Free Spirit Forest and Nature School

Nurturing Connection with Self, Others and Nature

Swinging Bridges, Black Diamonds and Mysterious Forests

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Hey Folks!

Well Winter is back! And hopefully here to stay. This week at Forest School we were on a field trip for Wed and Thurs and spent the day exploring at Bygone Day’s on Friday.

Wednesday and Thursday

Off to Scenic Caves this week for some fun cross-country skiing and exploring the area. We started off both days with learning basic skills: how to move, slow down, climb hills, and most importantly how to get up after falling (Turtle-French Fries-Knees to Skis-And UP!). After some practice laps, students we were off exploring. Our Wednesday group made it all the way to the lookout point (though it was foggy!) and the Thursdays group braved the fierce snow and tackled the meandering hills – including part of a black diamond for experts only! It was a lot of work climbing some steep hills, but ask your child if it was worth it in the end!

We’re really proud of all the hard work our students put in. For some it was their first time ever on skis and everyone committed themselves to learn. After a lot of successes, tumbles and speeding through the trees, it was time for a well earned lunch.

Have you ever been to Scenic Caves? Then you know it boasts one of the best parks in the area – just ask your kids! Students loved using all of the fun equipment, especially with all of the snow! Afterwards, student made their way down the snow covered trail and onto the largest suspension bridge in Ontario – what a wonderful way to see our beautiful home! Students enjoyed the panoramic view of roughly 10000 sq. km. overlooking Georgian Bay and they were keen to point out their homes and make connection to places from such a high vantage point.

On Thursday, some students braved a challenge route and took the snow-filled Creekside Trail underneath the ravine and up the other side! We enjoyed a lot of play, collaboration and teambuilding on the slope of the escarpment too. We loved sliding down into the snowy valley and worked well together (and creatively!) trying to climb our way out. After all of their hard work, you probably noticed some pretty tired kids this week!

A big thanks to the folks Scenic Caves – they provided us with equipment, their beautiful property and infrastructure, and a wood fired cabin all to our ourselves.

FRIDAY

On Friday we saw even MORE snow and had an adventure filled day at Bygone Days. Students ventured out to Mysterious Forest to explore the wonderful natural shelters of our coniferous trees – which provided a great space to play some of our favourite games like sardines and camouflage! Students continue to be engaged in our subnivean tunnel activities, fascinated by discovering more ice below the deep snow and loved to build and spend time around the fire! We visited our sit spots (and created some new ones) and recognized some of the amazing changes that have happened over the winter. It was an awesome day and especially sunny by the afternoon!

NEXT WEEK:

Weather permitting: ICE FISHING! If you have your own gear, or nifty trinkets that might be helpful or fun during ice fishing, don’t hesitate to bring them in!

Cheers,

Matt and Kim

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Wed/Thurs

Friday

Mountain Climbers and Hibernators

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Hey Folks,

Our Chickadees braved the cool temperatures and spent the day exploring and playing in the snow. Our day started as most days do with unstructured time and free play. Students were eager to explore our new tunnels, uncover what seemed like endless ice and play games, including our new favourite “Track and Seek” where we follow people’s tracks in the snow to find them.

After snack and a quick warm up with a roaring fire in our prospector tent, we headed west to Fossil Mountain. We followed rabbit tracks and mice tunnels to get there and after arriving at our destination, Fossil Mountain proved quite slippery! With a bunch of teamwork, a lot of stumbles and the help of the rope, we were able to get everyone to the top. And it was well worth it for the slide down!

Afterwards we went to check on our snow caves and become “hibernating animals” (we just love the imaginations!). We brought along our tube also, and took turns sliding down the hills!

After lunch, some stories and some creative work with our journals, we played a few more games together, jumped into different imaginary roles and had some good old fashioned cloud watching. Then we called it a day!

Cheers,

Matt and Kim

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Sit Spots, Snowshoes, and Skis

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Hey Folks!

This week we welcomed back the cooler temps (well at least until it warmed up again on Friday) and we took advantage of the little bit of “Winter” we had to explore.

