Free Spirit Forest and Nature School

Nurturing Connection with Self, Others and Nature

Spoons and Mittens and Tire walls? Oh my.

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A close inspection of the bathroom wall in the Earthship

Hey Folks!

What better way to start our “Projects Day” than with a visit to one of Collingwood’s coolest projects – The Earthship. Aptly named because, like a spaceship or sailing ship, the Earthship gets everything it needs from the Earth and will be completely sustainable! This inspirational project taught us many things:

The potential of using recycled materials to build (ie. tires and bottles for walls)
Concepts around geothermal and passive heating
Creative ways for rain water collection
The significance of having a green house inside the house and a community garden out back.
The impact of volunteering – we heard that some students and their parents have worked on the Earthship too. We know that many hands make light work!

Maybe even most importantly, visiting the Earthship showed us the power of a dream come to life. A big thanks to “Principal” Matt for giving us a tour of his soon-to-be home and sharing with us the process of making his dream come true. Check out a recent article on it here or the website to volunteer and learn more.

Back at the school, we used this motivation to get into our own projects. After learning about our (fairly strict) guidelines, some students started a natural craft by beginning to carve wood into spoons. This project was a good lesson in visualizing, cultivating patience and taking things slow. We hope to have a finished project by the end of the semester!

Starting our spoons

Students also had the opportunity to tackle another big project using recycled material. They up-cycled an old fleece blanket into new mitten liners by hand sewing. Most students loved developing this new skill and made some pretty amazing mittens! We heard a lot of buzz about making these as Christmas gifts.

Homemade mitten liners

Throw in some slacklining, team building activities, and the beginnings of our fire-starter kits and we called it a day!

Congrats to our 2 Craft Beads and 1 Storytelling Bead recipients!

Next week:
Animal Tracking! We are off on a field trip to Loree Forest.

Cheers,
Matt and Kim

More pics for you:

Our big builders, in little bodies

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Hi Friends!

The rain didn’t have us singing the blues today! Our busy little beavers were focused on tools, projects and problem solving. We were lucky to have one last week with warmer temperatures which gave us a lot of flexibility in our active play.

It’s been really incredible watching the growth and development in each child with their motor skills, confidence and teamwork…way to go everyone!

There was a ton of enthusiasm, laughter and fun this week! Here’s a “behind the scenes” look at all of our highlights and accomplishments of the day!

We started the day off by using our muscles and jumped into tearing down our shelters we made last week then built new ones. Last week fire was a big hit so our students wanted to take some time and work together and start a group fire. We learned very quickly that starting a fire is not as easy as it sounds. After all their hard work our fire was started and stayed hot until lunch time.

A big thanks to Emily for bringing in her rock/crystal collection. All the kids got to take a look at “golden tigers eye”, ” black lava stone”, “agate stone”, “rose quartz” and “fools gold”.

Everyone showed off their hammering skills with real hammers and nails! Every child went home with all ten fingers intact!

Later in the afternoon our students spent some time creating music with our homemade kazoos. Also, we apologize for the crazy weather today, we were on a roll with our creativity and made our very own rainmakers!

Our sit spots are a time where our students can reflect on their day and today was no exception. Our question of the day was – “Give 5 examples of how we treat people and how you want to be treated.” Some of the amazing answers were – “be kind, be respectful, help each other, love, like, hold someones hand, give people flowers when they are not happy, tell jokes and make someone smile.” Needless to say we have some seriously amazing little humans on our hands! Way to go parents for raising these sweet, genuine children that we get the pleasure of spending time with once a week.

We always save the best for last!! The main focus today was designing and building their very own bird houses! It was amazing to see how different all of our designs were.

Alice yelled from the Garden ” I heard a Wolf call!!” That’s all it took for our kids to run down to the Beaver River howling for coyotes with the hope of finding a wolf! Good news is no other animals called back!

