Free Spirit Forest and Nature School

Nurturing Connection with Self, Others and Nature

Art Attack!

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Hey Folks!

At Forest School, we develop a lot of skills: physical and emotional intelligence, ecological literacy, and much more. In more traditional school terms, we’ve had a heavy focus on Science, Physical Education, and English, with some Art and even Math included in there. Usually, we pick a topic and focus our lessons around it. This week we decided to focus on a subject rather than topic, Art, and see where that took us through our student-led, emergent and inquiry-based learning. Hence both days unfolding differently.

Remember that old TV show Art Attack? It was all the rage when we were growing up. So we decided to replicate that this week as our culminating project… the only catch? In order to get the materials, the students had to “buy” them with points earned through team-building challenges and other art projects throughout the day.

Our first project was a cheerio bird feeder to replace our old pb ones in our sit spots. The Red tails then drew pictures of all the birds they thought would visit their feeders, as the Snowy Owls came up with conversational pieces (and dramatic plays) of the what the birds were up to in their sit spot and saying to each other. Quite a treat to see your children’s imagination at play here!

Throughout the day students completed a lot of team-building challenges. These focus on developing teamwork, communication and trust among participants. The activities have no right answer, the learning being the process. The students were put in a variety scenarios – cross through the “spider web”, navigate lava rivers, become an ant on a log and switch places with everyone, flip the tarp over without getting off, and the human knot – whatever the case they were up for the challenge. And they earned valuable points along the way for their final masterpiece. In some cases, not all attempts were a “success” in terms of completion. But the debriefing process that ensued was full of learning, and incredible to watch and facilitate.

Both groups had a great time making their new hiking sticks as well. Using a variety of paints, hemp strings and carving, the students came up with some beautiful pieces of usable art. And even built a totem pole for our Forest Hut area.

The final project involved using our “loose parts” (anything that can be moved, natural or not, to create things). From high up on fossil mountain, the teachers watched as the students used the material they had earned, along with things in their surroundings to create a masterpiece from the bird’s eye view.

As for beads, we gave our very first peer support bead this week! We also gave out a whole bunch of craft beads for some awesome crafts, including the titanic, a bird/squirrel house, a homemade starbucks mug, a clay teepee and natural puppets.

See you next week!

Kim and Matt

Water, water everywhere

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Hey Folks,

What a couple of beautiful sunny days we had at Forest School. Our focus this week was learning about water, the water cycle and some creatures that call water home.

We started off the day “becoming” frogs with a visualization (turned into acting out) activity to set the tone. After an inevitable frog hunt, we got down to business. Our first activity was to build a zip lock bag water cycle. Perhaps your child came home asking for steaming water? Putting hot water in the bag and sealing it will mimic the water cycle they have drawn on the bag! If you’re more patient, put cold water in the bag and leave it in the sun and let this process happen naturally. We then hammered this learning home with a new macro-model (“The Water Cycle“) where students had to evaporate, then condensate, then precipitate, then do it all over again.

The students were awesome at brainstorming where we find water – the classic “lake”, “ocean”, “animals” and others, and then some really creative ones like the “store” and the “sewage treatment plant”. From here we took time to talk about available freshwater compared to salt water in the world with a 5L bucket example (in this case, 125 ml represents all the freshwater). This was a striking lesson for some students; somewhat of a “What?!” moment for them. The Snowy Owls (and some keen Red Tails) were given some homework around this revelation. They have a sheet to record their water usage for the next week. Please lend them a hand with some of the more difficult ones. On Thursday, this turned into a a great discussion about water distribution and human rights around the world and ended with us deciding as a group to make a Kiva loan to a school in Uganda implementing a water filtration system. (Don’t know Kiva? It’s a fantastic program – check it out here).

The afternoon was spent exploring the water on the property – searching out creatures, plants, or really anything we could find. We now also have 3 class pets: huge tadpoles that we’ll watch develop and then release in the next little while.

We gave out the most beads to date this week: 1 craft bead for a great hippo-on-a-stick, 4 shelter beads, 2 journaling beads and 2 knot beads (our first time given this out!). Great job everyone!

That’s all for now!

Matt and Kim

Rock and Roll

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Hey Folks!

Our Forest School day this week was spent on our first all day outing. Early in the morning, we loaded up the van and headed out to Metcalfe Rock, in the Kolapore Uplands. This beautiful area in our own backyard runs along the Bruce Trail and smack dab in the middle of the Niagara Escarpment. Our main purpose today: Caving.