Wednesday and Thursday

We focused this week on getting to know our property a little better and spent time exploring and returning to places we haven’t been to in awhile. While hiking out and about, we discovered a bunch of cool things:

-That despite the warmer temps, our snow caves continue to persist!
-The Riverbed Campsite is aptly named, and covered in icy water.
-That Fossil Mountain really was made for Tubing!
-That we have the best, gigantic “loose parts” (black pipes) that lead to all sorts of fun, including subnivean tag and 24 m long subterranean tunnel exploration.
-Broomball is intense!

We also took time to refocus on of our core routines: Sit Spots. If you are new to sit spots, we ask our students to choose to visit one special place in nature repeatedly (almost each week) and to get to know it as well as they can. Students are asked to spend varying amounts of time sitting quietly in their spots. In this special spot, we learn to sit still, be by ourselves, and enjoy the feeling of familiarity and knowledge of place that develops over time. Ultimately, a student’s sit spot will become like a safe home from which their curiosity can spark an interest in nature’s mysteries. This time focuses on student-centered learning, place-based learning, personal growth, scientific-inquiry, solitary time and reflection. We also spend time building, creating and playing together in our sit spots. This week saw the creation of communities of neighbours in our “Sumac Forest” and “Fortress” areas. It’s inspiring watching the fun unfold and imaginations run wild.

Friday

We had a special field trip on Friday to Highlands Nordic Outdoor Centre for a day of cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. After a thorough skills-based lesson, we were off to explore – and what a beautiful day we had for it. We spent the morning skiing and quickly learned that climbing up hills are hard, but totally worthwhile for the long, fast descents!

After lunch, we headed on a snowshoe hike down into the forest, with awesome views of Wasaga Beach and more. We played a few games and explored animal trails along the way. A big thanks to everyone at Highlands Nordic who helped us out!

Next Week:
Wednesday and Thursday groups will be on a Field Trip to Scenic Cave for cross country skiing. Please bring your own equipment if you have it. Friday we will remain at the school

We gave out a lot of beads this week! Congrats to the recipients!

Cheers,

Matt and Kim

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Wednesday/Thursday

Friday

Fairy Homes, Rock Pets and Caterpillar Obstacle Courses.

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Happy Tuesday! We had a great day with our Chickadee program today, and as the title suggests, we did a lot of building.

Right away, we watched imaginations come to life as an old driftwood root became a house for Fairies. Equipped with a door, chimney, balcony, hot tub and much more, students couldn’t get enough of finding places for all sorts of cool additions until it inevitably became a mansion for our magical friends.

While laying the “driveway” for the Fairy House, a surprise critter was uncovered – a woolly bear caterpillar. This cascaded into a whole new adventure – “Let’s build a home for him!” After trying to understand this creature a little better, counting its feet and realizing it was a pretty good climber, this home transformed turned into an obstacle course of pine cones and woodblocks. And my oh my could it crawl and climb!

Students today were inspired by one of our favourite books Everybody needs a Rock by Byrd Baylor and before we knew it we were on an adventure to find a rock of our very own. Taking advantage of the sun, we painted our rocks outside and later created pebble art of birds, caterpillars and ants.

And in between all that: more play, stories, music, hikes, games, fire making and more. It sure was a creative day.

Cheers,

Matt and Kim

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Uncovering our Curriculum… literally.

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Hey Folks!

As often happens at Forest School, we head into the day with a plan – and sometimes it gets mostly ditched due to emerging interests and opportunities. What a pleasant surprise this week when we discovered that the loss of all our snow from the wavering temperatures last week resulted in an epic ice rink!

Our planned Science activities were put on the back burner, or at least shifted focus the minute we uncovered the rink. While we still did a few experiments – the water volume of snow, snow as an insulator, water and ice density, snowflake formation and even snow volcanoes – suddenly our days were focused on ice: it’s creation, how to travel on it safely, and inevitably it’s destruction. (Sidebar: It’s amazing how much kids love destroying ice!)

