What do you do when your brother is moving and delivers you a trailer full of good, usable wood? Well, it turns out the answer is a lot! Students imaginations ran wild this week as we set them loose (so to speak – tool-use is an integral part at FNS, but we do have guidelines!) and their creations came to life. We had gardens built, benches, boats (both small and kid size), docks, tables and much more. Epic wooden forts were created; hammers, butter knives and figurines were carved; and even a bat box was built and hung up in Maple Forest.
As the days unfolded, our students shifted their focus to community building, and more specifically figuring out what could be built or created to better our time at Forest School. Some students remade our main fire pit to include cardinal directions (and a new fire pit in Mysterious Forest). Others uncovered the need of a new bridge in Maple Forest and were fast to work. One student even recognized the need to clean up our river after the big rains and all the trash that had been swept down it. There’s more stories along the same lines, but the point is that we are seeing one of our key “indicators of awareness” coming into play: service to the community. It’s one way our students show us they understand that they are an important part of a greater community, and they are wanting to support one another. It’s a great feeling on our end!
As usual, throw in our core routines to the mix, some play, some adventure, some mud, some rain, some sun, some hammock time, some ukulele and new songs, and a delicious Wild Violet Jelly (recipe to follow soon!) and call it a week well spent!
A big shout out to our PA Day program – we had a blast exploring and discovering with you!
Hey Folks!
We’ve been busy enjoying the warmer temperatures and exciting changes that Spring brings! Here’s a few of the highlights over the past weeks.
Carving
Tool-use is a big part of FNS, and with the warmer temps, we are seeing an increased interested in creating wood projects. We love the creativity and the projects we see developing around the campfire during down time. With only a couple months until our Spring Trading Blanket (see here for more info), students are getting busy preparing!
Larping
When our Wednesday students approached us about creating a LARP (Live Action Role Play) we wanted to be supportive and follow their passions – but admittedly we had to look it all up first! A quick google search later on and we were totally on board with them. Over the course of a couple weeks, students developed characters, a whole fantasy world, shelters and stores and mapped the entire area of Mysterious Forest (which became “Indigoweeodd”, a last remaining settlement in a post-apocalyptic world). They developed complex social orders, a monetary system known as wood chips and a whackload of rules and guidelines around play, battle, trading and magic. And while I can’t do it justice in a blog, it was an epic day of uncovering treasure, friendship (and treason!) and solving the clues. And to our pleasant surprise, it ended in a peace treaty signed by all! No doubt if your child was part of this, you’ve heard the stories and know by their excitement just how awesome this day was and why it will go down in Forest School History for us.
BirdinG
Some of our students are taking advantage of the return of the birds and really getting to understand and know them. They are successfully identifying most common species,as well as other not as common ones. As we tap into the bird language, we are learning a lot about what is going on all around all day and gaining a deeper connection with the land.
Geocacheing
Easter hunt… FNS style. We learned how to use a GPS to uncover a treat (Marshmallows) to cook over the fire!
Sowing Seeds
We are getting our gardens ready, making planters and planting seeds!
Wild Edibles
Perhaps one of our favourite times of year is when we start seeing old friends popping up. Our leek colonies are out in full force as we focused this week on sustainable harvesting. Trout lilies make a delicious treat along our hikes and we’ve even sampled some wild carrots (Queen Anne’s Lace)! It’s a tasty time of year.
Catchable Critters
We’ve seen a significant jump in the amount of reptile and amphibian friends over the past little while. So much so that we rarely venture without a net in hand. As the student are getting up close and personal with these folks, they are making respectful and lasting connections with them and uncovering first hand new ideas – including that turtles aren’t as slow and they are made out to be!
April Showers
We’ve had a lot of rain this past while are a so thankful for it! We try and shift perspectives of rainy days and “bad days” at FNS in a effort to minimize the idea that happiness, exploration and fun are contingent on the sun. Some of our favourite days so far have left us soaked! The plants and animals are loving the water and it gives us new, more adventurous routes along our hikes. Levels are up all over the place, with the river higher than we’ve ever seen and some sit spots being totally washed out. We love that with repetitive exposure to the same spots, students get the chance to observe and notice these changes on a weekly basis.
Music
Most groups have gravitated toward really musical days! We’ve got our established weekly songs, and are writing many more together with the classes. Students are even writing and playing their very own using a ukulele!
