A fresh blanket of white snow greeted us in Memorial Park this morning! Many more changes became apparent as we explored, including erosion along the beach, signs of the wind storm, iced leaves, and a certain hush to the forest that comes with the first snowfall.
Birch bark was our offering this morning, which the students tucked into their pockets to save as tinder for our fire later in the day. Ask them about the “Tree Rap” we were working on, to help us learn about the special properties of some trees in our neighborhood. Today we rapped the birch verse and chorus, with more coming your way soon! Stay tuned.
North, South, East and West, is there a direction you like the best? Orienting ourselves in the park was a recurring theme of the day, through games and stories. Do you know which direction the park is from your house? It would be neat to hear next week all the different directions we are all coming from!
We had a much needed wet week this week! We remind ourselves on these rainy days just how much the plants, animals and ponds need this weather – we’ve even got a song about it! And even more fun was our first taste of snow!!!
Student interests took us all over the place this week:
-We made fires with flint (slag from a railroad track) and steel by catching a spark on Charcloth.
-We solved the mystery of what seemed like all of our Juniper trees shredding every berry – it was the amazing group of Cedar Waxwings!
-We learned about brand new Wild Edibles with our local expert and friend Barefoot Brian.
-We worked away with our carving knives to create masterpieces for the trading blanket (or just for fun)
-We jumped into the role of herbivores, omnivores and carnivores – and found out what it takes to survive.
-We made epic mud slides, conquered mountains and won birch bark crowns.
-We watched bubbles come from trees.
-We foraged, made and drank wild teas.
-We identified the core values of our group.
-We tracked deer.
-We learned about Bird Language…. first hand and were able to sneak away unnoticed from intruders.
-We found scat – and lots of it!
-We uncovered legends and identified the local trees that were apart of them.
-We built forts and shelters and stores.
-We let our imaginations (and ourselves) run wild.
We had a ton of fun (and even learned some things along the way)!
As adventures unfolded today at forest school, I found myself in awe of the skills that the Chickadees will carry with them, that come from our play and interactions with nature. I even saw future careers unfolding before my eyes. As we dug in the sand for fossils, I imagined them at an archaeological dig. As we created a museum for the rocks, fossils and shells we found in our dig, I pictured engineers designing and planning infrastructures. Negotiations for sharing the building materials and magnifying glasses cast images of lawyers and CEO’s. Band practice broke out with some blocks and wooden dowels which had me imagining music teachers, writers, musicians playing for an orchestra. When a cricket was found on a hat and the children ensured it was safely set off of the path so as not to get trampled, conservationists and ecologists were standing before me. In the words of Dr. Seuss, “Oh the places [they’ll] go”!
We had another action packed week at FSFNS with lot’s of creativity, construction and exploring! Here are some of the highlights:
Carving
Tool-use is a common thing with our students and this week we got out the knives and began whittling away. Students sat around the fire making spoons, spears and butter knives. With the trading blanket happening at the end of the session, we’re eagerly starting to get our projects underway!
Lakeside
The big pond is a favourite for students! This week we spent lots of time exploring, building and even renovating! Our Thursday group decided it was time for a total revamp of our campsite and does it ever look awesome now. We also saw mud slides created, full story lines of storefronts unfold, clay factories open for business and even a spa. While there, we uncovered a creature – the giant water bug aka “toe biter” and learned about the gruesome nature of how it kills it prey. With water levels so low this year, we noticed two newly formed islands in our pond. This week we learned they are even accessible with boots!
Animal Forms and Tracking
Most groups this week got first-hand knowledge of what it feels like to be both prey and predator. We had a couple of epic tracking sessions that unfolded over a few hours where students practiced this amazing skill – as well as sneaking and hiding! We also uncovered many signs of animals in our forests and figured out the stories behind them – deer beds, tracks, dead animals, fur and other leftover signs. With some groups, we also played a classic – “Survival” – where carnivores, omnivores and herbivores are pitted against one another, as well as Mother Nature.
Milkweed
This was our plant of the week and inspired many to practice their fire skills. We learned all about it, made note of areas we could harvest it on our map and even had a song written about it, to go along with Pete Moss’ “Wildflowers”
“There’s a wildflower name Milkweed,
It’s one that the Butterflies need.
Light it up with Flint and Steel,
Make a rope from what you peel”
Seed Collecting
Naturally before we burned the Milkweed fluff, we saved the seeds! And we didn’t stop there – we collected sumac, maple, blackeyed susans, evening primrose and much more! Likely your kids came home with some small package of something!
Up close and personal with Birds
After endless patience, we were rewarded with the trust of the chickadees in Mysterious Forest! These little creatures are now landing on our hands to get birdseed – and even on one person’s head! To do so, our students stayed still and silent, on the ground, camouflaged and even up in trees. It was truly an amazing moment for them. We were also treated to a number of cedar waxwings enjoying the juniper berries above us and the discovery of a dead cormorant we were able to identify because of it’s beak.
Throw in the usual and we had another great time learning and playing outside!
Leaves in the air,
Fall colours everywhere.
What on earth could we use these leaves for?
We had at least 3 ideas, maybe more!
Providing camouflage to hide our treasures,
Running like chipmunks, it was not a day of leisure.
Creating magic wands that cast spells,
Transformed us into frogs, trees, a painted turtle shell.
Burying each other and jumping out to surprise,
Of course a leaf fight was bound to arise!
Roofs for our forts for when the rain came,
More leaves please! The forest heard us proclaim
All in a day of play at forest school,
Unanimously we agree that autumn leaves are pretty cool!
We had a fun (and wet!) week at FNS in Collingwood! We got our first real taste of chillier weather this week and greeted it with open arms – we even had the fire in our hot tent going to keep us nice and warm!
