Free Spirit Forest and Nature School

Nurturing Connection with Self, Others and Nature

Snowy Days

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Dear Snow,

Thank you for coming to visit us at Forest School. With your arrival there are some exciting changes to Bygone Days! The tent is a new addition and a warm, fun place to enjoy our snacks and lunch, read stories and listen to the soft pitter patter of you falling on the roof.

The Chickadeees were so excited about the tent this morning, but were quickly drawn outside by the anticipation of all the activities you provide for us! We pulled each other on the sleds and even went tobogganing! You also provide a refreshing treat (we will have to wait a bit to see if November snow tastes better than December snow!)…don’t worry though we made sure to only taste the fresh fallen snow!

We have noticed that you are cold, fluffy and sometimes slippery, weigh down the tree branches, and create a hush across the land. Although it takes us longer to trek, we went on an adventure to Ducky’s campsite where we played and worked together to build snow forts. It would be ideal if you stuck around so we can add to our forts next week.

We are so thrilled that you have arrived Snow, and we look forward to more fun with you!

From Monday’s Chickadees, Emily and Krista

Snow Snow, stay and play!

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Hi Friends,

Mother Nature sure did hand us a bag full of every type of weather this week, and we still loved every minute of it! Each day at Forest School always looks a little different and discoveries are always unfolding, but some things were consistent throughout our week – like how the snow makes sounds seem more dense, less birds and noise, our well known hikes have become more challenging and there is much more to discover and create in the snow.

Some of the highlights this week that we cannot forget are:

New Creations at Lakeside
Quicksand and Waterfalls
Legends and Plant Identification
Snowstorms
Discovering Duckies Camp site
Eagle eye on Fossil Mountain
Fire Building and Flint and Steel
Prospectors Tent
Dangerous Baby Squirrels
Raccoon Touch
New records with Fossil Mountain Sledding
Fan favourite Fox and Bunny game
Fort building with snow

We look forward to another great week ahead of us!

The FNS Crew

Snowmageddon

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Hi Folks,

I think we were all super surprised this morning when we saw so much of that white stuff! We can’t believe we almost forgot how beautiful it is. Our students had a beautiful moment at the start of our day – venturing into the woods, we all found a quiet, personal space where we caught cotton ball size snow flakes with our tongue. It was so quite with no wind or birds to listen to we were in awe of the silence. We observed so much, and we are so proud of our students and their amazing owl eyes.

It was amazing to see all our builders at work this morning ranging from epic igloos, snow city with walls, towers and a full volcano in the middle, snowmen and a race car track fully equipped with a pit stop and stands. Our students even had the chance to play a Forest School favourite game – Fox and Bunny. A game of endurance, chance and pure luck, along with a new twist from a student – the Elder Bunny. The magical bunny that can bring a bunny road block back to life! It was a huge hit, so you should ask your child about it.

We continue to track, explore, share, reflect and build relationships with each other, ourselves and our environment. Thanks for a great snowy day!

Krista and Travis

Mysteries for days….

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Hi Friends,

Another pretty awesome week we had, starting off with a pretty epic mud kitchen, some hard core obstacle course construction and our imagination even helped us become local farmers.

With all the rain this morning, our students were lucky and discovered 3 rainbows. We pondered about rainbows and why they appear after a rain storm. We all came to the conclusion it was a beautiful sight to see after the dark clouds moved past. This also allowed us to find all the Green Trees (Pine, Spruce, Cedar and Hemlock), which hold magical properties and special medicine. Mother Nature is pretty fascinating!

Our Chickadees ventured to a new part of the forest this week and discovered the Mysterious Forest which led into time spent alone, group play, magical powers of the world, new paths, train stations along with courage, patience and awareness of one self and the natural environment. Ending our day with an amazing puddle discovery full of splashing, jumping, running and laughing.

We look forward to seeing everyone next week!

Krista and Emily

Love for all weather!

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Hi Friends,

What an incredibly creative day we had! We were very curious students today and started looking at different types of creature and plants such as :

Red Spotted Purple (Butterfly)
Emerald Ash Borer
Wooly Bear American Dagger
Northern Oriole

We also love rain days because it gives our students the opportunity to dive into their imagination and creative side. We were big builders and inventors – from the tallest tower, pumpkin stoves, painting pictures and 3D replicas.

From carving pumpkins to eating toasted seeds, we even continue to get to know our forest. Finding new mushrooms, Downy Woodpeckers, Salamanders and new plants. We started to focus on the Green trees today, and used our owl eyes to find Spruce, Pine, Hemlock and Cedar. Some were easier finds than others, and we are still on the hunt for the Pine tree!