We watched as our rink turned into many different things over the week – from balancing acts to sliding competitions; broomball rink to human curling; and full on skating rink by Friday – it became our central focus over the week and was so much fun. Thanks for the flexibility of our parents in sending their kids to school with skates!

When we weren’t on the rink, we were off exploring the property and marveling at the changes that occurred with the wacky weather. One of the greatest things about Forest School is the repetitive exposure to the same places. Students make genuine connections to the land and have a vested interest in their creations and special spots. We got to see how our snow trenches didn’t survive the thaw, but our snow caves did (albeit smaller)! We were able to drill holes through the ice of the big pond and check it for safe travel while learning about potential dangers while making shortcuts. We discovered that our “Riverbed” campsite is aptly named and is covered in half a foot of ice and water now!

And all of this spawned from a simple question by a student – “Hey, can I clear off that patch of ice?”

Next Week:
We have a regular day at Bygones Tues-Thurs, and Fridays group will be going Cross Country Skiing at Highlands Nordic! Please bring skis if you have them, otherwise we have you covered.

Please remember to let us know your intentions for the Spring Session as spaces are filling up!

Cheers,

Kim and Matt

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Snow Trenches, Snow Caves and… rain?!

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Welcome Back to Forest and Nature School!

We welcomed our FNS friends back at Bygone Days this week and dove right into some fun winter activities! After opening our day with a ceremonial smudge, our morning circle and some teambuilding icebreakers to get to know one another, students were keen to lean into learning about all things SNOW.

One of our favourite stories this time of year is called “Over and Under the Snow” by Kate Messner. It certainly set the stage for our snowshoe (or hiking) adventures and helped draw students’ attention to the little things along the way. Whether we ventured around the pond, to Ducky’s Campsite, or all the way to Fossil Mountain, we recognized the magical world that exists underneath the snow in the subnivean zone and were excited to discover it firsthand! We found various tracks, scat and other signs of animals surviving this wild winter along the way too!

After identifying some of the ways animals survive the winter (migrate, hibernate or stay active), students were tasked with the mission of keeping their own “animal” safe during the winter (ie. ensuring their jello didn’t harden when left in the cold). Using some of the learning from earlier in the day, combined with their own creativity, students hid, burrowed, or simply insulated their “animals” in the snow. Some even huddled with other containers of jello to keep warm, like deer mice! Ask your child what technique they used and whether or not it survived!

We further explored some important safety considerations about adventuring in the winter and took an in-depth look at ways to stay prepared to prevent some of the nasty, but realistic consequences of winter – like frost bite or hypothermia. We discussed ways to prevent and treat these concerns and packed our own survival backpack, filled with important gear to keep us safe and prepared while out in the elements.

During Wednesday and Thursday, students had the opportunity to build emergency shelters. We had some creative and thoughtful designs – like a collaborative snow trench (which turned into an awesome snow-village among the sumacs), and individual snow caves that were dug into the side of Fossil Mountain using mostly just snowshoes!

Kudos to students on Friday who were able to brave the wind-whipping snow and hail! It’s a good reminder for students to be prepared for FNS – including a fleece neck warmer, extra mitts, hats and thick socks, and even extra boots if you have them! You can’t have too many layers at FNS.

We had an AWESOME first week at FNS and made some great new friends each day! We look forward to another season of learning, exploring, laughing and playing with new friends!

Cheers,

Kim and Matt

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Winter Solstice, an Epic Hunt and Giant Tubes

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Hey Everyone,

We had a wonderful last week of FNS and enjoyed adventuring around our nature playground in the freshly fallen snow. Of course, what better way to say good bye to some of our favourite places than by spending some quality time in them! Throughout the week, students enjoyed visiting various places, like Riverside Campsite, Ducky’s Campsite, Mysterious Forest, or circumnavigating the pond. It has been quite powerful to hear stories and reminisce about so many positive experiences and memories from the fall along the way. Your children have truly built a deep connection to the land and to one another.