To no surprise, there were lots of “Honesty” and “Respect” stickers earned today as well as:

1. Storytelling bead. Congratulations to everyone, you all worked so hard for them.

Next Week: We will be joining Collingwood Forest School for a BIG hike up to Loree Forest! Make sure to have an energizing breakfast to keep you fired up, and ready to explore!

Thanks for checking in this week!

Krista

Bonus Picture Below

Taven found a Banana Slug in our Bug hotel today!

If you never get lost, you never get found

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Hey Everyone, have you ever been lost?

This week we challenged our students to see how they would survive a night lost in the woods. The morning had us off to our old campsite to take some quiet space alone to reflect on what it would feel like to be lost – what would you be thinking? What would you do? What could you use around you to stay safe?

During our debrief around the fire, we uncovered that immediately your psychology and attitude are a huge aspect to dealing with a survival situation. We called this S.T.O.P. – Stop, Think, Observe and Plan.

We then dove into the 4 Core attributes to Survival which, on both days, students were able to brainstorm on their own through discussion. Shelter, Fire, Water, Food – and in that order. The most important thing is staying warm (which we had first-hand experience with this week – and thanks to you, the parents, for all the great layers you sent your kids with!)

We had a lot of fun putting the 4 Cores into practice and students realized that they already had a lot of the skills needed. We made fires, shelter and did some exploratory hiking (and even “Sand”boggoning on Wed). In teams, we played out a scenario involving a plane crash and prioritized 12 items we would need and why – there were no wrong answers, just a need to justify. Oh, and how could any Survival day be complete without a little Animal Survival game?

Congrats to our Peer Support Bead recipient, 2 Reflection Beads, 1 Craft Bead and an amazing Storytelling Bead!

Next Week:
We’ll be having some fun and getting creative making projects!

Until next time,

Matt and Kim

More photos for you:

We strive to survive

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Hi Friends!

We had another fun-filled Wednesday at Forest School! Our students spent a large portion of their day braving the cold, and gaining the skills to survive the outdoors. With the colder weather arriving, we focused on shelter building and becoming more confident with our fire skills. There was so much creative thinking, problem solving and collaboration today. We are so proud of all of our students for all their hard work!

Check out how incredible our students are!

Thanks Aaron for bringing in your personal sled today! So much fun was had running around the garden taking turns enjoying the ride and pulling each other around, it was definitely a hit!

Before our smudging ceremony our students had fun constructing their very own teeter totter. It took Jack, Aaron and Taven to lift me off the ground. What super strong young men we have at Forest School.

While we were out hiking and collecting our tinder and kindling, Alice came across some wonderful wild mint. All our kids got to try a piece, some of us even tested our breath to see if it smelled better.

“A Frame”, “Tee-pee”, “Tarps” and “Lean To” were some of the shelters we talked about today. Izzy and Emily worked together and built a “Tee-pee” shelter, while the other kids built “A frame” and “Lean To” shelters. Great teamwork today guys and gals!

We thought this week instead building fires with dry tinder (mostly due to the wet tinder in our area), we would change it up and create our first TNT fire starters. The students were given a toilet paper roll and the choice of birch bark, cotton balls, dried maple sap, newspaper or dryer lint. Packed all together this makes a great fire starter, and something that can be packed in a survival kit!

There was so much success with our fire skills this week, we are proud to say that all 7 of our students were able to start their own fires, and keep them going strong enough to roast marshmallows. High Fives all around!

A lot of beads and stickers were awarded today, wisdom and respect stickers were given out, while EVERYONE earned their shelter and fire beads. Congratulations to all our students.

Next Week:

Projects and Tools! Planning, construction and teamwork are just some of the skills to look forward to next week. Stay tuned.

Reminder:

You child can bring in one tool that could assist them within their projects.

Thanks for checking in this week!

Krista

Bonus Pictures of our awesome day.

Take care of the earth, and she will take care of you

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Hi Friends!

Can you believe it? 6 weeks left until we are done our first semester, how time flies! We couldn’t have asked for better weather today, and with the excitement of snow we decided to focus on Environmental Science.