And there is so much more that I just can’t sum up here! Have a great weekend.
We had an awesome last few weeks of Forest School full of excitement and adventure! Here are some the highlights below, and scroll all the way down to check out the pics. Thanks for the amazing year and see you in September!
Mountain Biking
We’ve got a ton of newly built trails at Forest School for Mountian Biking, so took advantage of this with a couple of our classes. Students wound their way through the meadows, hills and forest as they explored some of our favourite places (mysterious forest, maple forest) in a new way. We also left the property to try out some local trails together, while geocacheing along the way! Our kids were pretty tuckered out afterwards, but as we found out at our end of the year debrief, this was for some their favourite memory!
Ducks
Huey, Duey, Luey and Darkwing – 4 baby ducks that paid our Chickadees a visit a few weeks ago! Students eagerly fed and took care of these wonderful little creatures who have found a second home at Forest School. They built an elaborate play pen for them using all sorts of our “loose parts”. When it was time to go, it was hard to say goodbye!
Geocacheing
Did you know that the Collingwood Library lends on GPS units with dozens of geocache locations uploaded? It’s the ultimate scavenger hunt and our students rocked it uncovering 6 separate caches over the course of the days we did it. Ask your kid about it and plan your next adventure – there’s so much to discover!
Paddling
While the location and type of boats we were paddling varied, one thing for sure was the same across the board – beautiful paddling weather (with a narrow escape one day!). Our Friday group canoed along the Beaver River, for a peaceful quiet paddle with the river all to ourselves. We enjoyed a shore lunch (and a special homemade treat from one of students – thanks!) and some swimming in the rapids.
Our other groups set their sites on the Nottawasaga. Some groups took canoes, others took kayaks and some were even able to paddle all the way from the Sports Complex to Schooner Town. We saw deer, otters, beavers, countless birds and more. One thing we can guarantee is that a highlight for most was lunchtime – swimming and climbing at the sand dunes!
Our Chickadees braved the water, too, on the big pond at Bygone Days! They paddled all over and spotted lots of turtles out in the sun, and even caught some frogs!
Fishing
Our big pond is alive with creatures at this time of year and if you are familiar with our program, you know that we’ve caught quite a few! From nymphs to turtles and everything in between, our students love to hunt! We traded in our nets (or rather in addition to them) and grabbed our fishing poles and paddled our final week. Our students learned to tie knots, bait hooks and how to operate different styles of fishing reels, all while balancing in the water. The result was impressive – literally over 100 Rock Bass in a day. And to top of it multiple perch, a first for the big pond! A huge success for our students. Throw in some stand-up paddle boarding and swimming and call it a good day (week!).
Whirlpool and Pier Jump
To end of the entire season, our Friday visited the whirlpool (behind Matthew Way) for some swimming and exploring in the Pretty River. It’s a beautiful, naturally carved out hole in the river that you can “slide” down into on a natural rock slide. Afterwards we headed to the Collingwood harbour where brave students leapt into the frigid bay – a great kick-off to summer!
We want to thanks all the parents, students and our entire FNS community for the awesome year of adventure, play, learning and so much more this year. It was truly awesome!
See you in the Fall!
Matt, Krista and Kim (and the rest of the FNS team)
It’s been awhile since our last post and we’ve been up to so many adventures! It’s hard to sum up (and remember everything – we have go to keep up on this blog!). From expanding our knowledge on wild edibles, hiking new trails and rock climbing, we have been super busy!
All of our older classes have now had the chance to visit one of our favourite places – Metcalfe Rock. This gem, located in the Kolopore Uplands, is a magical place to explore, play and uncover new things. We certainly pushed our limits rock climbing up the Escarpment – and many of us for the very first time. We are so proud of our students for stepping beyond their comfort zones and trying something new!
Our students are also getting really good at identifying wild edible plants. We have had some more real tasty stir fries (including our favourite – leek and asparagus!) and garlic mustard pesto sauces. We were even able to find some morels!
As the spring unfolds we also see our pond coming alive, too. And with the warm weather we’ve caught many frogs and turtles, and other little critters. It’s been cool catching dragonfly and damselfly nymphs, then connecting with them again as they are out flying around now, eating those unwanted bugs. We are also watching tadpoles grow bigger, birds make nests and have their babies, and bigger mammals (like our neighbour the groundhog) go about their day. It’s this repetitive connection with place that is so important – and so interesting! It’s allowed us the opportunity to see and feel connected to the changes this spring. It’s been quite a treat to see and engage with all of this awesome creation and we know there is more to come!
