Free Spirit Forest and Nature School

Nurturing Connection with Self, Others and Nature

You Rock!

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Hey Friends,

Forest School is all about self-discovery, jumping out of our comfort zones and challenge by choice. Today we brought all these elements together and discovered our personal strengths.

We joined our Collingwood Forest School and explored the beautiful area of Metcalfe Rock located in the Kolapore Uplands. This is an area that is tucked away along the Niagara Escarpment. Caving was our activity of the day and our students did not waste anytime. They jumped right into their harnesses and helmets and strapped on their headlamps. After our safety talk we were ready to go!

Check out our photos below!

It was an exciting time when we found a spine of an animal tucked away in some brush. We believe it was a small coyote or maybe a wolf…this debate is still on going.

We started the day off by creating our own hiking trail on our Heathcote property. We love to hike and this time we didn’t run into any burr bushes! Phew..

After we met up with the Collingwood Forest School we hiked further up the Niagara Escarpment and made it to our camp site. There we took a well deserved snack time.

Last week we learned all about fire and today we put it to the test. While some kids collected tinder and sticks, others focused on starting a fire to keep us warm. The teamwork was amazing…. great job guys!

Communication and spotting our buddies help keep us safe in unknown surroundings.

We took some time to talk about this Ancient Eastern White Cedar which is an amazing tree estimated to be 1000 years old! Lots of fun discussion was had on why the roots were braided. When was the last time you hugged something that old?

Our Izzy being brave and climbing out of the Ice Cave.

Before we were done with our day the kids worked together and created a 5 foot leaf pile! Everyone worked so hard on this and it ended with a well deserved….. you got it LEAF FIGHT!

Today we saw old friends, made new ones and created lasting memories. Thank you for all who came out and made it an amazing caving day!

We are so proud of all our students on their teamwork and respect for one another. They all received bravery, peer support and leadership stickers.

Next week – We will be working on our inner Van Gogh with the natural elements. Art Attack Week!

Thanks for stopping by,

Krista

Build me a fire and I will make you a s’more!

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What another beautiful day we had this week at Forest School! This week our focus was all about fire. And what a fire packed day we had!

Some of our activities included visiting the Town of Blue Mountains Fire Station and discussing fire basics. Then with high anticipation our students had the chance to BUILD and LIGHT their own fires. Yes! You read that right. It was a great day for productive play, imagination and skill building.

Check out our photos below and you’ll see everything we did in just one day!

After observing our worms for two weeks we decided to release them into our compost area and our bug hotels.

In the morning we thought we would mix it up and say what we are thankful for during our smudging ceremony.

Freeplay is an activity that happens throughout our days and today we found a bunch of hunters trying to catch a dangerous Jaguar. Oh yeah, not everyone wanted to capture this animal. There were some who wanted to protect her. But not to worry…no animals were harmed.

Sit spots are moments where we reflect on our day. All aspects are covered from what we have learned, how things made us feel or just writing down our favourite part of the day. It is when the students take time for themselves while giving thanks to nature.

Thank you to the Fire Chief Prevention Officer Duncan Rydall for showing us around Station #1 today. We got to see and learn all about the trucks (the kids even got to sit in them). There were lots of questions answered and we shared our fire safety rules. What a great experience!

What are we holding in our hands you ask? Our kids started their fire knowledge by understanding what a fire needs to survive (heat, fuel and oxygen) along with different types of fuel (tinder, kindling and logs). It was then time to create our fire bundles that will help start our fires!

It was a great experience for our kids to light their fires with matches, lighters, flint and steel. Comfort zones were challenged today and now when it comes to fire we have braver students!

This task was challenging for some of our students. Creating a fire and lighting them was harder for some students but taught us great lessons. We learned what not to do, what natural material to use, where to build a fire, what we would do differently and what things we would keep the same. This is a skill we are going to build upon on a weekly basis.

Congratulations to our students who received the fire bead (3 in total), and 7 well deserved wisdom stickers!

NEXT WEEK: FIELD TRIP– We will exploring the natural rock formations of Metcalf Rock!

Things your child will need – extra clothes, winter hat and warm gloves.

