Free Spirit Forest and Nature School

Nurturing Connection with Self, Others and Nature

Archeologists and Town Planners… (or imaginations running wild!)

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Hey Everyone,

In the spirit of March Break we decided to skip out on school this week and head off to Wasaga Beach to discover new parts of our community. We started our adventure at the Nordic Centre in hopes of exploring some new trail systems and after a quick tree ID tag game we were off!

While on the hike, Tuesday’s group made an unanticipated discovery – a HUGE amount of ice among the trees and under the snow from the previous melt. They spent a good chunk of time clearing it off (some students even became official “Zambonis”), creating their own bases and then connecting this intricate network of rooms together. During a debrief/apple cider break, we found out that teamwork and cooperation were the biggest factors in creating this enormous project. (Ahh, emergent learning :)!)

Our Zamboni!

Wednesday we had a chance to swing by the Library before heading to Wasaga to check out some of the cool activities they had going on during March Break and buy some books for our Little Free Library. After we arrived at the Nordic Centre though, imaginations took over and it seemed that as soon as we began our hike we had already stopped to investigate something further. This time instead of ice, it was a giant tree that had fallen over with an exposed root system over 6 ft high. The students quickly got to work on their “archaeological” dig with “hammers” in hand, and sorted out different roles for everyone as they uncovered what lay beneath. We as teachers sat back and watched this magic happen, and eventually this led to a discussion around soil types (with a first hand look at how sandy the soil is in Wasaga) and new life from old. (Again, a big shout out to emergent learning!).

Our “archeological” dig

After a picnic lunch, we played a quick game of Eagle’s Eye and then headed off to the Wasaga Beach Free Spirit site, aka the soon-to-be home of our Little Free Library! While there, we made a a fire together, told stories and ate marshmallows – or rather marsh-ball-ows on Tuesday as they had all melted together in the bag. We took a quick peak at the Nottawasaga river in anticipation of paddling it in the spring, and then had to head back to the school house. Time flies when you are having fun!

A big thanks to those who brought in some books for our Little Free Library project! It’s almost full now!

Next Week:
We have another field trip! We’ll be heading to Singhampton to check out the cave systems there.

See you soon,

Matt and Kim

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Reflections of Our Community

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Hey Everyone,

This week at Forest School we took a look at Community Building. We started off with some team-building games then brainstormed all sorts of ideas about what is community and what makes a community. There were a lot of interesting insights, from thoughts about our Forest School community, to our Collingwood (and beyond) community and even a discussion around our global community. The students starting rhyming off cool initiatives that are happening here – community gardens, food banks, adopt-a-highway, trail-systems and green spaces, Coldest Night of the Year, and much more – so we decided to explore!

“Ants” on a log – teambuilding

Lava Pit – teambuilding

We got out our map of the city and the students found the best route to some key places to check out in our town. We went on a tour of Little Free Libraries – if you’ve never heard of this it’s worth checking out the website here. It’s simple: take a book and leave book! There are at least 3 of them in Collingwood – one that we didn’t even know about until students told us about it and we checked it out.

Little Free Library at Kinsmen Park

Little Free Library on Bush St.

With the Tuesday group, we went on a hike afterwards, but not just any old hike. This was a Story Walk that began at the Collingwood Museum. Every few hundred meters was another page to read, until we finished the book. This is another thoughtful initiative executed by Healthy Kids Challenge Collingwood.

Story Walk

With the Wednesday group, we decided to check out the community gardens and then head to a local green space to play around and reflect on the benefits of having parks in the community.

Free Spirit Gardens Community Garden

Forest inspired Playground

After being inspired by these projects, we returned back to the School. After a quick lunch, we jumped into our own projects. Some students made community hammocks for our school and mittens with the sewing machine, and others worked hard on developing our very own Little Free Library with reclaimed materials. Others designed their own parks or wrote their very own stories to put in the Library or eventually create their own Story Hike – we had a lot of options for our projects. And on Wednesday, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get out the kite kits and take advantage of the wind. Since the kites didn’t do so well, plastic bags became the kite of choice, and we even had a giant tarp up it the air. It was a creative and inspiring day to say the very least.

Making a hammock!

Both groups combined to start our own LFL from reclaimed materials

Writing a story for our LFL or our own Story Walk

Congrats to our bead recipients: 1 Show and Tell Bead and Winter Warriors.