Today brought a mix of physical exercise, visualization games, student creations and discussions. Throughout our day we discussed two types for pollution (natural and human), two types of energy (renewable and non-renewable), as well with how we as individuals can save the planet. We also started the David Suzuki Superhero challenge with one of the activities called the right to a healthy environment. If you would like more information about this challenge, check out their website at www.getbackoutside.ca

Check out how our day went below.

After our smudge ceremony we started the day with an “X and O” relay race. The teams were “The Dragons” on the left, and “The Hunters” on the right. After 5 races it was still a tie game…until later in the day when the dragons took the lead.

This morning Taven brought to school a box full of special things. This included a Peacock feather, an arrow head, a crystal, a shark tooth, a shotgun shell and a magnifying glass. The students loved it so much that next week we are going to have more show and tell!

After discussions about renewable energy sources, we took time to create our own windmills. They even worked in the wind!

The David Suzuki Superhero challenge was a great way to visualize and discuss the right to a healthy environment. Our students had to think of 5 things that can help protect our environment. We came up with great suggestions from don’t waste water, don’t litter, don’t cut down trees, ride a bike and eat all your food.

Free play is great for our students to burn off that energy, work on their social skills and have fun! We somehow ended up in rain barrels and took turns rolling each other around the garden. No one got sick.

Our afternoon was filled with fire skills, and creating our very first bio-dome! The kids had the choice of planting Kale or the flower Morning Glory. The great thing about this bio-dome? It waters itself and looks pretty cool!

Things you will need to build your own bio-dome:

2 recycled plastic bottles
1 string
Tape
Dirt
Water
Seeds

We took advantage of the sun and debriefed about our day, congrats to all our sticker earners (6 Wisdom, 6 Respect)!

Reminder: Due to the colder weather, please remember to bring extra clothes to layer up!

Next Week: Is all about Mapping and Travel. I wonder where that will take us…

Thanks for stopping by, talk to you next week!

Krista

Check out our bonus pictures!

Every child is an artist

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Hi Friends!

“Creativity is contagious, pass it on” – Albert Einstein

This week at Forest school, it was a student-led emergent day full of creativity. It was amazing to watch how the day unfolded through team-building activities that strived towards working together, communication and memory.

Our students worked both individually and together to construct a masterpiece of art from natural products as well as with man-made materials. Did I mention there was a lot of mud involved?

This was a great day for our kids to be as creative as they could!

Check it out!

The fog was amazing this morning and while we were sitting quietly across from the Beaver River, we spotted a Blue Heron hunting for his breakfast.

We hunted down our natural paint brushes, paint (wild grapes, blueberries, and crab apples) and objects to stick onto our artwork (leaves, cedar scales and grass).

One of our team-building activities was the create our favourite animals out of pipe cleaners. Some of our creations were a Wolf, Thunderbird, Salamander and Octopus.

Another activity that was completed was “The Maze”. Communication and memory was the name of the game!

Our students creating their art with natural paint brushes, mud, rocks, wood cookies and cold ash from the fire pit.

“The Village”. This was created by all students and everyone had their job. Some students worked on concrete (water and mud), digging holes, building homes and roping off future development.

Some of the artwork our students created today!

Today was an amazing muddy day full of adventure and creativity.

Great job Taven and Jack for starting their first fire without any help! What amazing stories we had around the fire as well, so make sure you ask your child what story they told. This meant we gave away our first Storytelling beads! Great job everyone!

Next Week – We are going to be looking into Environmental Science.

Thanks for stopping by,

Krista.

Check out our bonus pictures of our mud monsters!

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.

In case of Fire…

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Hey Folks!

What an interesting and incredible sight to arrive to on Tuesday at Forest School. Seems the storm left a bit of damage on our area with willows, aspens and more knocked over across the property. Luckily, they fell in good places and no one was hurt, or major damage done.