Things we will provide – helmet, headlamp and harness.

Thanks for stopping by,

Krista

Bonus picture! Check out this worm.

From little seeds grow mighty trees

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Hello again!

This week our focus was on trees. Some of the different types that we discovered were Red Oak, Paper Birch, Sugar Maple and White Ash. This naturally led to a discussion as to what trees offer us and to our environment. The kids discovered that providing oxygen, syrup, paper, firewood and helping wildlife were just some of the amazing things they do.

We then used the buddy system and took turns blindfolding each other while leading one another to a special tree. The blindfolded kids had to learn all they could about the tree by hugging, smelling, and feeling it. After the investigation they were led back to the starting point and given the chance to hunt down that tree! All of our trees were found with a little help from the “Hot and Cold” game.

Then, with the help of our tree ID books the kids worked towards their teaching beads. Lots of fun facts were learned and everyone got to share information about their favorite trees. They even attempted to say the tree names in Latin.

The kids spent the afternoon creating their own personal totem poles. The meaning behind the Totem Pole varies but can be anything from celebrating cultural beliefs, or well-known legends and even artistic designs and notable events. Totems can include plants, animals, humans and even supernatural beings. We chose animals that represent our core values and put some paintings together to create our own story to share. Make sure you ask what animal your child picked!

We also gave out some important stickers today such as Love, Honesty, Humility and Bravery.

Did we mention we had time to make homemade applesauce? Well, we did! Students showed leadership and peer support throughout the process while reaping the tasty rewards after their hard work.

If you would like to make your own applesauce all you need is:

1 cup of water
4-8 apples (we used Macintosh)
¼ cup of Sugar
1 tsp of lemon juice
½ tsp of cinnamon

NEXT WEEK: We are going to work towards our Fire bead!

Thanks for stopping by; we will see you next week.

Krista

Getting dirty with bugs!

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Hello Folks!

Today we welcomed a new student named Izzy to our Forest School by introducing the smudging ceremony experience with her while explaining the meaning of it.

A Creepy Crawly bug day was the name of the game this week! Throughout the day the kids observed and held: spiders, centipedes, worms, banana slugs, frogs, fish, hornets, pink mushrooms, and much more!

Our students were excited this morning and hiked to the back of our property to find the floor of our shelter was missing! WHAT? Yes our floor went missing! After searching the property and coming up with possible solutions we were unable to find our floor which was also a great thing because our kids had the opportunity to create a new structure. This one is stronger, accessible for all students and even has it’s own fireplace! We even tested out the new fire pit by roasting marshmallows in it. They sure were tasty and we only lost 3 to the fire.

Next on the agenda was to create a worm compost. Our students brought in newspaper, egg cartons, saw dust, and food scraps. Then we went on a worm hunt, which started out with a discussion as to where these worms like to hang out. That would be dark damp areas, loose dirt, compost bins, and near to the surface!

Tip: If your soil is dry grab a hose and run some water over the ground, wait about a half hour, and the worms should rise up.

Our goal with our worm compost is to check in each week and see how they are doing. Are they mixing up the layers or compost and newspapers? Have they eaten anything? Do they need more compost? Is the soil wet or dry? After we are done with our findings we plan on putting these hard workers back into the ground by adding them into our existing compost.

We discussed our favorite bugs today and because our school is home to hundreds of bugs, we thought it would be awesome to create a bug hotel! The students collected: pinecones, dry grass, deadwood, fallen tree bark, empty tissue paper rolls, dirt, and newspaper to build the hotel. There was thought and discussion that went into the planning of which insects would like certain habitats. The kids will visit this area on a weekly basis and conduct their observations within their journals.

All of our kids worked really hard this week on their Respect, Bravery, and Honesty stickers. Next week we look forward to giving away a couple more beads!

Next Week: Is all about Tree Identification and First Nation totem pole exploration!

Thank-you for stopping by, we will se you next week!

Krista

Having a Blast on the Beaver River!

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Hello again!

Today was a day was full of discovery, learning new skills, team building exercises and an abundance of wildlife to see. This included; birds, turtles, fish, crayfish, beavers, frogs, cows and Canadian Geese.

