Free Spirit Forest and Nature School

Nurturing Connection with Self, Others and Nature

Goodbye Winter, Hello Spring (and Oh, hey Winter again)

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Hey Everyone,

We celebrated the end of our Winter session this week in many different ways! Most days it was more of a Spring Celebration – until Friday when Winter returned!

Tuesday

Chickadees dove into some imaginative play around the pond upon arrival. Finding huge ice crystals, gnomes homes and good ol’ rock throwing (nothing beats rock throwing!) was the name of the game. Like Charlie and Chocolate Factory, early in the morning one of our students also found the “Golden Ticket” for later in the day.

After some stories, we checked in on (and created new) sit spots by our big lake and took some quiet time time in the woods. Students got creative and made nature plates for the teachers to “eat”, with a balanced meal including potatoes (rocks), spaghetti (birch bark) and cranberries (snail shells)… yum yum!

Alas it was time to cash in the golden ticket. We hiked our way through the woods, past our campsite and along the lake, until we finally reached the “portal of discovery” to arrive at the Amusement Park! Our natural playground that the older students built last week. Our Chickadees swung, climbed, balanced, jumped and slid their way through the afternoon. Another fun day!

Wednesday

After an amazing Music/Dance/Singing full-on jam session around the fire with guitars, ukuleles, maracas and student handmade drums, our Wednesday group opted for big group games to round out our Winter Session. We played some of our classic favourites: Survival and Ultimate Capture the flag. We also set up the slack line to practice our balance and have battle royals, played with walkie talkies and tried out an old boomerang, that didn’t quite boomerang. We were even able to have a legitimate baseball game. These students know how to celebrate!

Thursday

Immediately our students were drawn to the slack line on Thursday. They navigated their way across and worked hard to be the last person standing. After snack we ventured on a camp out to Mysterious Forest. With backpacks in tow, students had the chance to explore this often overlooked area and create their own fun. With a fire roaring, we ate our lunches together and even grilled our sandwiches, pizzas and other delicious snacks. We ended our time out there by playing Fox vs Mice (a mix of freeze tag and capture the flag) which led to some epic action and teamwork. After roasting a marshmallow and debriefing our Winter Session by sharing our favourite memories, it was time to hike back – with a quick break in our sit spots along the way.

Friday

And all of sudden, Winter returned! And in the best way, with lots of snow and relatively warm temperatures. Students started the day off with a massive game of SPUD that took us almost all the way to snack. After snack, we tried a new game for our Friday group – Ultimate Capture the Flag. It’s a game of strategy, invasion, cooperation and teamwork. In the end, the last team standing fought hard but just couldn’t hold off the relentless attack.

After lunch we played on our all-time favourite structure – the tires. We then headed out to Mysterious Forest where some students practiced making fires with Flint and Steel, while others explored this little known area. After a few games of Fox vs Mice, it was time to check in on our sit spots and head home!

Just a reminder that we have no school next week.

Have a great March Break everyone and see you soon!

Cheers,

The Forest School Team

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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

More Pics:

Wed/Thurs

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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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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A hiking we will go…

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Hey Everyone,

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!)

More pics:

Monday:

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Friday:

Hiking, lookouts and reflections

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Hi All,

We made it to the top!

Another great day in the books with our amazing students, this week at Forest School was all about reflection and hiking! After our morning smudge circle, our class raced to the van and headed to one of our favourite Brue Trail hike spots – Loree Forest. The past two rainy days gave us a great opportunity to find animal tracks in the soft mud (fox, deer and dog..or maybe wolves), the kids earned some beads as well!

Our students also came across huge patches of poison ivy, salamanders, garter snakes, caterpillars, centipedes, worms, slugs and an abundance of “Jack in the pulpit” flowers.

Our hike took us to the top of the Georgian Peaks, and after our snack and check ins, we had an in depth discussion about bullying. It was amazing to see our students support each other, there was no shortage of great advice, thats for sure. Sometimes we forget how hard it is to be a kid these days, but the courage to ask for help makes it a lot easier. Afterwards, we took some time to relax in the beautiful sunshine and reflect on our past week.

Within our afternoon our kids kept super busy by revisiting their favourite game “Farmer”, while some went for an epic frog hunt (17 in total), and others spent time building animal shelters. Sticking with our reflection theme, we thought back to our morning hike and wrote down what we saw, smelled, heard and touched. Our class is becoming incredibly independent and creating self-led activities. We are SO proud!

