We had a fun week at FNS with a lot of exploring (as usual!) and discovering many things along the way. We focused on using our “owl eyes” and and other senses to uncover some of the secrets of the forest. Along the way we found mysterious holes with empty snail shells all around it, dozens of nuts in a hole in a maple tree, a bunch of tunnels revealed under the snow, an unknown hornet nest – with a hornet still inside and, of course, tracks galore!
Every track tells a story is our motto and it was so much fun coming with likely (and unlikely!) stories for all these signs. Imaginations went wild, which leads to connection, which leads to research, which leads to even more connection. Behind the scenes: As you know, rarely do we tell our students the “answers” (a hard thing to do from a teacher’s perspective…) in an effort to build true, memorable connections with nature. We feel that the connection can be inhibited with a simple and quick answer. Instead, we like to spark and feed their curiosity and support them in the investigative work!
And thus, this is why we now know that bald-faced hornets build beautiful nests in trees; or that shrews like to stockpile snails for the winter; or that there is an undiscovered walnut tree somewhere in the vicinity – you get the picture.
One big part of our week for the older groups was when one of our class dogs uncovered a deer leg. We got up close and personal with it (totally optional) and pieced together the story with the our groups – coyotes. It gave us a somewhat rare opportunity to examine its cloven hoof and fur up close, and have a better understanding of the tracks we see and connection with fur we see stuck to trees. And while death can be hard subject, it led to meaningful and reflective conversation with our students.
Thanks for reading some of our highlights from this week.
Worms and insects are out. Turtles and Frogs are sunbathing. Birds are singing and making nests. Spring is here and here’s the recap of our week, enjoy!
Tuesday
With emergent interests at the forefront, we were a little all over the place on Tuesday with an overarching theme of Spring – though it felt more like Summer! We began our day with some of our core routines and games, then jumped into plant ID. We set the stage – 8 mystery plants that need to be identified and limited time periods to peek at the master copy! Students did an excellent job of uncovering and naming various plants using just small pieces of them including clover, willow, dogwood and more.
Afterwards, we had to take advantage of the warm sun and headed out on an adventure, nets in hand just in case. We played around the big lake, dammed up our stream, climbed fossil mountain and found and caught an incredible amount of critters! Frogs, tadpoles, a blind fish, some green eggs and 2 Giant Water Bugs aka Lethocerus americanus. In addition, we found a kill site from what we guessed was last fall, and tried to unravel the mystery of what occurred.
In the afternoon, we got crafty and did some painting and made “seed” bombs. Seed bombs (clay, soil and seeds) are meant to be tossed anywhere and make flowers grow. Let us know how yours do! We finished up with a teambuilding initiative – choose the right path – and before we knew our day had flown by!
Wednesday
Similar to Tuesday, our Wednesday group was excited about searching for water creatures – and determined to find a Giant Water Bug. After a thrilling “Ring Toss” Tournament, we were on our way to the West side of the big pond in hopes of capturing some critters. We were able to snag some striders, a tadpole and frog pretty quickly, but as the rain began to roll in our hopes dwindled on catching a Giant Water Bug – until at nearly the last moment, a log was moved and we got one!
We decided to head back as the rain picked up, and along the way were treated to a nesting Morning Dove in a cedar. A big props to the student with the keen eyes! On our way to get dry however, the rain stopped (as was our day: rain, sun, rain, sun) so we stopped too to spend some quality time at our sit spots. It wasn’t long until students were drawn to a huge puddle – a bridge went up, frogs eggs were spotted and inevitably shoes came off to squish in the clay.
After lunch – and a quick thunderstorm that sent us inside for a bit – we dove into a teambuilding initiative (island hopping) and students did extremely well coming through with the fastest time to date!
After our story of the day (debrief) it was to say adieu for another week.
Thursday
The rain didn’t slow us down on Thursday as we lit ourselves a nice big fire to dry off and stay warm. In fact the wet weather actually inspired us to get building on our shelters in our it spots. And who can resist a giant puddle full of clay? And hundreds of striders – so much that our students shoveled out a section, built some walls and created a strider sanctuary. Some students even took on the initiative of building a tee-“pea”: a living garden structure designed to grow peas and provide shelter!
In the afternoon we ventured west with nets in hand. With the cold weather, we were sort of surprised to find a turtle out on shore, but happy nonetheless. And while we didn’t spot any giant water bugs, we did get up close and personal with a mama morning dove sitting on her nest in a cedar. As we ventured more, we uncovered tons of fossils, found that the bank swallows have returned to Fossil Mountain and followed some fresh deer tracks.
On days like this, we’re reminded that rain is a good thing as flowers are starting to bloom!
Friday
The morning clouds gave us a heads up – take advantage of the sun because we’d likely have rain later.
Our students set the stage today when they imagined a mini jungle life playing itself out in the grass – think “Honey I Shrunk the Kids”. Therefore after doing some core routines (smudge, animal forms, quiet time) we headed out to our Sit Spots to play, build and get up close a personal with bugs. Specifically we built a bug hotel! Complete with pine cone rooms, sumac rooms, bark rooms, and mud rooms. Holes were drilled in locks, mini hammocks were made and even a pool was put in for the striders. It turned into more of a 5-star bug resort, and students eagerly sought out bugs to add to it. Worms, Potato Bugs, Striders, Centipedes and even a Wooly Bear caterpillar (named Crawly) all checked in. With lunch looming, we headed back, just in time for the torrential downpour.