We were pleased to welcome our Collingwood Forest School for the paddling day as they were going to join us. Our adventure started just outside Epping where we headed out to a location called Flower Bridge. This is where we launched 4 canoes with an exciting 3.5km (or 1 hour paddle) that winded around a beautiful part of the Beaver River.

Before we got our “canoe on” the students took time to learn paddling strokes and river safety. It is great to see the ambition of one of our students Aaron who took the role of teacher, and showed their fellow students how to paddle while demonstrating how to hold their paddle. We know it is going to be a great day when a conversation like this happens:

Student #1 – “I can’t do this, it’s too hard!” (Frustrated about how to paddle)

Student #2 – “ Yes you can! All you have to do it believe you can and you can do it. Believe in yourself!”

Our Heathcote location is home to hundreds of Frogs and Toads, so it was fitting that our students took time to learn about their Number 1 resident. Our first activity was to discuss the life cycle of our favorite little guys! Our students were great at becoming frogs and some even became “super frogs” – You should ask your child what a super frog is! We even had a debate about Frogs verses Toads; the main question was could toads really give you warts? Answer is No, but they do give off a poison residue within their glands located right behind their eyes. Afterwards the students could not resist a good old frog catch and release.

Before our guests left to go back to Collingwood, we ventured back into the vegetable gardens to harvest; Celery, Lettuce and Zucchini. Did you know that they are 95% water? We also had a discussion about what other foods is 93% water; some examples are Eggplants, Cabbage, and Peppers. We let these vegetables sit in the color dyed water for a period of time and discuss their finding. The students came to the conclusion that the Zucchini soaked up the water the fastest, while the lettuce came in a close second. If you would like to do this at home all you need is:

1 clear cup
Food colouring
Any vegetable that requires mostly water

Today was an awesome day for beads! We gave away some very deserving NEW beads 1-Leadership bead, 1-Peer support bead, and 1-Teaching bead! Along with some well-deserved stickers to add to our students collection – Love, and Respect.

Next Week: We are going to be looking at Bugs! Some might say EW, but I think our students are going to love getting their hands dirty again!

We will see you next week, thank-you for stopping by : )

Krista

7 Grandfather Teachings

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Hello again!

Thanks for checking in this week! With Summer put to bed and Fall around the corner our students focused on our First Nations 7 Grandfather Teachings, the Medicine Wheel and spent time in nature discovering their artistic side.

As always the students started the day off with free play/discovery and a First Nation Smudging Ceremony. One student wanted to pass around the smoking sage to all his fellow students which he did while all the other students respected the ceremony and were quiet and respectful.

Our students thought it would be a great idea to contribute to the 7 Grandfather Teachings and write nice things about each other. This positive information will be inserted into their journals as a reminder of how awesome they are! We also enjoyed a great hike around the property finding wild grapes (the kids did not like the sour ones), hornets nests, hand sized frogs and discovered a fish in the river which they caught and released.

We focused on our land and what it provides for us. The students created a map about what they think our grounds look like and came up with many designs and creations. They even created their own names for their spots such as “The Village,” Frog Town and Playground. We hiked to the back of our property and they spent some time creating dreamcatchers. The kids weren’t even scared of the Spider Woman legend! We then spent time telling stories around the campfire about bears.

Throughout the day we focused on the 7 Grandfather Teachings – which also represent our sticker system – ask them about it! Our students strive for these morals and values for every class and try to bring them into their everyday life.

Love – Eagle
Honesty – Jenu
Respect – Buffalo
Truth – Turtle
Courage – Bear
Wisdom – Beaver
Humility – Wolf

Our last goal was to visit the Farmers Pantry to visit local animals – goats, chickens, donkeys, ducks, lambs, and very large bunnies. They all picked grass and hay and got right in there to help feed the animals. We also went to pick fresh locally grown Macintosh apples. The kids ate more apples than they could pick while some students pretended they were lost and had to climb to the top of the trees to find their way out!

We did! Phew.

A shout out to one of our students that brought in a very special fossil he found while on a hike. After a couple fun guesses of what type of foot print it was – velociraptor or baby T-rex, we came to the conclusion it was some form of bird. We are still trying to figure it out! We also gave away a NEW bead this week – The storytelling bead. Thanks Jack for bringing in your foot fossil!