On Tuesday, students spent some time building new snow castles and tapping into their creativity and imaginations to play and work together with their natural loose parts. They collaboratively moved the large pipes from our obstacle course to build an incredible human-size subnivean zone, and of course this also became an incredible new space for creative play and our new favourite competitive game, ga-ga ball! This treat was used and appreciated all week by other classes.
On Wednesday, we were treated with the presence of a metal detector brought in by one of our students. We went on treasure hunts and were rewarded with the uncovering of a lost tool from earlier in the Fall. Students also extended our collaborative loose parts to build a giant slide behind the school house, which is only getting more and more fun with the coming snow!
A significant experience arose for us on Thursday, as we were on our way to Mysterious Forest. Students followed some interesting tracks that led us to an up close understanding and investigation of the life-cycle. We uncovered the story of a fox vs. rabbit battle scene, including a sacrificed rabbit, scavenger prints from crows, and happy solitary fox prints trotting across the newly frozen pond. Students were captivated by this experience and truly intrigued by the layers that could be unpacked from a successful, natural hunting experience. Students brainstormed that the fox (and other scavengers) gain food for themselves/their family; birds could use the remaining fur for nests; and overall we gained a deeper understanding of predator-prey relationships and population size. And although we mourned the rabbit, we thanked her for her sacrifice and remembered our significant “Blueberry” experience from 2 years ago, where after a discovering a similar scenario, a few weeks later we were graced with the presence of four little fox pups, allowing for a more thorough and deeper understanding of the life-cycle.

Friday we spent time adventuring out to our Riverside Camp Site and around the big pond, following tracks, and creating stories. We enjoyed creating challenges and working together (or competing) to gain our personal bests, and even had time to explore the buildings of our village.
Throughout the week we also celebrated Winter Solstice with the lightning of ice candles, looking into the science behind shortest day of the year and its significance, and learning about some traditions from different cultures (looking at the pomander, an oranges studded with cloves) and other stories from the past. This is a very important day of the year for us and marks a new beginning.
We closed our fall session by gathering in a fire ceremony and sharing our favourite memories and experiences together. What a fun and thoughtful way to kick off the holidays!

We wish everyone a wonderful holiday, filled with joy, family, friends, adventure and play! Thanks for taking part in this Fall Adventure with us and we look forward to seeing you in the Winter!

Matt, Kim and Tamara

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Snow Cities and Snowshoes

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Hi again folks!

What a wonderful snowy bluebird week!! We are so thankful for all of the snow and had a blast building and creating our new snow village! All week students spent time building quinzees and mini igloos, connecting tunnels, fashioning snow seats and creating wind walls around our outdoor fire pit. It feels like a special snow community, especially knowing all of the hands and hard work that has gone into it’s creation!

Most days students were also very keen to check out the snow on fossil mountain and of course we just had to toboggan down! We had so much fun zipping down, working together to build jumps, and learning about snow cornices and avalanches!

Thanks to FST, we have added a new classroom set of snowshoes and spent some afternoons breaking trail and exploring animals tracks along the way. What a fun way to travel around!

A special thanks to two students who brought in sweet grass to start our morning smudge on Thursday!

Reminder:
Next week is our final week at FNS before the Christmas break! Our winter session resumes the week of Jan 8. There are still a few spots left to register. We look forward to seeing you this winter!

Cheers,

The Forest School Team

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Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Squirrel dance parties and an epic coyote hunt.

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Hi Folks!

Thanks for checking into the blog this week. We spent time learning about animal tracks and were fully prepared to discover all of the new (and old) prints on our beautiful property. To understand tracks better, students focused on learning various parts of a print, how/what to measure to correctly identify it using a field guide and how to use the print information to tell us about what’s happening (stride, straddle, direction of travel). Is the animal galloping, pacing, or stalking? Are they conserving energy or doubling back on their tracks? Are they moving to and from specific places, like shelter, food or water?

Whether we heard animals rustling, saw tracks, scat or deer rubbings, felt chew marks or scratches on trees, or smelled (though not nearly as well as animals!) animals, we could use all of our senses to discover various large, medium and small signs of animals nearby. We soon learned that animal tracking is both a science and an art- it’s not just about the actual print; we also need to be aware and process the entire environment while tracking to get a complete sense of the story!