Today we formed even stronger bonds with each other by sharing advice, and encouragement. All of the support our students recieve goes along way outside of out classroom. Students gained more show and share beads, litter less lunch beads, fire beads, animal tracking beads and everyone deserved an exciting Al bead. Congrats!

Next week – We are going to be paddling the Beaver River.

Until next week,

Krista

Wild edibles and plants

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Hi Friends,

It is amazing what rain, sun, and a few weeks will do for our Heathcote property. The shrubs and flowers have grown so much that we almost couldn’t find some of our sit spots. Our day consisted of the learning and widening our knowledge about wild edibles and plants! With so much to talk about we focused on the famous poison ivy, along with it’s friends poison sumac and oak. We also focused a lot on expanding our imagination, teamwork, communication and respecting those attributes. Check out our wicked day!

A couple of weeks ago our students started their potato gardens, which have now started to sprout amazing leaves – soon enough we will be able to cook up those home-grown spuds! A toad hunt served as an excellent addition to all the excitement today, which included our respectful catching and releasing rituals. Midway through our hunt, Taven came across, what we believe to be a rat skull, YUCK! (but it was pretty cool!) To add to our discoveries through out the day we even came across two baby moles hiding in our compost area. We are hoping to see them again next week!

One of our main tasks throughout our day was to find a new or familiar plant life and identify it from our nature books. Some of our finding were Queens Anne’s lace, Mustard Garlic, Buttercups, Dog wood, and many more! It is great to see our students taking the initiative to gain more knowledge and educate their fellow classmates on their findings. Our students also learned very quickly that it is hard to decipher between some plants due to many of them looking the same, as well as being unsure about whether or not a plant is safe to pick, or eat!

Staying true to our lesson, our afternoon consisted of digging into our seed library! We came across some cucumbers, mint, daises, peas, beans, lavender, spinach, zucchini, kale and sunflower seeds. Our students were given 6 decomposing containers and the opportunity to plants 6 of their favourite seeds. Active play was also a huge part of our afternoon, along with the whole class participating in a game of “Farmer and the Horse”. This game was one of the highlights for all of our students, and while some played this all afternoon, others played in their sit spots, became fire keepers, and identified more plants.

Today there were 4 respect beads earned, along with 2 litter less lunches, 1 shelter, 2 show and share and 6 curiosity beads. Great job to everyone!

Next week – Field Trip!

Until next week,

Krista

Hikes for days..

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Hi everyone!

While Matt and Kim are away, Forest School gets off property to play! Through out our week all of our students embarked on two brand new trails located on the Bruce Trail called the Pretty River Trail and Loree Forest. We also welcomed with open arms our substitute teachers Carly and Noa. We had amazing weather, which gave our students positive vibes and lots of energy each day. After our core routines and student led games, our kids started the day with lots of energy and ended with tired legs and great memories. Check it out!

TUESDAY

We sprung the question “How has Forest School changed your life outside our classroom?” With some time in our sit spots to reflect our students had some very deep answers varying from improved self confidence, bravery, pushing comfort zones and in general just happier! It’s always great to see where we had started and how far we’ve come. After our morning student led games, our day was full on! While hiking in a sea of Trout Lilies and Trilliums, we came across Fox holes, Toads, Mud monsters, Spiders and tested our river jumping abilities. A huge Thank you to Rowan for bringing in a special gift for his fellow classmates, which was bubbles, and who doesn’t love bubbles.

WEDNESDAY

We brought out one of our favourite games – Kubb! We also spent some time building our sit spots and reflecting on our past week. Our Painted Turtles even came across a Bat flying around, deciding to name it seemed appropriate so Patty or Batman were the final two contenders, though we never did come to a conclusion. Everyone was eager to head out on our hike, which led us to familiar plants and animals. Students loved getting dirty today with all the clay we found, so much so that they turned into clay makers. Some of our masterpieces were bowls, cups and sculptures. We also found snow! Students loved “skiing” down the hill, and didn’t even mind the hike back up!

