Hey Folks!
Our Snowy Owls and Red Tailed Hawks weren’t dissuaded by the cold temperatures this morning. They (quite literally) jumped right into the snowy day. Upon arrival, we strapped on our snowshoes and off we went.
After a quick hike, we paused for a smudging ceremony. We burned sage in an abalone shell and bathed ourselves in the smoke. This ceremony is used to “get rid of the bad and take in the good,” as one student summarized. Along with a cleansing, this was also a moment to acknowledge and honour the traditional territory of the Peton people – an interest we will continue to explore over the course of the program
Creating our group contracts
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Given the frigid morning temps, we decided to spend a little time warming up and getting to know each other better. The students came up with their nature names (with “Bernese Mountain Dog” being a popular choice thanks to our furriest FS member, Aden), we created group contracts, and began learning more about the history of the snowshoe. For lunch we were off to the Collingwood Public Library, where students read books and made up puppet shows. An awesome moment was watching some of our older Snowy Owls reading nature books to the younger Red Tails.
Our Snowy Owls sharing a story with the Red Tailed Hawks
As the day went on, the sun came out and the temperature rose. The groups split up and we spent our afternoon exploring our new surroundings by snowshoe. How lucky we were to have pristine, untouched snow to work our way though.
The Snowy Owls settled into the woods, where they built a stellar fire using all natural materials. Tinder (“Let’s use Birch Bark!”), Kindling (“Grab Sticks!”), Fuel (“We need big stuff too!”) – it’s amazing to see how much the children were able to share their prior knowledge with their peers. They cleared away the snow, created their Teepee (and later log) and got the fire going fairly quickly. The students learned about the three “D’s” when collecting wood: Dead, Down and Dry.
Enjoying our first fire together
The Red Tailed Hawks were off on their own snowshoe adventure. Along the way, they were able to follow animal tracks (including a rabbit, skunk, and or course, Aden). They were able to track the Snowy Owls and find out where they were by following their prints. They soon joined the Snowy Owls and we shared stories and legends around the fire.
The end of the day brought with it some lessons in camouflage and time for reflecting on the day with a little bit of journaling – drawing, writing, or both. The students were asked to express their favourite part of the day.
We very much enjoyed the day today and look forward to doing it all over again next week!
Kim and Matt
P.S. At forest school we are always looking for new ideas. If you or your child, has an idea of something to explore, please let us know!