Next Week:
We are running during March Break and since we have already done a Maple Syrup day, our programming is still TBD – you can bet we’ll be outside though.

If you have any old books you’d like to donate to our Little Free Library, that would be greatly appreciated! Any genre and for any age. Thanks!

Cheers,

Matt and Kim

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Pancake Tuesday (and Wednesday!)

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Hey Friends,

With the temperatures rising, and the snow disappearing, our Winter semester is slowly melting away. The good news? Maple sap is-a-flowin’.

“Maple Forest”

We started our day off with a Macro Model we created called Sappy, Sappy. In this activity, students slid into the roles of sap collection in an epic sap flow vs spiles and buckets challenge. It’s an educational take on a classic game (Octopus) that students would have played all day if they could have! And a great way to dive into our Maple Syrup day.

After learning about the science behind sap flow, we wasted no time in rushing out to our sugar bush (aptly named Maple Forest) to meet up with our Maple Master “Uncle” Al, who taught us about all the steps in making syrup. The students eagerly navigated the 83 tapped trees, tasted the sap and explored the sugar shack to watch the boiling process in action. They even tasted Maple Syrup fresh from the tap.

Looking for sap!

We were able to sneak in a little math today as the students recorded findings about a tree of their choosing. They took out their yarn to measure the circumference of the tree and filled their measuring cups to discover how much sap their tree had yielded. After a tour and presentation of everyone’s trees, students made the connection of size of tree (and number of buckets!) to volume output (though we had a HUGE rogue tree that yielded basically no sap; which led to some interesting theories…). We also worked on ratios — 40:1 for Sap to Syrup (though Al likes his even sweeter and does 50:1). We helped collect wood for Al to keep the fires going then headed back to the school house for lunch.

Measuring Circumference

After some time for exploratory play (and inevitably more rounds of Sappy, Sappy), students created a Mokuk (a birch bark bucket) to mimic those historically used by some Indigenous people to collect sap. We also created some photo frames for our Class Photos taken last week.

Finally, it was our turn to indulge. We set out to our camp pit, built a fire (despite the rain) and cooked up some pancakes. And of course… we smothered them in Maple Syrup from our very own Sugar Bush!

Next Week:
Community Projects! We’ll be getting helpful and creative. If your child has a project they’d like to work on, please encourage them to bring it in to share.

With the nice weather, we are going to do drop-off and pick-up at Bygone Days. We’ll be sure to send out an email reminder.

Congrats to our Bead recipients – Everyone received their Winter Warrior bead for tackling Winter head on over the past couple months. We also gave out some cooking beads, litterless lunch beads and bingo beads! Congrats everyone!

See you next week,

Kim and Matt

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Say Cheese, Trees!

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***This is an archived post from 2017 – our programs are still suspended until further notice – March 2020***

Hey Folks,

Students had the opportunity this week to play around with photography. We got up close and personal with nature and had the chance to see things through a completely new lens. We started the day by playing around with cameras, learning how to work them and testing them out. This led us into various activities, including a “find my picture” hunt and inevitably a full on Nature Photo Scavenger Hunt.

In the afternoon, we went on a long hike around the property and took our photography one step further. We learned about and integrated some different tricks and tips for nature photography:

We learned about “Getting Close”, and seeing the world through a macro lens:

We learned about the use of “Leading Lines”, likes trails or fences, to lure the viewer into the photo.

We learned about the “Rule of Thirds” and how to better place things in a photo.

We learned about “Natural Framing” to capture a photo inside the photo and frame our pictures a little differently.

And finally, we learned about using different “Points of View” in our photos – stepping into a worm’s or ant’s eyes, or seeing like a bird.

Thanks to all the parents who were able to dig up a camera for their child to use. With your help, we were able to equip everyone with their own camera for the day!

Next Week:
Although the nice warm days made photography a lot of fun, it also melted the rinks! So because of the weather, we will not be skating next. The positive side to this is that the warm days and cool nights have the Sugar Maples flowing, so we will be doing our Maple Syrup day in lieu of skating.

See you next week,

Matt and Kim

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These legs were made for skiing…

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Hey Everyone,

We had two great days at Scenic Caves this week! Tuesday we had sunny, warm weather and Wednesday we had some freshly fallen snow to ride in. After a quick lesson on how to ski and how to fall from fellow Forest School Teacher, Krista, we were off to the trails. We had varying levels of experience in our classes and it was awesome to see how everyone helped each other out. Though we had a lot of spills, we had even more laughs and that’s what it’s all about. Some students even pushed themselves to the scenic lookout!