We got up to a lot of different adventures this week, check out the recap below.
Tuesday
As we explored our senses by taking away sight in a few games throughout the day, we gained a better understanding of how animals survive in the wild. We also sang our hearts out on Tuesday and even wrote our very own song – which rippled its way through the whole week. Some students put on their builder caps, too, and made a giant xylophone to hang from a tree!
When the rain cleared up, it was time for fun by the pond. And, as we were especially sneaky and quiet, we were able to temporarily catch and observe turtles, frogs and thousands of tadpoles. We even caught a snake in the Northern (“Unknown”) Zone!
Wednesday
We took some time in the morning to jump into the role of being a chicken (and a frantic one at that!) This, ironically, set us up for a quiet reflection: students got their journals, observed some real birds and got really creative with what they thought the birds’ conversations would be. This took the form of comic strips, full on scripts, birds with names and much more.
After snack, off to sit spots where we used over 250ft of donated burlap to beef up our shelters (a big thanks to our friends who donated it!). Our next task was to lend the folks at Bygone Day’s a hand by recovering their submerged boat in the pond. Students eagerly volunteered and we were eventually able to flip it – only to uncover that dozens of Rock Bass were hiding underneath and now trapped in the boat! Everyone got a chance to catch them.
At the same time an epic trench was being dug and a full on workforce was organized. Every person had their job -my personal favourite being Prime Minister (Me!). The socio-dramatic play became so immersive, that there was even a group meeting at lunch to discuss plans and details.
With the excitement around being in the Lakeside Area, we just had to return after eating. We laid out different options for students to follow their interests, with many choosing to continue work on the trench. Some grabbed their nets though and caught (and successfully identified) damselfly and dragonfly nymphs, while others harvested some Garlic Mustard and made a delicious pesto!
Thursday
Our students were really excited to spend time in their sit spots Thursday morning and spend time interacting with all sorts of critters. We were easily (and happily!) distracted by all the bird action – orioles, swallows, red-wing black birds, grackles and much more. We were captivated by the sounds and songs (and fights!) of these birds, Students were equally interested in the aquatic critters. In total, we discovered five baby painted turtles, found out what damselfly nymphs looked liked and of course caught some frogs. And this all before snack.
We decided to have a lunch out in Grape Valley where we played and hiked our day away. We checked in on the toad eggs we discovered last week – and now there are thousands of tadpoles! We brought a few back to the class to watch them grow (and a few lucky parents now have some of their very own!).
Friday
Our focus Friday was learning about plants and what’s good to eat – and what to avoid! We headed out to the far West of property to forage and collect what we could. We hiked around both Maple Forest and Mysterious Forest (and played some games in between) and found lots of leeks, garlic mustard, dandelions, wild carrots (Queen Anne’s lace) and trout lilies. We also successfully identified and imprinted in our minds our nemesis poison ivy (eek!) as well as stinging nettle (although also edible!).
After our huge success, including identifying huge patches of Canadian ginger, we headed back. And all the hard work paid off as we celebrated with a feast at “The Fort” fire pit. Students volunteered to chop, grind and gather the veggies as we collectively created a delicious stir-fry over the (flint and steel lit!) fire. Some students also made a tasty pesto from the Garlic Mustard – check out a recipe on our Facebook Page!
And now a shameless pitch:
Want to know more about the plants your kids are learning about so they (and you!) can safely eat at home? We have Only 4 spaces remaining for our Wild Edible Workshop on June 2nd from 1-4pm with local Naturalist Brian McLelland-Tuck. For more info visit here.
After our opening circle, and a sweet dance party to start off the day, we put our adventure caps on and tested our bear-hunt skills as we twirled, growled, hopped and stomped our way through a maze. And we were off on the hunt, along the way being sidetracked (as normal!) from the hunt itself and jumping into lots of creative and fun play. Students opened up a clay store, a McDonalds drive thru (featuring the “McBug”), cooked elaborate meals and even made some “chili” (sumac, garlic mustard and mud). They were lost in their imaginative play for quite some time, letting the teachers in every so often with a taste test here, and a “hey check this out” over there. It’s some of our favourite moments!