Students geared up in harnesses, buckled up their helmets and strapped on their headlamps, eager to begin exploring. After quick LNT lessons from the students, and safety lessons from teachers, we dove (or rather crawled, contorted, slid) right into the crevice caves. Students’ comfort levels varied, but everyone put on a brave face and pushed their limits just out of their comfort zones. Some of the students were absolutely fearless and even made it all the way to the deep dark depths of the Bat Cave!

Afterwards, we got to enjoy and explore this wonderful area (protected by UNESCO). The kids were even able to hug the unique “braided-root” tree, a living ancient white cedar around 1000 years old! They also built shelters (Wed), had marshmallows on the fire (Thurs), played games and drank the “best tasting water ever” from the natural spring.

Wednesday was especially fun this week because we were joined by Shannon from our sister school and her Red Tailed Hawks for all the fun – a big thanks to everyone in your crew Shannon! On the same day, we even had a professional movie maker come out to make a promotional video. We’ll put the link up here when it is ready.

Thursday we also had a photographer out with us taking promotional pictures. We’ll add the photos here when they arrive.

Both groups also set up new geocaches on-site. Their coordinates will soon be up on Geocaching.com, known as ForestSchool1 and ForestSchool2 (for now you can find them at 1. N44 29.365 W080 15.436 and 2. N44 29.401 W080 15.364). You can try and find them with your kids! Don’t have a GPS? Download the app and find them with your phone!

That’s all for now! Happy Mother Earth Day!

Kim and Matt

Little sprouts

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Hey Folks!

We had another fun week at Forest School, with two unique days unfolding. We’ll start with the similarities.

Our focus this week was on seeds and plants, so we spent a bit of time in the classroom. In a nutshell, the students learned and recorded the life cycle of a plant (sunflower) in their journals, reviewed what plants need to survive and then dissected a soaked bean to reveal the baby plant inside. Afterwards, the students enjoyed a newly invented macro-model called “Plant Me!”, where they were able to apply their learning in an engaging outdoor activity. In the afternoon, we planted and labelled our very own seeds – 4 each in total – in egg cartons. Once these seeds sprout, they can be moved into bigger pots without removing them from the egg cartons (if you need a bigger pot, let us know! We have a bunch to share).

WEDNESDAY

We had the opportunity to visit the Collingwood Library to take part in their educational “Seed” Library. We took some seeds now, with the intention of returning more seeds in the fall when we harvest them. This project is a great initiative set up by the folks at Transition Collingwood and the Public Library, and not only reinforces plant life-cycle principles, but also a sense of community, sharing and giving back. What a great way to empower local seed savers and develop our seed literacy!

THURSDAY

The saga of Blueberry the bunny continued this week when, on arrival, we were greeted by the fox and her pups playing around the schoolhouse. The students jumped into their LNT learning last week (respect wildlife) and observed from afar. Such a pertinent experience for our students and a great testament to the power of learning in an outdoor environment.

Later on in the morning, Shannon, another teacher with the Forest School, came by and the students were more than excited to show her all of their favourite places. So map in hand, we went on a big hike to explore the property.

Both groups ended the day with a bonfire. Lots of stories were told, as well as creative songs with music (ukulele, shakers, nature drums) and dance, and improvised dramatic stories. We even had a treat to go along with the entertainment – some popcorn popped over the fire.

We gave out some more beads this week. 1 craft bead for a “cat’s eye”, 3 storytelling beads and 1 journalling bead. Congrats!

Next week we are on an all-day outing to go caving! It’ll be cold and dirty in there so please dress your child appropriately – including gloves!

Cheers,

Matt and Kim

Leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but memories

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Hey Everyone!

We are once again happy to welcome new students to our program this week, and a big thanks to current students for being so welcoming.

Given that this is Earth week culminating with Earth Day on Friday, we thought what better way to celebrate than understanding how to minimize our environmental impact through Leave No Trace programming? The 7 principles of LNT promote responsible outdoor recreation with the hope of inspiring respect for (and stewardship of) natural spaces. For more info please click here.

Though our two days were slightly different, they both unfolded using these principles, so let’s recap one at a time.

1. Know Before You Go
We set the scene: An exploratory hike later on in the afternoon to a new space on the property (off property on Thursday) we had yet to go. Our first goal? Being prepared to go into this wild place. We pulled out an empty backpack and asked the students what we needed to bring. They chose from things scattered around the property and made sure we had everything possible that we would need, from sunscreen to water, to a compass and map, even marshmallows in case we got lost. We were ready for anything.