The sun made it’s return shortly after, and we continued with our bug theme shifting our focus to bees. After some students made some beeswax chap stick to take home, we chatted about threats to the bee population and the ramifications it could have. We explored pesticide use, habitat loss and other critical issues. And then we dove into the roles of bees in a macro-model we call “Bee-Safe” where bees must retrieve pollen without getting tagged by some of the “threats”.
After a final barefoot walk through the gigantic puddle, we called it a day. Happy May the 4th Star Wars fans!
We had a good week celebrating and exploring the wonderful lives of bees with all the students. After our core routines (and some lessons on Poison Ivy ID – that time of year…) we jumped into discussion on bees. There was a lot of prior bee knowledge from our students. We looked at needs, benefits and risks as a class. The students really had a solid understanding of just how important bees are to the environment and food production – and also what we can do to help them.
Throughout the day, we jumped into the roles of bees in two separate games. The first was a spin on a classic game that we like to call Capture the “Honey”, with two bee colonies competing against each other in what is essentially the classic Capture the flag (which everyone always loves!) The second was a macro-model we dubbed “Bee”ware, where students became a bee and had to maneuver through “pesticide” and “loss of habitat” areas without getting caught in order to get the sweet, sweet nectar. What better way to learn about bees, than to become a bee! We shared many great reflections and insights together after playing these activities.
We also had the chance to get up close and personal with our magnifying glasses and examine real nests and honeycombs. And afterwards, we tried some very sweet local honey.
In the afternoon, we had our daily experiential time where students decide what they’d like to do. We saw a large variety of activities over these three days – some students built towers, carved spoons, collected seeds, others caught hundreds of tadpoles, followed bees from flower to flower or made up stories and games. We even had one group build a bat house (inspired and led by one of our students!) while another opted to play more “Bee”ware…. Oh and our new giant teeter-totter!
Towards the end of the day, we used another product from bees – beeswax. We put together a camp stove, melted down the ingredients, and made some chapstick (check it out under “Recipes from our classes”). On a couple days we even had time to make cedar tea with honey in it.
Next Week:
ROCK CLIMBING at Metcalfe Rock! All gear will be provided! Chances are it will be buggy, so please wear layers!
All in all, a sweet day!
Matt, Kim and Krista
PS – Did you know that storytelling is an integral part of our program at Forest School and we often tell and read them together? This week we read a great book called Mr. Bumble – By Kim Kennedy
We had an amazing dose of vitamin D while enjoying the summer weather today, and all the heat and humidity didn’t slow our kids down one bit! This week we touched on the topic of bee’s, while still enjoying our regular routines. We started our day with a student led game “Bee-ing Human” similar to tag, but this got us working up such sweat that we had to cool down with blowing bubbles! And who doesn’t love bubbles! While sitting in on our check in’s, the question “If you had a superpower that could help change the world, what would it be?” This got our kids thinking all about bad guys, controlling the weather and the ability to help end world hunger with ‘Mother Nature’ capabilities.
While our Painted Turtles were working on their sit spots, some of them decided to get their hands dirty and make mud pies and cakes. They even took the time to decorate them with dandelion’s, but for some reason, no one seemed too interested in tasting it.
Our morning discussions brought us to our first lesson about bee’s. We buzzed over to our journals and started writing and drawing all the information we knew, and our students know a lot! We even looked at the ‘Honey Bee’ anatomy. Last Spring, we were lucky enough to find an abandoned bee’s nest, and had the chance to dry it out and were able to feel the outside (which feels like really thin paper) and the honey comb inside. Getting up close to the nest really put things into perspective for our students. After our lesson it naturally led into our bee themed game! Called “Get to the Honey” this game included 2 Bee guards, 2 Bee forgers, 1 Queen Bee, and 2 Bears! The goal was for the bears to find the hive and get all that honey, but wait! You don’t want to get caught by the guards (their stingers really hurt). While the guards are protecting their home, the forgers are buzzing around trying to find nectar and pollen. Phew! Our students quickly discovered there is never any down time for a bee whether it’s, foraging, protecting, feeding the larva, or building upon the hive. The truly discovered the meaning behind the phrase “you’re a busy bee”.
With a high of 32 degrees our afternoon was fairly relaxed. Between frog hunting (6 in total and a bullfrog which got away!), making lip chap (which was super easy and only consisted of bee’s wax, coconut oil and peppermint oil) we enjoyed finishing off our day with a well deserved river dunk.
Thank you to Emily and Taven for your Show and Share, as well to all of our students who showed respect and love for one another! Our day was full of recognition! 4 littler less lunch beads, 1 bravery bead, 1 storytelling bead, 2 fire beads and 1 bingo bead! We are even getting super close to winning some prizes for our stickers! Keep being awesome Painted Turtles and Snowy Owls!