After lunch, a warm fire, and “warm fuzzy” valentines, we hit the trails again… but this time on foot. Sliding down hills and exploring eventually led us to our goal – the suspension bridge. Students pushed themselves out of their comfort zone and together crossed the entire 420′ bridge – despite of shaking and swaying with the wind! After our return, we were able to spend a bit of free time navigating one of the coolest parks we’ve ever seen.

Congrats to our bead recipients: a couple Bingo beads, Litterless Lunch beads and a very special Peer Support bead for one of our Snowy Owls.

It’s a short blog today, but we’ll let the pictures speak for themselves!

Next Week:
It’s a wild world out there and we intend to explore it. Our main focus will be Nature Photography and looking at Nature through new perspectives. We will have a couple cameras to share, but if you have one your child can use, please send it along! Thanks!

A big thanks for all the valentine treats, and a another huge thanks to Ben’s parents for the midday hot chocolate break!

Cheers,
Kim and Matt

PS: One of our students is making lightbulb terrariums with the catchy slogan “Bring part of the outdoors into your home inside a lightbulb.” Our entrepreneur has previously donated some profits to the Ontario Federation of Cerebral Palsy (OFCP) in support of his friend. Only $5 each, let us know if you’d like to support him!

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Here fishy, fishy… (or “they don’t call it catching!”)

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Hey Everyone,

We did not anticipate the extreme amount of excitement around fishing! Students arrived with their tackle boxes and rods in hand and were ready to go. As teachers, we couldn’t have been happier with that energy (and will now likely plan another fishing day in the Spring semester!)

With a few weeks of sub-zero temps, we were able to get out onto “Willow Pond” and have a go at ice fishing! But before heading out, we needed to cover the basics…

Our students had a lot of previous knowledge, skills, experience and fish stories this week. We quickly refreshed on the parts of a fishing pole and found sticks and pieces of wood to replace the rod and reel for our ice fishing needs. Students also learned a clinch knot today in order to attach their hook to their line. We then brainstormed ideas about what kind of fish live in the area, where the best spots would be to fish and different things to use as bait. Our bait today? Roe from a wild local Salmon.

Learning a clinch knot

And then we were off! We grabbed our auger, went over important ice safety rules and partnered up. On the ice, students had a chance to drill out their own holes, set up their lines and practice a LOT of patience. With games going on on the side and fire built to keep us warm (and warm cider!), the students kept a constant eye on their lines. There was so much excitement, students on Wednesday even decided to forego free play in order to continue fishing. Although we did get a few nibbles, and fish could be seen below the ice, unfortunately no catches. Next time though!

Everyone was drilling holes!

After fishing, we decided to become fish. Students became local Salmon, traveling down the Beaver or Pretty River trying to make their way to the Bay, then back again to the spawning grounds without being caught by predators or fisher-people. All this while jumping “waterfalls”, avoiding turbines and climbing the fish ladders, in a macro-model we like to call Hooks and Ladders. This was followed by a great debriefing session with some thoughtful insights from our students.

“Hooks and Ladders”

Our last task of the day: creating emergency fishing kits to add to our survival kits. These kits include a small amount of line, a hook and a small balloon to use as bobber.

Emergency Fishing Kit

Congratulations to our bead recipients: 1 Bingo Bead, 3 Show and Tell Beads and 2 Knot Beads!

Next Week:
Field Trip: Cross Country Skiing!

We had a lot of fun this week, and we’ll leave you with this photo when students were asked to create their own fish. This is “The Donald Trump” Fish:

“Donald Trump” fish

Cheers,

Matt and Kim

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Snow is warm(!?)

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Hey Everyone!

Finally some snow for us to play in! We took full advantage of it this week by diving into it (figuratively and literally). Our day focused on different scientific aspects of snow. To start the day, we wrote down everything we knew about snow on paper, then we crumpled them up and had a “snow”ball fight.

After we shared what we already knew, we shifted gears to discover new things. We debated why snow appears white; we studied the anatomy of snowflakes with magnifying glasses in hand; we even made a bit of snow by throwing boiling water in the air (though this works better at colder temps). We also made predictions about melting and how much water would remain from 3 cups of snow (FYI Snow-water equivalent varies with temperature – we found about a 6:1 ratio on both days). Later in the day we were able to apply this to real life in our sit spots, noticing that the ice levels were up due to the early January melt.