Next Week:

FIELD TRIP: We are focusing on water week! Please bring extra clothes and a towel just incase, because we will be canoeing down the Beaver River in the afternoon! Pick up time will be as usual.

What we will be providing: Boats, life jackets, and paddles. If your student had their own PFD please feel free to bring it along.

See you next week!

Krista

If we leave no trace, no one will know we were here!

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Hello all!

Thank you for checking in this week, for another amazing forest school day! We first started by welcoming 2 NEW students with open arms and curiosity about our grounds and play areas.

We started our day, just like every day with a smudging ceremony followed by free play and check ins about our week. We then jumped into a fun game called “The Lorax” created by local students from Collingwood’s Forest School. After we were done with our game, we got comfortable in our greenhouse and read the amazing story “The Giving Tree”. Our students then had a discussion about how the story made them feel and what they thought the meaning of the book was.

After our snack we dove right into our Leave No Trace principles. Our students learned all about the 7 Principles and have become very interactive about discussions and activities that tied it all together. They learned what it takes to plan a trip and how much you need to take with you. Also, how to respect our wildlife with given examples of how they would achieve certain goals. As well as campfire rules and how to be respectful to other people who are trying to enjoy nature as well.

Plan ahead
Stick to the Trails
Dispose your waste (Trash and Poop)
Leave what you find
Minimize campfire impacts
Respect Wildlife
Be considerate of others

After lunch our students continued on our 7 principles, and then proceeded to catch frogs (now learning about LNT the frogs were set free back into their homes), slugs, and built forts. There was an abundance of communication, teamwork, leaders, questions, concentration, self-confidence, and motivation. We also learned 3 legends.

Coyote takes water from the Frogs
How the deer got his horns
Coyote and Skunk

Our awesome day came to end with students receiving our FIRST of many beads. This was a huge deal for our students that worked so hard for them! We gave away the “N” bead for Leave NO Trace, along with stickers for our students that ranged from Respect, Bravery, Wisdom, Love and Humility.

Thank you for checking in this week. Next week we are going to dive into the 7 Grandfather Teachings, Native art, and we get to pick our power animals!

Thanks for stopping in!

Krista

On your mark, get set, go!

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Hello all!
What an amazing first day for Thornbury Forest School! A huge welcome to all our new students at this beautiful location! Within this blog I will be writing each week about our group and self discovery, our field trips, adventures, and daily activities. I am very excited mentor our students at the Heathcote branch, and to assist our students in self discovery within nature! Check out our pictures below!
This week was our Introduction into forest school within our property, surroundings, and fun games with all students. We started off by playing games on our natural jungle gym with a Tarzan swing, climbing holds that follow up a fallen Willow tree. We then started the day off by painting our nature medallions, and participated in a sumdgeing ceremony (white sage) that our students we will participate in each week. This ceremony starts the students off with a positive outlook of the day while the sage washes away our negative energy.
Our students then learned about our Bead Ceremony and our sticker chart (the 7 Grandfather Teachings). We hand out stickers each week to promote healthy and positive behaviour, and something for our students to work towards. Our Bead Ceremony is a guide where students can work towards a skill, while working with others or by themselves.
Before lunch we went for a hike in Heathcote Park. This is were our students curiosity took off when we found tons of snails, apple trees, milkweed, shells from the Beaver River, a HUGE praying mantis, a tire swing, and lots of places to build shelters! We will definitely be back!
After lunch our students got hire swimsuits and life jackets on and we went down to the Beaver river, were we aimed to catch and discover water life. We made sure we took our journals with us and recorded what we found and saw. Minos, shells, leaches, crawfish, and played for hours with clay. Our students worked together, had discussions, created games, became leaders, and respected each other around the water.At the end of our day, and our snack the students went on a frog hunt, while others started decorating our wooden teepee with fallen willow bark.
We had a great first day and are excited to continue to grow as a community with each other! Next week we will be diving into our Leave No Trace principles.
Thanks for stopping in!

Krista

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