2. Choose the right path
Essentially this means stay on the trail and camp on durable surfaces. We played a great team-building game to highlight the importance of not straying from the path. The students had to find their way across a grid path, with only one correct way. Step on the wrong square, and you just squashed an endangered species (or got poison ivy, or stuck in quicksand, etc)! Finally, all students made it through the secret path to the durable campsite, and were so excited we had to do it again.

3. Respect Wildlife
At lunchtime, the teachers played obnoxious visitors. Their target? The herd of snowy owls and red tailed hawks eating quietly in the sun. While one teacher stayed back the required 200 feet with binoculars, the other got much too close, was much too loud and even fed the animals candy! No worries though – he was eventually taken down by the pack. Afterwards, this activity led to a very insightful debrief with the students drawing important parallels with the natural world.

4. Trash is Trash
We started with a visualization of a special place the students had. Then we asked what would ruin this for them. Garbage was the number one answer (followed closely by noise). So on our epic hike the students brought along bags and did a shoreline clean-up (around the other side of Willow Lake Wednesday; bay front clean-up on Thursday with Transition Collingwood and a class from CCI). Multiple full garbage bags worth of trash and recycling were collected! Students are also well aware that we pack out what we pack in.

5. Respect Others
Now known as “love your neighbour”, the students had a good discussion around the fire and in the classroom about how we can respect other people who are enjoying nature as well. The big rule: Don’t let our fun ruin other people’s fun.

6. Be careful with fire!
We are always careful with fire, but this week we learned how to make sure we have fires that leave minimal impacts for the environment. Never burn garbage, always use existing fire pits when possible, clean it up after, only use dead, down and dry wood… students were already well aware of this. One new thing we tried though was cooking on a camp stove. We made a delicious apple cider.

7. Leave what you find
This was one of the harder lessons to learn and understand. We had the students build an art piece of natural materials to show off to the others. We did a gallery walk after, having everyone explain what they made. We then took away a rock or stick, without saying a thing, from each piece. The students reflected on this afterwards that it did not feel good to have their materials taken. This was a catalyst to talk about leaving things in nature for all people to enjoy and really hit home for some folks.

Emergent Learning Alert!
On Thursday we arrived to a mystery scene in front of the school house – fur, blood and scat. Students successfully identified the fur as rabbit and the scat gave away the culprit – a fox (it appears to have moved in under the church). We decided to take time to read a legend about life-cycles and the students were able to put a positive spin on this – the fox needed to feed her pups. We found more evidence of the rabbit and students wanted to hold an impromptu funeral for it (now known as “Blueberry”). The eulogies varied, but were all empathetic. We made a little tombstone, along with a fitting offering of blueberries and sage.

And that’s it – along with our normal sit spot time and other core routines, including free play, it was a busy day! For all their hard work today, students received Leave No Trace bag tags, stickers and our brand new “Leave No Tracer” bead.

Speaking of beads, this week we gave out 5 journaling beads and 2 craft beads, one for a stone/stick hammer and another for a 5 finger family. Congrats!

It’s time for planting in the next 2 weeks, so if your kid is looking through the compost for seeds, don’t be alarmed!

Until next time,
Matt and Kim

I speak for the trees

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Hey Folks!

It seems that spring has finally arrived which meant a couple of welcomed sunny, warm days at Forest School. This week, we focused on trees – beginning with one of our favourite games, Sappy Sappy, to get the energy flowing.

After our initial check-ins, smudge ceremony and some yoga, the students paired up and took turns blindfolding and leading each other to a random tree in our area. It was up to the blindfolded student to collect as much information as possible with their other senses about the tree, give it a big hug, then try to find it after being returned to the starting point to remove the blindfold. For the most part, everyone was able to find their special tree – different barks, needles, sizes and smells were all good indicators.

Afterwards, we sat down and spent some time reading the “Lorax”. We are beginning to encourage a stewardship of the land for students and what story could be better? The students had a lot of great reflections about the story, and it even turned into a game of hide and seek, where the “Lorax” would hide behind a tree, and when found, would chase down all the “Oncelers” to stop them from cutting down trees (see Lorax Tag).

Also on Wednesday, the students eagerly jumped in to help our friend Al clean up all the down branches and twigs from the ice storm a few weeks ago. What a great, spontaneous opportunity for service-learning and taking responsibility of the land we use.

Before lunch we visited our sit spots with our journals in hand and a new task: Adopt-a-Tree. Students chose a tree nearby their spots and were asked to study it, name it and commit to taking care of their tree. With the help of ID books, students were able to figure out their type of tree and some facts about them. Some students on Thursday even created “adoption sheets” complete with all the useful information they could think of about their tree. When we got back to the school house, students presented their trees to the group enthusiastically, by sharing why their tree was so great and why they loved it. (The Snowy Owls have also been given “homework” to find out interesting facts about their tree to share with the group next week.)