The students had a blast with the debris though! We jumped in to help clean up the mess and made a massive pile of downed branches and leaves, which later turn into a fort, and then, later still, turned into a full on shelter–make the best of a bad situation! (A really good moment for us as teachers was when the students were handing us branches and telling us the type of tree it was without any prompting–some things did stick from our tree lesson last week!)

We eventually began our day as planned with fire! Our first task was a lesson on the needs of fire (oxygen, heat and fuel) and different kinds of fuel (tinder, kindling and bigger wood). After learning the basics it was time to put it into practice at our fire pit. Of course when we arrived, a tree had fallen over it!

After the clean-up, we talked about different styles of fires, fire safety and LNT principles. We then went over the steps to build a tee-pee fire. With the help of everyone we got it going fairly quickly and had some storytellers tell some stories to earn their beads. This culminated in a “test” at the end of the day where Snowy Owls were paired up with Painted Turtles and given the task to prepare and create a fire. Students could also visit the “store” and if they answered a fire related question, were given special materials such as birch bark, wood shavings and more. Everyone was able to do it (even with some hard winds on Tuesday!) and earned their Fire Beads. Congrats! They did so well in fact we had time leftover for a huge game of Capture the “Fire” (Flag).

We also found time this week to head out to Curries Farm Market and pick out a pumpkin for each group. We carved out the pumpkins together and saved some seeds to fry up and put in our seed library for the spring.

Congrats to all our bead earners (22 Fire Beads, 4 Storytelling), and a very special congrats to our first Leadership Bead earned!

Next Week:
FIELD TRIP! Dress warm and in layers because we are going into the caves and learning all about Natural Landscapes at Metclafe Rock. Gloves would be a good idea, too!

We are also planning to have a bit of a Halloween Day the week of Halloween (Nov 1 and 2). We invite the students to don their costumes one more time if they’d like!

Cheers,

Matt and Kim

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot…

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“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot…

…nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

Some wise words from Dr. Seuss which led to a lengthy discussion this week, after a reading and a dramatic interpretation of “The Lorax”. It was the perfect story to build our day around: Trees, trees and more trees. And what better way to start than a look how trees work, followed by our favourite game: Sappy, Sappy?

After our smudge and morning circle, each student adopted a tree in their sit spots by identifying it using a field guide, drawing and naming it, getting to know its leaves and bark and finding out an interesting fact about it. Did you know that Willows originated in China? That Ash is a preferred wood for bats and hockey sticks? That Sumac can be used to make a drink similar to lemonade? Neither did all of us! Afterwards, as a group we identified (and gave medallions to) a whole bunch of different tree species just outside our schoolhouse doors – Pines, Ashes, Aspens, Beeches, Cherries and much more.

The afternoon had us go on an epic exploratory hike to a new section of forest. The students were able to put their knowledge to the test and identify many species along the way (“Looks like elephant legs, that’s a beech!”; “Round needles and looks like a Christmas tree – white spruce!”). We ended near our sugar shack where we took a few minutes to do some yoga (Tues.), be tree “huggers” (blindfolded and using other senses to identify a tree) and create “murder mysteries” by uncovering (and imagining) what happened to some felled trees and how old they were at the time (Tues.).

At the end of the day, we had a fire and boiled some Cedar Tea (packed full of vitamin C – click here for recipe) with a little maple syrup from last year’s harvest of our Maple stand. The students enjoyed this simple treat while students told stories to earn their storytelling bead (3 in total!).

We also gave out 4 Nature Lover beads over the two days! Congrats!

Next Week:
The eagerly anticipated FIRE week!

Did you know that 3 beads can be prepared at home?

Storytelling – students prepare a legend/story/poem to be read at a fire
Teaching – your child will teach the other students something they are passionate about – for example we’ve had students teach about origami, composting, and birds – this can be something simple and anything at all!
Craft – anything creative and homemade that uses natural/recycled materials. Just have your child bring it in and present it to us!

As the days are getting colder please remember to layer up!
Cheers,

Matt and Kim

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