The winner of the 2023 Watch Your Paws Challenge is Mme. St-Amand and Mme. Bouchard Grade 4 classes from École Notre Dame!

The grade 4 classes went on a nature walk to learn about local mushrooms and collected natural materials to create beautiful bird feeders and houses to be installed on local trails! Students also organized a garbage cleanup in their schoolyard and planted fine herbs and made posters to teach others about their importance.

This year’s runner up classes are Ms. Silliker’s grade 3/4 class of North and South Esk and Ms. Boutot’s grade 4 class of Claude D. Taylor!

With so many great challenge entries this year, we have 2 runner up classes! Ms. Silliker’s class cared for 300 Atlantic Salmon eggs, as well as created morning announcement videos to teach their whole school about the Salmon’s life cycle and how to be kind to the salmon while they are being raised in the school.

Ms. Boutot’s class researched animals that live in New Brunswick and recreated their habitats through posters and dioramas. Students then shared their projects with other classes in the school!

The winner of the 2022 Watch Your Paws Challenge is Ms. Silliker’s grade 3 and 4 class from North & South Esk Elementary School in Sunny Corner!

Ms. Silliker’s class partnered with a local hatchery and has been taking care of 300 Atlantic Salmon eggs, which will be released back into the Miramachi River water system in June! The students have been learning about how to care for the eggs, and their habitats, and about the protection of this Species at Risk! 

Students also made habitat dioramas, to teach others in their school about local wildlife, and held a garbage clean up on their school yard.

This years runner up was Ms. Cormier’s grade 3 and 4 class from Jacquet River School in Belledune!

Ms. Cormier’s class read many books, worked on writing prompts and informative writing pieces, and created dioramas about three key habitats in New Brunswick: wetlands, forests, and the ocean! Students will be sharing their work with the rest of their school, to share what they have learned about these important habitats and the animals that live there.

The Winner of the 2021 Watch Your Paws Challenge is Ms. Mutch’s Grade 3 and 4 class from Natoaganeg School.

Ms. Mutch’s students created a colouring book, with local animals drawn by the class. The colouring book shares additional details on animal’s habitat, diet, status on the endangered species list, and actions to help protect habitats in New Brunswick. The book also aims to teach people about the Mi’kmaw language, by including the Mi’kmaw names for each animal. The full colouring book can be downloaded here.

We would also like to give an honorable mention to Mr. Ouellette’s Grade 6 class from Centre d’apprentissage du Haut-Madawaska, who’s class has been creating an outdoor classroom where they are able to get outside, learn about the environment and create a space for others to enjoy nature.

The 2020 winners for the CPAWS “Watch Your Paws Challenge” are Susan Weaver’s grade 4 class at Chipman Elementary School, and the St Andrews Scouts group! We had so many great entries, we couldn’t choose just one!

Mrs. Weaver’s class created dioramas of the habitat for their favourite New Brunswick animal including its predator and prey, as well as vegetation. This was a great example of the various habitats in New Brunswick and the wildlife within them. Their projects were very creative and showed that they learned a lot from our visit to their classroom! Mrs. Weaver’s class will be celebrating their win with a pizza party in the fall as schools reopen.

The St Andrews Scouts were curious about the local wildlife during their winter camp at Ganong Nature Park. They studied the kinds of animal footprints they might spot in NB. They found many deer and rabbit prints in the snow! During their snack at the viewpoint, they made sure to leave no trace. The Scout’s actions to understand local wildlife and environmentally responsible behaviour in natural areas were rewarded with a virtual pizza party.

Always remember to “Watch Your Paws” when out enjoying New Brunswick’s nature!

The 2019 winner of the CPAWS “Watch Your Paws Challenge” was Susan Weaver’s grade 4 class at Chipman Elementary School! Mrs. Weaver’s class created posters showing different habitats found in New Brunswick and the wildlife that can be found within them. Their drawings were very creative and showed that they learned a lot from our visit to their classroom!  

We recognized their achievement by giving the class a pizza party, a “Winning Class” certificate, and some CPAWS swag! Always remember to “Watch Your Paws” when out enjoying New Brunswick’s nature.

Une mention spéciale et le prix pour deuxième place étaient attribuer aux quatrièmes de Monica Doyle à l’école élémentaire Garden Creek à Fredericton, qui ont créé les affiches pour encourager la publique à protéger l’environnement.

Some of the work …

The 2018 winner of the CPAWS “Watch Your Paws Challenge” was Leslie Vallée’s grade 3 class at Lou MacNarin School, in Moncton! This hard working class created posters about endangered plants and animals found within New Brunswick. They then visited other classes in their school to share both what they learned from our visit and the posters they created. Their wonderful posters were also displayed for the rest of the school to enjoy and learn from, great work!

Honourable mention and second place was awarded to Melinda Nelson’s grade ¾ class also of Lou MacNarin School, who also researched endangered animals and made posters.  

We recognized their achievement by giving the class a pizza party, a “Winning Class” certificate, and some CPAWS swag. The winning class kindly decided to share their pizza party with the runners-up!  

The 2017 winner of the CPAWS “Watch Your Paws Challenge” is Madelyn Mills and Brianne Mcallister from Miss McCabe’s grade 5 class at McAdam Ave Elementary School. Madelyn and Brianne created and poster and series of videos with 10 “rules” to follow for how to act responsibly in a New Brunswick park!

They showed how much they learned from our Watch Your Paws program and activities through their skits and poster. The girls had to memorize lines for their video and use lots of exciting props! You can watch their videos below and their poster will remain in the McAdam Ave Elementary School for other students to read.

We recognized their achievement by giving the girls a pizza party which they decided to share with their whole class, a “Winning Pair” certificate and some CPAWS swag!

Second place was awarded to Susan Weaver’s Fantastic Grade Four class from Chipman Elementary School!

The 2015 winner of the CPAWS “Watch Your Paws Challenge” was Susan Weaver’s Fantastic Grade Four Class from Chipman Elementary School! Mrs. Weaver and her class designed a CPAWS “Protecting Habitats” book to show people how we can help protect important habitats in New Brunswick by acting responsibly in nature.

Students showed how much they learned from our Watch Your Paws activities, and created unique pictures for their book. The Grade Four class took the “Watch Your Paws Challenge” a step further by taking the book to other classes and reading it to students in younger grades. This book will remain in the Chipman Elementary School Library for other students to read.

We recognized their achievement by giving the class a pizza party, a “Winning Class” certificate, and some CPAWS swag!

Honorable mentions for the “Watch Your Paws Challenge” include Mrs. Dallon’s Grade 3/4 class from St. Martins School and Mrs. Killam’s Grade 4 class from Salisbury Elementary School.

Check out this great video sent to us by the winners of the 2014 challenge, Mme. Daly’s grade 4/5 class from Champlain Heights School in Saint John, NB.  Great work, people!