During our picnic lunch we read some parts of Curious George, which naturally led to setting up a pulley trap (with a banana peel in it) and trying to catch him. After hauling it up and letting it drop countless times, we finally tied it up and were able to catch him!
Meanwhile, we also checked in on the mailbox and had received a letter from the Grape Valley Fairies. It thanked us for all the hard work we put in last week rebuilding their village and they gave us a special gift – honourary fairy names! So we wrote these names down on wood cookies and painted some sticks to create a windchime to take home so all fairies in the world knew we were friends!
And that’s our magical day!
Reminder – next week is a holiday so no Forest School! Enjoy the Sunshine!
What a hot and beautiful day we had! After our opening circle, we dove into (or rather quietly sat into) a sensory awareness activity that got us using all our senses. After some games and further core routines, we headed out for a lunch out a Grape Valley.
Students spent the day searching for critters in the water, building fairy communities, adding to their shelters and getting stuck in the mud! We headed out to be the first FNS group to explore the new trails in Maple Forest and found a lot of exciting things along the way. Edible trout lillies were everywhere and we took (sustainable) advantage as these delicious treats don’t last long! We meandered our way through the Forest, uncovering places we had never seen before. And before we knew it, it was time to head back. But one more treat on the way – a patch of Garlic Mustard! This is one tasty invasive!
Wednesday
Wednesday’s group was visited by a beautiful male Indigo Bunting during our opening circle. We took the time to just observe and see what he was doing, making note of appearance to identify later. After a sensory awareness activity, we were ready for the day!
After snack, the students took a lead role in our Tick Awareness by creating a student-led natural spray to help deter ticks from coming after us. And while we’ve never had a tick on our students at Forest School, we want to keep in that way and knowledge is power. After covering ourselves in it, we headed out to Grape Valley in Maple Forest for lunch.
While there, imaginations came alive, structures were built and the hunt for new creatures was on. We found some strange looking aquatic bugs we later identified as caddisfly larvae and big beetle known as a Meleo. We hiked all the new trails that have been developed which has opened up some awesome new areas to explore and then something really cool happened – the students self-organized to clean up garbage along it and ended up filling a whole bag. What group of environmental superheroes!
Throw in some delicious wild edibles – trout lily, leeks and garlic mustard – and a huge nesting site of bank swallows on Fossil Mountain, and we’ll call it a successful exploration!
Thursday
Thursday brought forth all sorts of emergent interests in our students. We started the day with some teambuilding by conquering the “chocolate river” by using “marshmallows” to cross it (ask your kids!). After our opening circle we spent some time on sensory awareness with our journals in a quiet place. This led us into our check-in and before we knew it, snack had arrived. After snack, we had a quick lesson on tick prevention and awareness before jumping into the role of Geese and learning firsthand some of the perils they face on their long journeys – not everyone survived! Some of our students were focused on birds throughout the whole day and we were able to identify new ones and wonder what they were up to. We even followed some circling vultures to see if we could find their target.
Another theme throughout the day was plants. We worked to together to get our gardens in place, plant the peas for our living tee-“pea” and students even took the initiative to build their own wild edible garden in their sit spots – complete with some of the plants we foraged: garlic mustard, wild strawberry, wild carrot (Queen Anne’s Lace), leeks and more.
And still we had some students dive into amphibians – frogs and toads to be exact. We found eggs and tadpoles and caught a whole bunch of different critters.
And still some other students were really into to building bug homes and making clay.
It’s awesome when we can all share one space, and follow our passions and interest together and apart!
Friday
We started off the day with a silent lava crossing teambuilding challenge and our students rocked it! After our opening circle and check-ins we spent some time building and playing in our sit spots. As it was a chillier day, some students took on the task of creating a fire with flint and steel and were successful!
Our next adventure began after lunch as we headed west to discover some new trails. Along the way, we caught some frogs and uncovered a mass area of toad eggs (now named Toad Egg Bay). Further along, we spotted a pile of bones that got us wondering what had happened.
As we started along the trails we focused our attention downwards and the many wild edibles that have sprung up. Students tried Garlic Mustard, sampled the ample trout lillies and uncovered big patches of leeks. And though not edible, we found that the trilliums are in bloom (so watched out step!) and even identified some Jack in the Pulpit sprouted up.
