We certainly had an awesome time this week at FNS! We learned about wilderness travel and the important parts of a map (making our own treasure maps around the site), honed our compass skills and navigated an orienteering course that some students worked hard to create for us! This course eventually led us to our dear Fossil Mountain – where we examined some contour lines up close… with our toboggans!
We had quite the range of weather this week, allowing us to get our mitts deep into some fun and creative snow structures. We built some epic snow castles and GIANT snowballs, livened up the designs with food colouring, and even raced down hills in our home-made sleds, GT’s and crazy carpets! By Friday, we could feel the sun trying hard to melt our creations, sparking imagination from our learners as they transformed a quinzee to an exploding volcano. It was a blast all week and our students were well prepared and eager to play in the first steady snow week.
Our students are already learning a lot about what it takes to brave the Winter. They are getting their practice at making and sustaining fires in the Winter, being prepared with their own Winter gear (and know the importance of back-up mitts and boots), and are especially making sure we keep hydrated, even though it’s cold out! Big thanks to everyone who made our first snow week such a success!
Speaking of all of this snow, don’t forget to sign up for our winter session! Click here to register!
It was a great week here at Forest School and we had a lot of fun as teachers exploring new places and old favourites with our students. On Monday, we held a trial day to introduce new children to FNS. It was a great day full of sharing our special places at Bygone Days, hiking, playing, making shelters, fires and building with hand tools. Thanks to all those who came out, we had a blast!
Once a semester we like take a field trip to explore our local trails. We live in a beautiful area and believe that place-based education extends to our community as a whole. This week, we went to 4 different natural places with a goal to explore, have fun and learn a few things along the way.
Tuesday – Clendennan Dam
Located in Clarksburg, this place is a gem! After checking out the dam (and racing sticks over it) we headed along the trails. This hike offers a beautiful cedar forest, perfect for tree climbing as our students soon found out. The Chickadees set up camp and played around while the Snowy Owls headed further down the trail – trampled across bridges, along the cliffs, through the forest and finally out to the Beaver River. Along the way we saw lots of animal prints, fish and after lunch we were even treated with the discovery of a Beaver Dam.
Wednesday – Duncan (Bruce Trail)
The Collingwood and Heathcote FNS’s joined forces for this day as we stomped our way through some of the muddiest trails we’ve ever seen… and you probably already know this from the state of your child’s clothing. But muddy kids = happy kids, right?!
We hiked for a bit, down hills, across streams and up ladders over fences then chose a nice spot to hunker down for lunch. While there, unstructured time unfolded in various ways – building forts (which became zombie refuges), fairy cities with playgrounds and restaurants, and good old fashioned group games.
Thursday – Eleventh Line Trail
With the weather on Thursday our plans changed and we spent a good half of the day exploring and hiking around our own property. In the afternoon, we stayed a bit closer to home and had an awesome time splashing through puddles, navigating log balancing beams and searching for the perfect hiking stick. Oh, and again, avoiding the zombies on the Deer Trail of course! Kudos to these kids for braving (and embracing) the wild rain and snow!
Friday – Kolapore
Friday was a special day and with the awesome weather we were able to explore a really special place – Al’s Cave. Located close to Metcalfe Rock along a side trail, Al’s cave is home to a Geocache. After a crash course in Geocaching, students were given the GPS and led the way. After some twists and turns, and climbs and descents, we found our way and entered the cave. After a bit more looking we were able to locate the Geocache, swap prizes, write our name’s down and learn about Al and why this place is so important to us. When we returned to the school, students were so excited we continued our Geocache adventure and uncovered 3 more!
It was a really fun week, and we’d encourage you to explore these places with your kids! Let us know if you need anymore details to get there! Before we wrap up, we wanted to send out a BIG WELCOME to our new students this week and last. It’s exciting seeing our community growing!
A big thank you to all of the students who helped create our wonderful FNS float for the parade – it looked fabulous and was a great group project!
Next Week: Wild About Maps!!
Cheers,
The Forest School Team
(Matt, Kim and Tamara – and so many more!)