After a few games and some core routines, we asked ourselves – So, how is snow warm? We took a look at snow as an insulator and built on our past knowledge of animal survival in the subnivean zone by creating a village of Quinzees. We even diluted food colouring in water to make “paint” for the snow and have the most colorful Quinzees in town.

Colourful Quinzee City!

Of course, with emergent learning our focus there was always time for the establishment of a “firework” factory (pylons filled with snow, then colored) to open up and sell “fireworks” in exchange for snow balls. Oh, and of course a first hand look at avalanches with snow tumbling off roofs!

Congratulations to our bead recipients! 3 Bingo Beads, 5 Litter-less Lunch Beads for 4 weeks straight with no waste in their lunches, 1 Teaching Bead for a wonderful lesson on building a Quinzee, 1 Bravery Bead, 1 “Al’s” Bead for consistent kindness and humility, 5 Shelter Beads, and 2 Curiosity Beads.

Also, a big THANKS to Natasha for stepping in for Kim this week as she was on a Winter camping trip.

Next Week:
Fishing – most likely this won’t be ice fishing as we were hoping due to the lack of sturdy ice. We will, however, still learn about fish and get a chance at fishing!

Until next week,

Matt and Kim

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Our “Winter” Olympians

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Wow! What a wonderful day for our Olympics. Though we lacked the obvious winter appeal, we made up for it in high-energy games, creative play and an incredible spirit of the games! Upon arriving at Bygone Days, students were divided and asked to choose (or create) a country (Canada vs Nepal; Greece vs The Bernese Mountain Dogs) for the Winter Olympic Games. Our Olympians relayed the torch around the pond, lit the fire, swore an Olympian Oath with a focus on participation and having fun, belted out their cheers and set off for our Olympic Games. The first match was an epic sport that was new to many students… BROOM BALL! What a fun way to transfer familiar skills and technique to a new invasion game activity! This game was a highlight for many of our students, along with the shootout afterwards for the Tuesday crew and a student-inspired javelin toss for Wednesday’s.

Javelin Toss

Ice-broom-bowling

Broom Ball

After Broom Ball, the Olympians had the opportunity for another team challenge: BOBSLEDDING! Students were tasked with the challenge of working together to move marbles from one location to another, using their bobsled (a half-piece of PVC). This activity appears to be simple, however as we discovered, there are so many factors that contributed to a successful experience. It was an incredible tool to debrief group dynamics and to emphasize the importance of each member’s action on the team. It was powerful to hear the individual groups brainstorm solutions, communicate effectively and listen to their peers, repair mini-ruptures that happen during high-stress situations, and ultimately work together to transport as many marbles down their shoot as possible! What a great way to energize the group!

Working together on the “Bobsled”

Our next activity included more target practice for the Olympians. Students threw disc’s to hit various hoops, earning points depending on distance or angle. This activity helped with focus, allowed for team camaraderie and brought the competition of the games even closer together, for both days!

For our final challenge, Tuesday’s group chose to play an ultimate match of Kubb (essentially Viking Chess) to decipher the winning team. It was here that Canada was able to make a 2 point comeback on Nepal, ending Tuesday’s Winter Olympic Games in a TIE! Now, Wednesday’s group opted for an epic game of Capture the Flag, where, believe it or not, none of the flags could be found! This too ended Wednesday’s Winter Olympic Game in a TIE! (We swear we aren’t just giving out participation awards, haha!)

Kubb

It was a really fun day today. It was quite nice to see the difference between the groups. Tuesday’s students were really keen to imagine and create new structures with the PVC pipes and create giant slides as a group. Wednesday students were eager to build the fire, make their own tea and give offerings to the trees, or spend some quiet time working away at their spoons. A lot of new crafts came out of this week – some DIY axes, incredible home-made snowshoes, and spoons. Our Show and Tell experience was awesome! Thanks for working on these beads at home and sharing your experiences with us.

We had quite a few new bead recipients this week, including 6 Show and Tell Beads, 2 “Al’s” Bead for kindness, and even a Bingo Bead already! We also gave out a well-earned Teaching bead for some awesome yoga lessons to start and end our day. A big congratulations to our students for working so hard!

FYI: If you were curious if our amphibians survived their week-long hibernation… they did!

If you haven’t received our newly accommodated Winter Schedule, be sure to check out our website. Next week, we will be exploring The Science of Snow! Looking forward to seeing you!