FYI: We’ve got an edible plant workshop with Naturalist Brian McLelland-Tuck coming up on Saturday June 2nd with a few spaces remaining. At Forest School, your children will be learning a lot about safe foraging and eating, and this workshop is geared towards parents and educators to help them get involved in this special learning. Email us asap if you’d like to register, we only have a handful of spots remaining ($20/person).
Worms and insects are out. Turtles and Frogs are sunbathing. Birds are singing and making nests. Spring is here and here’s the recap of our week, enjoy!
Tuesday
With emergent interests at the forefront, we were a little all over the place on Tuesday with an overarching theme of Spring – though it felt more like Summer! We began our day with some of our core routines and games, then jumped into plant ID. We set the stage – 8 mystery plants that need to be identified and limited time periods to peek at the master copy! Students did an excellent job of uncovering and naming various plants using just small pieces of them including clover, willow, dogwood and more.
Afterwards, we had to take advantage of the warm sun and headed out on an adventure, nets in hand just in case. We played around the big lake, dammed up our stream, climbed fossil mountain and found and caught an incredible amount of critters! Frogs, tadpoles, a blind fish, some green eggs and 2 Giant Water Bugs aka Lethocerus americanus. In addition, we found a kill site from what we guessed was last fall, and tried to unravel the mystery of what occurred.
In the afternoon, we got crafty and did some painting and made “seed” bombs. Seed bombs (clay, soil and seeds) are meant to be tossed anywhere and make flowers grow. Let us know how yours do! We finished up with a teambuilding initiative – choose the right path – and before we knew our day had flown by!
Wednesday
Similar to Tuesday, our Wednesday group was excited about searching for water creatures – and determined to find a Giant Water Bug. After a thrilling “Ring Toss” Tournament, we were on our way to the West side of the big pond in hopes of capturing some critters. We were able to snag some striders, a tadpole and frog pretty quickly, but as the rain began to roll in our hopes dwindled on catching a Giant Water Bug – until at nearly the last moment, a log was moved and we got one!
We decided to head back as the rain picked up, and along the way were treated to a nesting Morning Dove in a cedar. A big props to the student with the keen eyes! On our way to get dry however, the rain stopped (as was our day: rain, sun, rain, sun) so we stopped too to spend some quality time at our sit spots. It wasn’t long until students were drawn to a huge puddle – a bridge went up, frogs eggs were spotted and inevitably shoes came off to squish in the clay.
After lunch – and a quick thunderstorm that sent us inside for a bit – we dove into a teambuilding initiative (island hopping) and students did extremely well coming through with the fastest time to date!
After our story of the day (debrief) it was to say adieu for another week.
Thursday
The rain didn’t slow us down on Thursday as we lit ourselves a nice big fire to dry off and stay warm. In fact the wet weather actually inspired us to get building on our shelters in our it spots. And who can resist a giant puddle full of clay? And hundreds of striders – so much that our students shoveled out a section, built some walls and created a strider sanctuary. Some students even took on the initiative of building a tee-“pea”: a living garden structure designed to grow peas and provide shelter!
In the afternoon we ventured west with nets in hand. With the cold weather, we were sort of surprised to find a turtle out on shore, but happy nonetheless. And while we didn’t spot any giant water bugs, we did get up close and personal with a mama morning dove sitting on her nest in a cedar. As we ventured more, we uncovered tons of fossils, found that the bank swallows have returned to Fossil Mountain and followed some fresh deer tracks.
On days like this, we’re reminded that rain is a good thing as flowers are starting to bloom!
Friday
The morning clouds gave us a heads up – take advantage of the sun because we’d likely have rain later.
Our students set the stage today when they imagined a mini jungle life playing itself out in the grass – think “Honey I Shrunk the Kids”. Therefore after doing some core routines (smudge, animal forms, quiet time) we headed out to our Sit Spots to play, build and get up close a personal with bugs. Specifically we built a bug hotel! Complete with pine cone rooms, sumac rooms, bark rooms, and mud rooms. Holes were drilled in locks, mini hammocks were made and even a pool was put in for the striders. It turned into more of a 5-star bug resort, and students eagerly sought out bugs to add to it. Worms, Potato Bugs, Striders, Centipedes and even a Wooly Bear caterpillar (named Crawly) all checked in. With lunch looming, we headed back, just in time for the torrential downpour.