The afternoon saw an opportunity for exploration and free-play. Free-play happens daily at the school, and it’s always intriguing to observe and see how the children interact, imagine and cooperate. It was fun to quietly watch on Thursday as games emerged with rules first created, then talked about, tried out and then sometimes changed. On Wednesday, students chose to take on a huge undertaking to make a snowman from the last remaining pile of snow (thanks to the shade from our trees)! An incredible amount of teamwork and communication was needed to lift the second ball on top of the first.

Later on, after a bit more talk about trees, we headed out to the fire pit. By popular demand, we furthered our learning on fire making and took the first steps towards earning fire beads. Student made “nests” from dry grass, sawdust, lint and birch bark. The students were able to make fire in their nest using only a coal and blowing slowly. The next step will be flint and steel (which some students are already mastering) and char cloth.

It seems we fit a lot into the days this week – the sun sure was a great motivator in that!

Congrats to our bead recipients this week as well: 2 storytelling beads were earned and our our very first journaling/reflection bead!

A heads up, too – your child may be snooping around your leftover veggies and fruits for seeds to plant in the upcoming weeks.

See you next week!

Matt and Kim

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot. Nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” -The Lorax

Catch me if you can

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Hey Everyone,

First off, a big WELCOME to our new students!

It seems like winter just won’t leave us alone – which we took full advantage of this week. The fresh layer of snow was perfect for seeking out and learning about animal tracks.

We began the day by checking “baited areas” to see if any creatures had visited and lucky for us, we had a hungry neighbourhood vole. Before learning the ins and out of tracking though, we tracked each other in a game we like to call Track and Seek. The students dove right in, tried to throw the other group off their trail while searching out shelter to hide in. Along the way, we were pleasantly surprised to find goose, rabbit and many more tracks.

Afterwards, we took the classroom to learn about the different parts and types of animal tracks. We even had a helping “paw” from Aden who was happy to show off his claws, toes, heel and dew claws. After a legend about animals, the students designed their own “monsters” and “monster tracks”. The ideas and explanations were incredibly creative! Then the students were given field guides and we were off to the 11th Line Trails. Our goal: to find the tracks of a white-tailed deer and red fox.

And did we ever reach our goal! The students were able to successfully identify dog, fox, deer, squirrel and rabbit tracks. Not only that, using the guide they were able to determine the speed at which the animals were traveling, which led to an epic tale (both days independently!) of the “rabbit” getting away from the “fox” (with a happy ending as we found no evidence to the contrary!)

Both groups independently got into “parkour” on the trails. Jumping from safe spot to safe spot when the trails were flooded. “I feel so ALIVE!” is the quote of the week from one student. Seems the weather can never bring us down at Forest School, and a big kudos to all the positive attitudes of the students.

As for beads, congratulations to our recipients this week! We gave away 2 group beads for excellent games invented and then led by students, one called Soccer Ball Track and Seek and the other called Sick Bug.

We are looking forward to next week, and hopefully some nice sunny days.

Matt and Kim

List of creatures’ tracks that we ID’ed:
Goose
Rabbit
Grey Squirrel
White-Tailed Deer
Aden
Domestic Dogs
Red Fox
Seagulls
Vole
Raccoon

The crows seemed to be calling his name, thought Caw

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Hey Everyone,

We dove into birds this week and were fortunate enough to identify over a dozen different species. With robins, red wing blackbirds, cedar wax wings, so many waterfowl, and (our personal favourite) some killdeer to name a few, we had such an abundance of birds to ID and observe. We even saw a Red Tailed Hawk!

We explored a new forest area in search of pine cones (now aptly named “Pine Cone Valley”), then got sidetracked for awhile at the “Concrete Factory” (a wet, sandy, muddy mix in the “Endless Desert”). We brought the cones back to the school house and made good old fashioned peanut butter and seed bird feeders to hang in our sit spots in hopes of attracting some new friends.

From the stories of the students, we hear you had a happy Easter and enjoyed an extra long weekend! We had our own version of an egg hunt at the forest school this week. Students learned about maps and the use of latitude and longitude to find coordinates. We then got out the GPS and did an egg geocache, receiving new coordinates at each egg found, leading us to the next. The grand finale? A pot filled with hot chocolate cooked over the fire.

A BIG congratulations to our first recipients of beads this week. We gave out 3 craft beads for a great homemade bag, gravity-tension thorn spinner, and an egg carton museum; a storytelling bead for a wonderful legend told around the fire on the origins of maple syrup; and a 3 group beads for a great reflection activity led by a red tailed hawk, and two group activities lead by Snowy Owls.