Until next week

Krista and Travis

Acorns and more…

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Hey Folks,

Imagine being a baby squirrel and accidentally falling out of your drey (tree squirrel nest). Now imagine being an eagle flying over the forest and with your keen eye, you see an unprotected meal right for the taking? Our students looked at this scenario from both perspectives today and while some thought playing the squirrel was stressful others realized playing the predator was also tricky, and not as easy as some might think.

As much as we love the rain, we were lucky enough to see some sun finally! Some students revisited our colour walk from last week and talked about the magic of change and the gifts Mother Nature provide us with. We found some pretty magical leaves and recreated them on our magical flags and wands. We also revisited our “nests” again to see if their nature offering were taken. We worked as a team this afternoon and collected an enormous amount of acorns, and we mean enormous – our educated guess was roughly around 600 total, who knew this nut was so popular!

Our older students ventured into the forest today and discovered a family of salamanders, forest wands, building bio-domes, and even had some time time to start working on their carving skills. What an incredibly busy day that flew by! Until next week friends.

Krista and Travis

Making friends with Birds

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Hi Friends,

We had a special visitor come knocking at the schoolhouse today. We will give you three clues to guess who:

1. They could fly

2. They were persistently searching for something in the wood on the outside of the schoolhouse

3. If they were in a band, they would be the drummer

If you guessed a woodpecker, you are correct! After observing the busy worker with binoculars and using our bird books to guide us, we discovered it was a male Downy Woodpecker. Be sure to ask your Chickadee for some more fascinating facts pertaining to woodpeckers (interestingly, Downy Woodpeckers have been observed in mixed flocks with chickadees in the winter…maybe our friend was testing out our flock for the winter!). Woolly bear caterpillars, a lively game of capture the flag and a book club in the fort were other highlights of a sunny Monday at Bygone Days.

Until next week

Emily + Krista

Natures Colour Wheel

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Hi Friends!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and we were excited to hear all about your child’s long weekend stories! Our question of the day was: What have you noticed in our environment? And we love hearing the answers because they always vary so much. Ranging from the colours of the leaves, no birds or sun in the sky, that it feels colder, or that they didn’t see any animals running around. This led into a great day full of imagination and role play.

We used our childlike wonders and jumped right into the role of animals that either hibernate or collect and store their food for the winter, but still stay active. Our day consisted of scavenging, predator and prey, den building and story telling through games and child-led activities. As per usual while on our journey we decided to take a “Colour Walk” which was to discover all the many colours Fall has to offer us and nature provided in abundance.

We also found 3 Red Backed Salamanders, discovered new land and invented a new breed of mammal – Egglets. Please ask your child about them, or even better ask them to show you!

Thank you for another great week!

Krista and Travis

Community Building

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Hi Folks,

Each week we challenge our students to discover something new that is within our woodland, and this week was no different. While some of our students used their wonderful imagination this morning – playing Wolf pack – which consisted of territories, predators, cubs, stalking and of course nap time, our other students really dived into their creative side and created a Forest School Wooly Bear Sanctuary, which consisted of 17 wooly bears, and banded tussock moth and a Brown Hooded Owlet. Now we do not normally like to take creatures out of their natural habitat, but we like to let everyone know that all caterpillars were returned back to their natural habitat unharmed.

While our chickadees took on the role of a chipmunk or squirrel, we started collecting different types of food (acorns, leaves and chestnuts). We then built a very special “cupboards” made from natural objects in different spots around our outdoor classroom, our goal is to check back next week to see if the food we left will still be there! Our afternoon looked a bit different for our older forest schoolers – building forts, exploring the woods and continuing to build relationships with each other. We love giving our students the time to reflect back on the day, and with another great day all round we feel very grateful for all our students who come and let us spend the day with them!

We wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving weekend!

Krista and Travis

Ready, Set..Imagination!

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Hi Friends,

This week our chickadees jumped right into action playing games, digging for treasures and discovering a hidden gem just outside our classroom – a chestnut tree! This brought so much interest from why does the seed pod have spikes?, What’s inside?, What animals eat this and how do we open it up? This gave our students the opportunity crack open their findings and take their seed home to plant their very own chestnut tree! We even gave our little chipmunks the chance to act out their animal and scurry to find all the hidden chestnuts and bring them back to their den before the Prey (Fox and Honey Badger) could catch them! Well done everyone.

Our afternoon was filled with so much imagination which was surrounded by finding the wild wolf that was let loose in Bygone Days along with fort building, tree identification, bracelets and necklaces, fire bundles, mud construction and a very popular Wooly Bear Hotel. Everyone was so thoughtful making sure these caterpillars were safe, had lots of food, bedding, shelter and even a tanning room.

Due to Thanksgiving falling on a Monday this year, everyone at Forest School wishes all our students and families and very happy and safe Thanksgiving! We will see you all in two weeks!

Gobble Gobble,

Krista and Emily

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