Wow – what a great week we had with our Project Theme! Students took this opportunity to let their imaginations run wild and built so many different types of projects, including pencil and candle holders, carving projects, crossbows, creative signs for new home décor, an ice fishing stand, a giant cat bed, a home-made fidget spinner, a windmill, a wooden race car, and even new doll clothes from repurposed fabric. Students worked together to build community projects too, including a new swing, a gold panning mine from slides, buckets, nets and pipes, a raft and sail boat, some toboggans and a pulling sled from old skis (which will sure be handy with this fresh white stuff)! Some students even created signs to highlight some of our favourite places on site (like our not-so-secret forts, various campsites and the new “Wal-Matt” wild edible store!
We had a blast working safely and respectfully with tools, sharing equipment and helping one another out with the various projects being constructed. It was extra fun to have a chance to use some projects immediately, like the toboggans, boats and fishing gear. We visited many different spots on the property this week, including Fossil Mountain, where we tobogganed down the Concrete Factory (sand-bogganing on Thursday; snow by Friday!), Riverside, Lakeside and “The Original” Campsites where we had many fires to warm us up. We also explored the other side of the pond, where we found our first ever red-spotted newt on-site!
Some projects that were constructed went beyond physical creations and focused more on community and teambuilding – continuing on previous play, some students focused their energy on continuing their wild edible store and sharing their delicious creations (including a hot soup this time!), some students spent time building forts together and establishing new and improved shelters. It was an awesome week and full of adventure and play.
Without a doubt, you’ve noticed the dip in weather –and while we welcome the snow and all the joy it brings – please remember to bundle up! Pack extras (hats, mitts, socks), wear layers (fleece is great!) under your snowsuit, and don’t forget a thick neck warmer too! It’s also a great idea to have some hot food or drinks at lunch – soups and teas or cider are great this time of year. A HUGE props to the Friday group’s parents for layering up their kids – nobody was ever too cold and we were able to dive in and enjoy our first snowfall of the year!
We had a fun week exploring the caves up around Metcalfe rock last week. Challenge-by- choice was the name of the game, and students pushed their limits and expanded their comfort zones as they ducked, crawled, and climbed their way down into the Earth.
Most groups had the chance to visit the Ice Cave, a local favourite because of it’s tasty surprise at the bottom. Students had the choice to visit the “holding tank”, head to the bottom, and attempt the “birth canal” – and we all made it through.
On Friday, we went in a different direction and headed deep down into the Bat Cave. Although their were no bats, students pushed themselves to make it down the grueling 65 feet to the exit… and then back up again.
Our young Chickadees showed a lot of courage in tackling the different parts of the tunnel cave while some of our older students who have been with us for awhile got the opportunity to try the “Ultimate” cave – a cave not suited for the feint of heart.
Metcalfe is one of our favourite places to go and with good reason. Each day after lunch unstructured play unfolded using different natural “loose parts” of the forest. Forts were constructed, fires were built, stories read, games played, and the discovery of a new area dubbed “The Rock Castle” with tunnels and shelters galore. A big koodos to the Tuesday crew – we were caught a bit off guard by all that snow but stayed warm and safe, and all pitched in to help out… and we got to visit our sister school in Heathcote!
We are really proud of all our students for showing such bravery – in both pushing themselves and in knowing and listening to their own limits. Congrats to those who earned beads!
Next Week: Projects! This is a time where we use tools to create things . Anything can happen and we’ve got a lot of material, but if your child is interested in doing something specific please let us know!
We loved exploring the fall colours with our cameras this week! Students had the opportunity to learn a few photography tricks: Get Close, Point of View, Leading Lines, Rule of Thirds and Natural Framing (and looked at “Fill the Space”, “Limb Chopping”, and “Negative Space” for those interested in more techniques on Friday!) After our morning routines, we practiced some of these techniques through various missions and scavenger hunts. Then with cameras in hand, we ventured out back to the far end of our site – Maple Maple Forest and Fossil Mountain. Students loved moving leisurely through the land, slowing down to capture all of the things that we generally walk on by!
It was so interesting to watch the students see the world from another perspective and through a different lens – like an ant or a worm. Or stop completely in their tracks to examine lichen growing, flowers still in bloom, or small beads of water collected on the maples leaves! Children weren’t afraid to get down and dirty to get the perfect shot either! Tree limbs next to the bright blue sky, the underside of a log, reflections in the water – you name it! There were so many awesome photos. You can see for yourself by clicking here!
During some unstructured time, students had the opportunity to create their own natural picture frames, use tools for projects, build and dismantle their own creations with our loose parts (we love the cooperative learning that unfolds here!) or run (skip, cartwheel, roll, fly etc!) around with their friends.