The sun made it’s return shortly after, and we continued with our bug theme shifting our focus to bees. After some students made some beeswax chap stick to take home, we chatted about threats to the bee population and the ramifications it could have. We explored pesticide use, habitat loss and other critical issues. And then we dove into the roles of bees in a macro-model we call “Bee-Safe” where bees must retrieve pollen without getting tagged by some of the “threats”.
After a final barefoot walk through the gigantic puddle, we called it a day. Happy May the 4th Star Wars fans!
We welcomed the warm weather and (mostly) sunshine with open arms this week at FNS! The birds were quite active, insects were out and about, turtles and frogs were sunning, flowers and grasses were growing – Spring is here. Check out the recap below.
Tuesday
After some of our core routines, we dove into our full values contract. If you are unfamiliar with this, essentially we brainstorm of ideas to what it takes to create a safe, happy and welcoming atmosphere for all, write them all down on leaves and pin them to our FS tree. Everyone signs the roots (and taking ownership over it) and these become our norms and guidelines that we were refer when needed.
We then headed out for our camp out lunch to Mysterious Forest to try and unravel some of the mysteries. Children sought to understand the “Mystery” of Mysterious Forest and discovered all sorts of clues to what it could be. And so what is the Mystery? Well, the jury is still out on that. But slowly the puzzle pieces are coming together.
Throughout the day, we took time to develop our quiet minds by being intentional on taking time to listen. A great book we read is The Other Way to Listen by Byrd Baylor which set the tone for some quiet connection time in the Forest. We also spent some time channeling our inner animals (aka Animal Forms) in various games like camouflage and person-hunt.
Oh and we found a great big painted turtle just meandering it’s way across the path!
Wednesday
Wednesday was a student-planned day and after months, perhaps years, of asking we finally decided as teachers that Nerf Mania could happen. (For more information on the “behind the scenes” of this decision, we’ve written a a blog in our Campfire Notes – check it out here.)
After creating comprehensive guidelines, our day started off with a triathlon where students raced around the pond, answered an FNS trivia question and then fired at their homemade target to see how many points they could achieve. From here we moved into target practice by setting up “antique tin cans” (toilet paper rolls) on a fence and trying to knock them over. It’s surprising how accurate they can be.
We had snack and moved into learning about hunting. We talked about skills as a hunter (silence, camouflage, patience, etc) and sustainable practices. The students then became hunters with the goal of shooting the deer before the deer noticed them. They set up their perfect space, and waited. And waited. And waited. Until the deer (teachers) started grazing and moved close enough to be hit! Later on, we finished our day with Capture the Flag with a twist using Nerf.
And did we mention Baby Chicks? 16 to be exact. With all the Nerf excitement, we as teachers were pleasantly surprised when students opted to spend most of their days playing with the chicks (to be clear: Nerf and Baby Chicks were two very separate activities). They gave them names, built huge elaborate homes, and even some amusement parks. We as teachers also learned an important lesson – it’s hard to debrief when everyone in the circle is holding a squawking little chick!
Thursday
Our day started off with the usual routines, but when we headed to our check-in and sit spots we noticed something. There were so many birds! And one thing led to another and before we knew it, we were following some turkey vultures to see what they had found. This led us North to an off-the-map area and we found it! Massive vultures over the remains of Green-Winged Teal (we later identified) which gave us a first-hand look at the food chain. After finding some other interesting things, we all agreed that we need to explore this area in more depth.
After snack we jumped into a new team-building game we like to call Islands. The premise is all students have some sort of ability taken away, and all know a few bits of the puzzle. They rocked this game and came up with some really creative answers. Ask your child about it.
Before lunch, we got out some tools and constructed a giant slingshot with some of our students. After lunch, we just had to try it out and headed out to explore around the lake. With the sun so hot, we inevitably stumbled across a TINY painted turtle. Check out the pictures below!
Friday
Another beautiful day, and we took full advantage. After spending some time in our sit spots and trying our the giant slingshot, it was the Friday groups turn to try out the Island teambuilding game (see Thursday). And they rocked it! It also led to a really powerful debrief for this group about teamwork, cooperation and communication.