Tuesday saw us jump into the role of animals with a game of Survival to start us off. We then headed out and around Mysterious Forest, where we discovered a lot of coyote scat, and prints, rabbit signs, and different burrows. Tuesday even brought the addition of Frarles (or Fred/Charles) our lovable, crooked live Christmas tree. Students also got crafty with some homemade wreaths, decorations and other play dough figures.

On Wednesday, students decided to stay close to a water source and we were amazed by all of the activity! We were able to track prints, discover more scat, and even follow a trail of a coyote stalking a goose – feathers, bones and all! Students seemed incredibly understanding after discovering a loss like this, especially when we explored the topic of needing to survive and took a deeper look at the life cycle. We also ventured off site to do some stalking of our own with the community healthy kids GPS challenge!

On Thursday, with freshly fallen snow, students enjoyed seeing some fresh squirrel, chipmunk and rabbit tracks in between the trees. We even ventured to the far end of our property for the first time, all the way past the maple forest and sugar shack. We spent some quality time out there with newly invented student-led survival and camouflage games.

On Friday, students were keen to go to both the water source and Mysterious Forest on the hunt for more tracks! It was really fun to see them using the guidebooks independently and creating their own understanding about what unfolded (be it an epic battle scene or a squirrel dance party after finding a lost nut!) Tracking animal prints lets us explore outside, feel closer to nature and hone our creativity and imagination! We also had a special guest – Mrs. Simpson (Matt’s Mom) – who taught us some American Sign Language to go along with the creatures we discovered. Thanks Sandi!

A special thanks to our Thursday class as well for diving in to help set up part of our new amazing plans for the winter: a Prospector Tent, with a wonderful wood stove!!! We love how helpful and curious our Forest School students are and how keen they were to be involved in this new addition. Just in time too for our winter session!

Despite having some warm places, please remember to bring extra clothing. In particular, we consider boots, hats, mitts and neck warmers a mandatory part of our outer wear. When these inevitably get wet, we can dry them by the fire/heater and wear our extras in the meantime! Remember, with our freshly welcomed snow, always wear snow pants/jacket, with some good fleece and wick away layered clothing underneath.

Next Week: Snow Fun!

Enjoy all this new snow!

Kim, Matt and Tamara

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Survival Olympics (or Mary had a little lamb…)

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Hey Folks,

We had some fun this week putting some of our survival skills to the test in a collaborative, cooperative and competitive style Olympics we nicknamed the “Forest School Timber Tour”. Our days varied greatly Tues-Thurs with different events geared toward developing and testing various skills – each day uniquely designed with the specific class dynamics in mind. Some events were even created by our students en route. We pushed ourselves physically, mentally and creatively, and in the end all agreed that no matter who won, everyone had fun.

To get an idea of what happened over the week, here’s some of the events:

Individual:
Tree Toss – a whopping 33’2″ by one student!
Obstacle Course – new FS record 43 seconds!
Singles Tug of War
Planking
Race around the Pond
Sling Shot Competition

Team Competition:
Flag Design and Cheer
Broom Ball
Ultimate Capture the Flag
Forest School Idol Music Competition
Balance Beam

Cooperative:
Fire Building (Magnesium and Steel)
Shelter Building
Orienteering
Plane Crash Survival
Lava Bridges
Human Knot, Tarp Flip, Hula Hoop Circle and more.

On Friday we approached things differently and focused entirely on teamwork with initiatives that earned students “Timber Dollars” that were used for buying gear to create the ultimate campsite. We’re really proud of everyone’s hard work (and persistence!) in achieving their goals. And through that persistence, our students were able to light the fire with only minutes to spare!

At the end of all days we handed out (wooden) medals to our winners! And a big shout out to all the sportsmanship award winners – you showed us that even through competition, we’re all still good friends.

Next Week: Animal Tracking!

Cheers,

Matt, Kim and Tamara

PS. Confused about the title? “Mary Had a Little Lamb” was our official Olympic Anthem.. ie one of only 3 songs Matt can play on the recorder.

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