Toward the end of most days, we spent some time in various sheltered “campsites”. Students enjoyed spending time making shelters and vine swings, skipping stones into the water, or simply just building and feeding a fire. It was a good way to warm up and a nice way to end our time together! Thanks to those who brought in a camera to use! And a special shout out to everyone for being so respectful when using the equipment and gear!
Check out our class photo’s: (except Thursday – we were having too much fun and forgot to take one!)
We also have a “professional” photo of each student with a cool nature background (like this one). Email us if you’d like a copy of your child’s! (Again, except for Friday this time as we were out exploring and we forgot, we’ll try this week!)
Next week: FIELD TRIP – Caving!
We will be going to Metcalfe Rock next week to explore some of our favourite caves! The caves are cold and can be quite wet, so please wear lots of layers (including hats, mitts and boots). Rain coat/pants are ideal! If you are on the Tuesday class, feel free to wear your Halloween Costume, or paint your face! But remember to layer it under your rain gear if possible so it doesn’t get too dirty!
This week at Forest School we channeled our inner Katniss Everdeen and learned all about Archery. It was a huge hit with our students. It certainly left its mark on us. We definitely hit the target with this activity…. enough silly puns – it was a great day and we hope to do it again in the future!
After learning about the components of a bow and arrow, we made for fossil mountain where targets were all set up, including Bucky Jr – a deer which now has the fire range named after him on our school map. After figuring out our eye dominance, learning how to stand and to properly hold, load and fire the arrows, we took aim and let them fly! The learning curve was fast, and after a few arrows, students were able to hit the targets quite often!
During their unstructured time, some students were inspired to create their own bows and arrows – and crossbows, hammers, and pencil holders – in a week of afternoons leaning heavily on tool-use. We learned how to properly use drills, hammers, saws and whittling knives. We were even able to hit some targets with the arrows and bows we made! And by the end of the week, we also trying out sling shots and throwing knives (specifically made for throwing and are very safe).
Meanwhile, others chose to make dream catchers or read books or play games during their unstructured time. A particularly cool project unraveled on Thursday, where students opened up a “grocery store” of wild edibles, soup they made and even sage mouthwash they learned how to make from a wild edible and sustainability book! They sold these items via a barter system or for currency (shells). It’s amazing to watch these moments unfold – the cooperation, collaboration, learning and imagination is inspiring and contagious! We’ll write and reflect more on the power of this experience in our “Campfire Notes” section soon.
Finally, we’d like to send out a HUGE thanks to Mark, who not only lent us all the recurve bows, arrows and targets, but also volunteered his time and shared his expertise with us. Without you, our day would not have been so incredibly wonderful. Thank you so much!
Next Week: change in scheduling! We will be doing Nature Photography and postponing Caving until the following week. If you have a digital camera that you feel comfortable letting your child use, please send it along with them.
This week at Forest School our main goal was to learn a little bit more about plants. After our morning core routines we jumped into the role of plants in a macro-model to learn about cycles and needs of a plant. We then became explorers tasked with the mission of the uncovering a new plant, naming it and then learning all about it. After making a journal (T-Th), they were off. Collectively, we learned about mushrooms, flowers, trees and shrubs, the history of these plants and any uses they may have.
Friday our focus shifted to trees, where we collected samples in a jar, identified and labelled them. We then “adopted” a tree in our sit-spots – a tree we’ll take care, watch as it changes over time and learn as much as we can about. We spent time as “bees” as well in a macro-model about pollen and pesticide.
As it does, our unstructured time took many different shapes. Imaginations came alive using our “loose parts”, where anything from a relay race to an intergalactic space war and store happened. Students also had the option to make natural hammers from spruce or willow trees. They sawed and carved them out as we begin to hone this skill. We even had bunnies on Thursday (thanks to our students who brought them in!).
We had many fires over the week, with an average of 2 a day to keep warm as the temps being to drop. Which meant we gave out a bunch of fire beads and had a few treats! Some groups harvested and had rose-hip tea, others made some popcorn over the fire.
Next Week:
We are stoked to be doing Archery next week!! It’s also “Show and Tell” if your child would like to bring anything in to share with the class.
As the temperature is cooling down please remember to pack extra layers for your children, including mitts and hats. You can leave a set at the school if you would like. Warm, waterproof footwear is also essential and a back up pair can’t hurt if you have them! Thanks.