THURSDAY

Our students we excited and super prepared for our field trip, so we sprung into the van and headed to Loree Forest first thing. We challenged the kids to find just 1 Salamander, and they blew us away with a total of 60! We couldn’t believe it, but it’s true! We are so proud of all the dedication they had, and all of the excited screams never got old. We also discovered many new bugs, plants and some of the juiciest worms we have ever seen. If the kids were not making wild salads, they were playing with mud, snow and just enjoying our hike!

Congratulations to all our students who earned Respect, Love and Humility stickers! We also want to thank Carly and Noa for subbing in for Matt and Kim this week, we would love to have you back!

Next Week – By popular demand – Fishing!

Until next week,

Krista, Kim and Matt, along with Carly and Noa

More Pictures!

Potatoes and Hiking make a great combo!

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Hi Friends,

Izzy being zen

We had another super busy day at Forest School and though our blog will be short it is full of sweetness! Mother Nature sure gave us a lot of rain this past weekend, so much that our property was over run by water! It was amazing to see what the water moved and brought into the property, water sure is powerful. This week at Forest School we planned on working on some existing and new projects, but instead we decided to venture out in to 3 stage which hosts hiking and biking trails.

This morning we worked on our green thumb and planted our first of 4 potato towers. Getting into pairs our students were eager to get their hands dirty to dig holes, plant potato seeds and hang out in the compost. Each tower has 4 potatoes and we are super excited to see there growth each week. We can’t wait for french fries!

We were also super lucky with the amazing weather today, and it makes everyone so excited for summer. This weeks hike took us to a brand new location for Forest School – 3 stage – located just outside of Gibraltar. Hiking deep into the woods gave our students the opportunity to remove any pent up energy, while finding new discoveries along the way. Everyone came across many familiar plants and noises, and while moving rocks to discover life underneath, we found our first salamander! Some of us hugged trees, became zen with yoga poses and played hide and seek. This was an amazing hike, and we hope that our students take their friends and families to explore this part of the Bruce Trail.

After we checked in on our 2 bird nests (with baby birds chirping away), there were lots of stickers earned and given out. Today we had our first Bingo bead, as well as 1 peer support, 4 litter less lunches, 1 story telling bead, 2 curiosity beads and 1 Al bead.

Next week – We will be buzzing around the topic of Bees.

Until next week,

Krista

Take chances, make mistakes, get messy

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Hi Everyone!

This week at Forest School we looked at our Eco System, and tied in some fun games along the way! It also brought opportunities for new discoveries, and an activity we haven’t done since last September, frog hunting! After our morning routines, our day started with an intense football game to get our blood pumping. We also challenged our kids with food-chain games along with an Eco System freeze tag! We were so active enjoying the beautiful spring weather, and a little too clean – so we had to get a little dirty, or it just wouldn’t be Forest School.

Our main lesson of the day was to learn about our Consumers (Animals and Humans), Producers (Plants that grow from the ground), and Decomposers (Slugs, Snails and Worms). We tested our knowledge with a skill testing questions, a mix and match game, and though it came challenging for all at the end of the game, we all had a better understanding of each topic. With all the hard work we did, it paid off and we got a fun game out of it!

So while we were on our hike surrounded by tons of producers, looking for evidence of consumers (Racoon tracks, Beaver and Canadian Geese) and finding decomposers (Snails, Worms and centipedes) we spotted our FIRST Beaver of the season! We now have a better idea of who is chopping down all those trees! It was a beautiful day to relax and so we spent a large part of our afternoon working on our sit spots where we reflect, write in our journals and explore our 5 senses. Using the knowledge from our earlier lesson, we brainstormed examples of Consumers, Producers and Decomposers and used our imagination to write a story about their favourite animal along with a food chain associated with them.

With all of the beautiful sunshine and heat today, we were over joyed to see our first frog of the season as well, which lead into an impromptu frog hunt! Our kids didn’t lose any agility over the Winter to catch our little friends, and in total we caught 11 Frogs! All frogs went back home safe and sound. Along with this fun activity, we even had time at the end of the day to do some fishing. Unfortunately we didn’t catch anything this week, but we are looking forward to our next opportunity.

Our Morning Glory starting to sprout

This week was full of Wisdom stickers, Respect sticker and Love. Exciting news – we are getting close to some prizes! There was also 1 Al bead earned, 4 Litterless Lunch and 2 Show and Tell Beads.

Next Week – We are going to be looking into the fun and exciting world of Birds!

Until Next Week,

Krista

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