Matt and Kim

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Subnivean Cities

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Making our own Subnivean Zones

Hey Everyone,

What an interesting day we had for our ~~Winter~~, wait scratch that, Freezing Rain Survival days. We went into this expecting to create quinzees and spend all day in the snow, but who could’ve guessed our snow would turn to ice so quickly!? So what can we do but make the best of the situation?? And that’s exactly what we did.

Our day was focused on what animals do to survive during the winter. After visualizing and becoming the animal of their choice, students were asked what they would do to survive in the winter. Some said they would sleep, others would hunt and others said they would move to somewhere warm. This covered all of our bases and in essence they already knew: hibernate, stay active, or migrate.

After reading an incredible story (Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner – seriously check it out if you don’t have it) to set the tone for the day, the students designed their own “Subnivean Cities”. This under-snow layer captivated the imagination of students, and we were even able to explore the real thing outside once the rain subsided.

Over and Under the Snow

To get a little more in depth with hibernation, students were teamed up and given a jar half-full of water. Their mission? To ensure this water doesn’t freeze even after being left outside for a week. Students attacked this challenge head on and started to come up with super creative ideas to insulate and protect the water. The water jars became their “Frogs”, Snakes” or “Turtles”, and when the layers were complete they now needed a safe space to hibernate. Outside the students searched and found ideal places for their “amphibians” and “reptiles” to sleep… buried deep in the ground, insulated by debris, dirt and snow. We’ll see what happens next week!

Insulating our “frogs” for hibernation

Add in some time playing student-created games, tracking animals and one another, engaging in a creative Forest School buff fashion show, having a bonfire while reading legend, and completing an adventurous hike to find a geocache, and it seems we had quite a busy day.

And still the students returned to the classroom for one final challenge. In partners, they were given a particular bird species outlined like a Pokemon Card that showed their strengths, habits, diets etc. As this specific type of bird, students had to navigate a human-sized board game to show just how difficult migration can be and the potential threats that birds can face en-route. By the end, only a couple groups were able to migrate safely, but we developed really great insight about birds and their journeys during the winter.

(We had a request from a student for a copy of this game – it can be printed out by clicking here)

Migrating

Congratulations to our 3 Show and Tell bead recipients for bringing in a spider man web shooter, a handmade pair of moccasins and some awesome Polaroid pictures. We also gave out 2 musical beads for some stellar renditions of songs from the Lion King and a Bravery Bead!

Next Week:
Field Trip! We’ll be heading out to do some Cross Country Skiing!

We sure had practice with our balance on all that ice this week – here’s hoping for some snow next week.
Matt and Kim

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Principal Jennie salting the driveway – thanks!

Walkin’ in a Winter Wonderland…

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…with snowshoes!

Off to Maple Forest

Welcome back everyone to our Winter Semester at Free Spirit Forest School – and what a great kick-off we had! This week was all about getting comfortable and really enjoying the Snow – and evidently ice on Wednesday. Though buses were cancelled both days, that didn’t stop us from exploring. We built snow forts, went tobogganing, pretended to be animals lurking in the snow and much more.

After an epic snowshoe all the way to Maple Forest and back before lunch, we learned all about this important method of travel – its history, the different styles and their inspirations, and the many, many uses of a snowshoe. Did you know that snowshoes date back thousands of years? The students were put to test afterwards in teams by coming up with a design and developing their very own “emergency” snowshoes. With braided twigs, sheets of wood, torn jean strips, even a full shirt, each team’s idea differed, but in the end all kept their users afloat on the snow.

Emergency student-created snowshoe!

Congrats to our Bead Recipients this week – 1 Peer Support and 3 Show and Tell. We have sent home a list of beads (or click here to see it) that students can be working towards this semester.

Also, A HUGE THANKS to you, the parents, for your awesome layering and extra clothes – all students were warm and happy despite the weather!

Next Week:
We’ve planned a Winter Survival day, but this may be adapted depending on the amount of snow we get. Regardless, we’ll be exploring, playing with new friends and appreciating our green spaces!

Also, this week was a good wake-up call for us in implementing a Snow Day Procedure. We will be following the Simcoe County District School Board. If buses are cancelled, we still run. However, if it’s a full on Snow Day and everything is closed, we will adhere to that.

See you next week!

Matt and Kim

More Photos for you:

Snow Day?

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