See you next week!

Kim and Matt

The fire within (or “you had me at pancakes”)

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Hey Folks, happy Spring! And what a difference between Wednesday’s weather and Thursday freezing rain!

We learned all about fire this week, and are on our way to earning our fire bead. First off, a trip to the local fire station where students got to explore the station, engines, and learn about protective equipment and fire safety. Since we’ll be having lots of fires at Forest School, the students came prepared and eager with many questions to ask our local heroes. (Don’t be surprised if you child comes home and checks all the fire alarms!)

After lunch, we were back outside learning the exact steps in fire building. With journals in hand, students learned all about the things needed (heat, oxygen and fuel) to make a fire. The students eagerly collected their tinder, kindling and logs, and in no time we had a nice teepee fire blazing. Not even the freezing rain could stop our fire Thursday.

As a special treat, we cooked pancakes over the fire. The students were more than thrilled to add the maple sugar and syrup from our sugar shack visit three weeks ago. On Thursday, these came to be know as delicious “scram”cakes because we forgot the spatula.

This week also saw the implementation of two new systems: Our beads ceremony and sticker reward chart. Students now earn stickers for various categories (leadership, respect, listening, etc) and when they fill their chart, they receive an incentive.

Beads (see core routines) will also be earned by students for developing both hard and soft skills. Now we don’t normally send homework home with the students, but there are a couple opportunities for students to work on earning their beads at home – if they want. Some the skills (fire, knots, etc) can always be practiced at home, but there are 2 beads that can be earned at home: the craft and storytelling beads.

The craft bead is ANYTHING creative the student wants to make and bring in and share with the class. It could be a bird feeder, dream catcher, painting, ANYTHING! Depending on what it is, we may even be able to all make one.

The storytelling bead is just that – telling a story/myth/legend/song/poem/anything around the fire to the group.

We know you are busy, and there is no time limit on this. If your child finds the time, that’s great, but it’s not mandatory.

See you next week, let’s hope for some sun.

Happy Easter!

Matt and Kim

Here Fishy, Fishy

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Hey Folks!

March Break didn’t stop us from going to school. This week, we welcomed brand new students to our school and now offer a Wednesday program in addition to Thursday! As an emergent-learning and student-centered program, both days unfolded in similar yet unique ways.

The Red Tailed Hawks and Snowy Owls were quite adventurous this week. After our regular check-ins and smudging ceremony, we spent some time learning about fish through interactive games, like a new favourite Fishy, Fishy. Some explorers were also able to spend some quality time in our sit spots and journal about things they saw and changes they noticed since the last time they were there.

Soon after, we were off to the Georgian Triangle Angler’s Association fish hatchery. Here we learned about the life cycles of fish by observing first-hand the GTAA’s efforts at enhancing populations of trout in the Georgian Triangle. The students were able to see, feed and hold (in nets) both brown and rainbow trout. The fish ranged in age from a couple months to almost two years and ready for release. Afterwards, we explored the creek and pond nearby to locate “escapees”.

Equally important as the hatchery itself was the connection the students could make to our own property. The GTAA will be releasing some fish in the student-named “Sugar Shack River” leading into “Willow Lake” at bygone days later on this year. This was exciting news for our students, with dreams of “catching huge fish!” in the lake.

WEDNESDAY

Our afternoons varied between the two days. Wednesday saw the students head over to “Fossil Mountain” and explore new frontiers of the property (which led to the discovery of the “Endless Desert” and “Sugar Shack River”). We had a lesson in erosion and river formation in the sand dunes, as well as damming. It got quite muddy!

Then it was off to build huts and a fire. Despite the rain (or maybe because of it), the students quickly set up natural shelters and a tarp to remain dry. We got a fire going, with everyone taking shot at making sparks with flint and steel.

THURSDAY

Thursday afternoon saw trust- and communication-building through a blindfolded hike. Then it was off to build a huge natural shelter to fit the whole team-so big in fact we weren’t able to finish it. The students quickly self-divided into roles (stick collectors, shelter builders, cleaners, grass-getters, etc) and in no time we had worked together to make a masterpiece.

Afterwards we celebrated with a fire and marshmallows. The students all had a chance to try using flint and steel and catch a spark on charcloth. They did very well, and this is a skill we will continue to work on.

All in all, a great week. We hope you are enjoying your March Break as much as we are!

Until next time,

Kim and Matt

If you’d like more information about the GTAA please click here to visit their website