a rich evening.

We will have one more part of Waterways to share in the coming weeks: over the course of the exhibit, we invited visitors to reflect on their own experiences with the Ravine. We have gathered these reflections and will be composing a letter to the Ravine from the community. Stay tuned for updates on this.

We would like to express our gratitude to the Children, families, and educators who contribute to this work, as well as Renfrew VPL and West Coast CCRC who so kindly hosted us in their spaces.