Have you ever played golf? Or thrown a Frisbee? Well, we combined the two target games for a day of Disc Golf at Duntroon Highlands Nordic Centre. They have a newly developed disc golf course on their fabulous 100 acre site. For more information and your chance to play on your own, check out the Disc Course Association here.
At Highlands Nordic, our hike out to the course took us in all sorts of different directions each day– rolling down hills, climbing through tunnels, searching for what seemed like an unlimited amount of golf balls, sneaking up on cats and squirrels, crunching our way through fallen leaves in the forest, and even patiently catching frogs in puddles!
Did someone say salamanders?? On our unhurried hike, it didn’t take us long to (respectfully!) uncover hundreds of Eastern Red Backed salamanders. They ranged in sizes and speed – we even found some teeny-weenie baby ones! On two of our days, we were lucky enough to spot a yellow Spotted Salamander as well! Our younger students (and some older students too – water creatures are such a draw for our learners!) dove into a pond study as well, where we uncovered lots of crayfish, water striders and mayfly larvae.
When we arrived at the disc course we learned some basic skills, general guidelines and play etiquette, and then had a blast taking aim at our baskets. Students progressed quite quickly in these skills and were great supporters and mentors for one another! It was a lot of fun to try something new together.
As they do, most of our days varied quite a bit. The Highlands Nordic centre is a magical place, and there is just so much to do. Some groups went on determined golf ball hunts in the forest, while others played extra disc golf; others collected eggs from the hens and visited the turkeys and pig, while others got a first-hand lesson on turtles; and some students built shelters and played forest games like camouflage or sardines. On Friday, we even stopped on the way back along the Bruce Trail for a hike to check out Frank’s Lime Kiln off of County Rd 91 and shared a handful of storytelling sessions from our students.
After returning the school from our field trip, all sorts of fun happened during some unstructured time. On Tuesday we headed out to our sit spots for some building time. On Wednesday we had an epic marble/pipe construction with loose parts and a wild Ring Toss tournament in the rain… until the lightning came, directing us to a safer location where we began a long-term story and design activity. On Thursday we did teambuilding activities and games, and then headed off to an area on-site dubbed “The Fort,” named for its impeccable fortress! It is surrounded by burrs, poison ivy and stinging nettle… with only a couple safe paths in for the knowledgeable and brave! And Friday we enjoyed some slack-lining after our adventurous hike.
Congrats to the students whose estimations were the closest in our Golf Ball Jar and won a prize! This week we had many students work hard to earn their story-telling bead!
Next Week:
We learn all about Plants! We hope you have a very Happy Thanksgiving!
With the temperatures finally starting to settle down (well, except for Tuesday) it’s really starting to finally feel like Fall. We celebrated this week with our annual Fall Harvest, with a big focus on local food.
After spending time in our sit spots, we set out to explore our site early in the morning to harvest some sweet snacks from all over the land. We are lucky enough to have pear and apple trees scattered throughout our property which made for a great smoothie to add to our lunch. The cool thing about our smoothies? Totally made with the power of pedaling! Students jumped on the smoothie bike and each took turns blending not only our local fruit, but all sorts of other wild edibles we could find – red clover, chicory, mint and more. Oh! Of course there was also our favourite addition across the board: the wild grapes that turned our smoothie a bit sour and really purple!
After some afternoon unstructured play which took all sorts of forms – from baseball to slacklining, dragon tails to loose parts, music to obstacle courses, (it truly is wonderful watching the ideas and imaginations unfold!) – we did a storybook walk to Stone Soup by J.J. Muth. It’s a wonderful story – read it here if you’d like! This story inspired us to create our soup. We found stones, added salt, chopped and added veggies and had a communal meal. Everyone played a role and a special thanks to all those brought in a garden veggie.
Depending on where interests went, we also had students dehydrating pears and apples, creating solar ovens to bake cinnamon apples and pears, and we even preserved some pears on Friday!
All in all, a yummy week.
An incredibly big thanks to Healthy Kids Community Challenge for lending us their Smoothie bike and Story Walk! They’ve got so many cool things happening and are making a huge difference in our community! Check them out here.
Next Week: Field Trip: Disc Golf for the older students, Pond Study for the younger ones.