Students this week continued diving deeper into our core teachings, specifically Bird Language. We learned all about the different ways birds communicate and how to tap into what they are saying. We spent quiet time deeply listening in our sit spots, practiced our fox feet to minimize our sound wake and even presented skits made up about the different types of bird calls. Our particular favourite was the “Juvenile Calling” skits – we’ve got some really good actors!
One of our favourite memories this week (and most spontaneous) was “FNS Court” with the Teachers as the judges. The students asked us to play Crow’s Nest – a favourite invented by them. We asked them to justify why they should play. They took this quite seriously and grabbed the field guides, presented well thought out arguments and even changed one key player in the game (the weasels) to Otters because it “just made more sense after the research”. (We can’t plan this stuff – and hence why we love our emergent curriculum!)
We also took a deeper look at tracking this week and were not disappointed. Using a 5W approach we uncovered story after story of the animals we share our spaces with. This meant looking closely at tracks, fur, and a higher than usual amount of dead creatures including a chipmunk, muskrat and goose. In these sometimes hard moments, it’s incredible to watch the care and love from our students as they create funeral ceremonies, complete with speeches and songs.
On Friday, we also finished up an ongoing project. On week one, we gathered Jewelweed (good for everything, but famous for fighting poison ivy) and Goldenrod (good for aches) to infuse in oil. After a few weeks of sitting on the windowsill, it was ready to go. We heated up some beeswax, added shea butter and the oils to make a cream concoction the students called “Golden Jewel”.
Otherwise we were up to the usual – rescuing snakes and frogs from the well, creating new “secret” (and not-so-secret) group spots and forts, building fires, haiku poems, journaling, dehydrating and bagging lemon balm for tea, tracking bleeding geese, playing animal form games and the millions of other little things that happen that are too many to list.
The rain was no obstacle for us in Meaford today! The puddles were ripe for the jumping and it helped us fine tune our shelter building. We were keen observers of what the animals we saw are up to this time of year, and tried to mimic their behaviours. We noticed that some creatures are slowing down, while some seem to be running around in a frenzy of activity with the colder temperatures. We did not find any salamanders this week and are curious if they are getting ready for winter. More investigations required!We also investigated different tracks for animals in our neighbourhood and tried to find some on our wanderings. Coyote or dog track always raises an exciting debate!
Ask your forest school student about birch bark and the animal they impersonated today!
What a welcomed blast of warm weather this week – though the chilly mornings are a reminder that Winter is on its way. This week we noticed a lot of Fall changes occurring at the Collingwood School – leaves changing, birds migrating, flowers beginning to wilt (especially the goldenrod!) and each and every day, the overabundance of Woolly Bear Caterpillars. So many in fact that our new address for one of our winter prospector tents is “45 Woolly Bear Dr.”, indicating the amount of caterpillars caught in one area! We had Woolly Bear Races, Olympics, Towns and Schools created throughout the week (sidebar: pretty interesting as teachers to watch this unfold independently each day this week without prompt.)
Which got us thinking: why are there so many this year? Or have we not noticed them before? With some student research we found that the Woolly Bear is a fascinating creature. We dove in to our field guides to uncover all the mysteries of this cuddly creature – and we weren’t disappointed:
-We learned it turns into an Isabella tiger moth and can live up to 14 years!
-We discovered that some hatch in Fall, and then FREEZE over the winter.
-We found out first hand they play possum and curl up when scared (unfortunately for some of our racers).
-We learned they eat pretty much any plant.
-And in folklore, that the relative amounts of brown and black hair can predict how harsh the Winter will be (though scientifically this has been debunked and actually is due to age and moisture.)
Of course throw in journaling, sit spots, Wolf Pack (a great Animal Forms game!), blindfolded navigation, barefoot hikes, clay factories, setting up the Prospector Tent (Thanks Tuesday Snowy Owls!), quieting the mind, chickadees up close and personal, carving, fire-making, fresh goldenrod tea and tea bag prep for Winter, climbing trees, community building and more, and it was full week!
Our Fall field trip this year was back to beautiful Metcalfe Rock for some climbing and caving where our Collingwood school also got to meet our sister schools from Meaford and Wasaga Beach. As if hiking through ancient cedar forests, drinking water straight from the Earth and exploring and playing at this magical place weren’t epic enough, students challenged themselves with Rock Climbing and Caving through the ancient limestone rock. We stood alongside and watched comfort zones being pushed, nerves being tested and the inevitable huge smiles of pride that followed. We’ll keep it short this week and let the pictures below speak for themselves!
A windy day greeted us at Memorial Park – sure signs of fall in the chilly, leafy air. After our opening circle we hopped on the bus and headed to Metcalfe Rock for our first field trip! We spent the morning rock climbing, an exciting challenge which was a totally new experience for many of the students. Challenge by choice was encouraged and students climbed as high as they wanted to go, with some even making it to the top of the climb. After lunch we hiked through the Crevice trail (a side trail of the Bruce trail), which led us right to a cave! Dark and mysterious, the Ice Cave did not disappoint! One of the most exciting moments seemed to be getting to turn on the headlamps worn on our helmets, but as we did want to test the darkness of the cave, we turned them all off for a quick minute to experience it with our other senses. We discovered there was still light sneaking in from multiple holes, which led to some discussion about how the cave was formed, and why there was still ice in it in the summer. Ask your child for more details, as well as the story about the braided root tree.
The car ride home was surprisingly lively after all that exercise and fresh air, as we were singing some fun campfire songs. You might have heard us singing as we pulled up to the parking at the end of the day. We will definitely be practising these songs so that you too can be taught them!