After lunch, we slowly headed West with our Willow Crowns, checking for our amphibian and reptile friends along the way (and climbing a mountain). Eventually we made it out to Maple Forest to check out the new trail systems that have been created. This gave us a good chance to reflect on balancing human impacts (including our own) in natural areas. The new trails are beautiful!
Upon arriving to Grape Valley, our campsite, we spent some time getting to know one another better. We broke off into pairs and “interviewed” each other, then reported back to the group to introduce our partners. And before we knew it, it was time to head back.
This week our Tue-Thurs groups were off site on field trips. Check out where they went and the highlights below!
Tuesday
Destination: WebWood Falls, Heathcote(ish)
What a pleasant surprise when the Tuesday group arrived at the side of Old Mail Rd, unloaded from the car and immediately came across a massive waterfall! Dreams of summer came to life in that moment, of natural showers and swimming in the pools. We walked in along the Bruce, and with no set agenda, slowed right down and followed our hearts.
And our hearts led us to some crazy animal tracks! We followed squirrel, rabbit, raccoon, mice, deer, fox and more. Imaginations came to life as we wondered about what these creatures could possibly be doing. So why did the Raccoon cross the road? Well, to get to the other side our students figured. Our keen nature eyes even led us to a dead shrew, that we studied and tried to figure out what when on, with many theories being brought forth. Some students were even so attuned to nature, they were able to spot the remnants of subnivean tunnels that little critters had made during the winter.
Eventually, we headed into the valley and made ourselves comfy by the river for lunch. Rivers are both mesmerizing and alluring and before we knew it, we were ankle deep manipulating rocks, discovering clay, building bridges and searching for creatures.
We took some time to really slow down, read a story and picked quiet places to really focus on our senses other than sight. At this time, students were also ensuring that the Teachers were unable to sneak up behind them and steal their special token. And then it started to snow! A magical moment in the forest that led to some free play and the ultimate discovery of a giant class-sized natural see-saw.
Wednesday
Destination: Bighead River, Meaford
Our Wednesday group headed west to Matt’s hometown to hike one of his favourite trails. Starting at Beautiful Joe Park, we headed upstream along the banks of the swift moving Bighead River. With no set agenda, we were able to slow down and appreciate all our surroundings. We made snow slides, tried to balance rocks, and stomped our way through the mud and snow. Our student’s only objective was to “notice” something (a sound, smell, sight, feeling, etc) to share with the group later on.
Eventually we made our way to a space where we could venture our on the dry river bed where we played around in the huge felled trees and got a first hand lesson on the power of erosion (the river had quite literally eroded away part of the trail this spring.) We lit a bonfire, had lunch and spent some quiet solo time in nature, taking in all the noises – and ensuring the teachers didn’t sneak up and steal our chosen rock by using all our senses except for sight. And these rocks became our “Gratitude Rocks” meant to store all things we are grateful for – then taken home, placed in a special spot, perhaps forgotten about until found again one day to act as a reminder.
We spent some more unstructured time in our new oasis where students began to build a damn, climb massive roots, and do a little eroding of their own. When it was time go, we were sad to leave – the mark of a really great day. We played a quick game of camouflage and were greeted by FNS Educator Kim, new baby Abby and good old goofy Aden, who joined us for the hike out.
Our Thursday group wasn’t bothered by the rain and tackled about 5 km(!!!) of the Bruce and it’s side trails. We wandered in, taking time to follow subnivean tunnels (including a roundabout!), wonder about the life and happenings of the surrounding trees, scope out fungi and lichen, and tell tales of different tracks we came across. We were even surprised by a snowy owl, or it was surprised by us, as it flew just feet over our heads. Along the way, we spent some silent time sauntering along the trail, taking in the sounds, sights and noticing our own feelings that were happening. We uncovered shelters, climbed trees and imagined that many of the trees seemed to be sticking their tongues out at us.
As our hike continued, we jumped onto a side trail that took us across the top of the escarpment, and while we couldn’t take our normal ice slide in because is was too dangerous, we found another adventure route down that (safely!) pushed us out of our comfort zones. Down in the crevasses, we crept and crawled our way through, in awe of the frozen moss on the walls. We even found our own ice slide before heading back out for a really late lunch!
See you next week! Just a heads up, that with the cold weather forecast, our planned activity (Fishing) will most likely be postponed.