“It’s so… refreshing… just being in a canoe.” said one of our students while we were paddling on the Big Pond this week. And we couldn’t agree more! Our days were all about fish, fishing and paddling this week, but were very different from one another. So we’ll break it down by day. Scroll down to the bottom for more pics!
Tuesday
After our core routines, we started off the week by heading down to Sunset Point after hearing a rumour that a HUGE bass had been caught there. After arriving, our Chickadees explored the shoreline and were able to find fossils, crayfish and other creatures. The older students baited up and patiently waited, and while we didn’t catch the elusive beast, we did nab a lot of Gobis – which led to a good discussion about invasive species. We used our nets and were able to catch at least 40 minnows too!
We headed back to Bygone Days, had our lunch and some free time, then hit the water again. This time in canoes, we decided to try our luck on the Big Pond. We paddled out in our canoes and to our pleasant surprise we were inundated with fish. Schools and schools of Rock Bass came after our worms and we were rewarded with catching so many we lost track. And then, right before we reeled in the very last time, a Perch! Who knew our pond was so full of life!
Wednesday
We rushed out Wednesday morning to join our schoolmates in Heathcote and got a chance to slackline, climb on their awesome tree gym, eat some yummy food from the garden and pop jewelweed seeds to our hearts content. Then we hit the water and did a paddle down a portion of the Beaver River. Along the way we saw fish jumping and birds galore. What a beautiful sunny day we had!
After arriving back and a quick lunch, we cast our lines out in the river. And were we ever rewarded! We are proud to say our first Forest School Trout was ever caught!
We headed back to the School with time to spare and met up with our new Master’s Student, Aislinn. She joined us in the canoes again as some students still wanted to fish so we set out on the pond. We found the fish to be biting again! And not to mention the 4 painted turtles we saw sunning themselves on a log. While all this was going on other students, having had enough of the water for one day, stayed ashore and opened up the “clay factory” and made a bunch of natural art.
Thursday
On Thursday we chose to head out to Slab Town and try our luck fishing in the river once again. Upon arrival, we spent the first bit simply admiring the massive SALMON taking runs at the old dam. They were huge, powerful and mesmerizing. We eagerly got to fishing, and though we didn’t catch a big salmon, we did get a trout and chubs. After exploring we also caught some crayfish. Before leaving, we ate lunch as nature’s television unfolded in a spectacular display of salmon vs waterfall. We didn’t see one fish make it up, but boy did we cheer them on!
We got back to the school and jumped into the role of salmon ourselves in a macro model we like to call “Hooks and Ladders” (click here for an overview). After navigating the obstacle course and all it’s danger, we got to see just how arduous the journey can be as a lot of salmon didn’t make it.
Enough about being fish, and back to fishing. We jumped in our canoes and tried out luck on the pond. While some students chose to paddle around and enjoy the views (even seeing a record 11 painted turtles), others caught a bunch of rock bass as they were jigging from their canoes. Another hot day well spent!
Friday
After our core routines, and with all the Salmon action on the River, we had to return on Friday to see nature at work. Again, we weren’t disappointed! And we even cheered one on as it got all the way up and over the hurdle.
We got to fishing pretty fast and immediately got a chub, and then a lot more courtesy our Chickadees! And though we were close to getting a salmon, it wasn’t in our fate today. Students were able to net a whole bunch of minnows (which became know as “burpies”) and uncovered other critters that live under the rocks. It’s amazing what you can find when you look really closely. Mayfly larvae were abundant and our students were able to identify them. We spent some time playing in the river, had lunch and then headed back to the school.
At the school, the Snowy Owls (and our “Painted Owl”) headed straight out onto the pond and were eager to catch some fish. The pond, as it had all week, didn’t disappoint. We worked together in our boats – one person paddling, the other fishing – and we were all successful. The Chickadees and Painted Turtles joined everyone on the pond after some building time and spotted 7 real painted turtles.
Next Week:
It’s our FALL HARVEST! This will look different from day to day, but it’s all about food and wild edibles. Our hope is cook a “stone” soup over the fire, so if you’ve got an extra veggie from your garden or one lying around, please bring it in!
Overall we had a really exciting week and were reminded why our “Fishing” days are always so popular. Thanks to everyone who brought in some gear! A big thanks to Carly who stepped in for Tamara this week at Heathcote and in Collingwood, and a big thanks to Matt Code for bringing in the Canoes! Also a big welcome to our Master’s Student from Lakehead University, Aislinn!
