Have you ever seen or heard something magical and mysterious like a sugar moon (last night) or snow thunder. These ‘wow’ moments happen all the time at nature school. Take, for instance, the journey of sap inside trees. This miracle of nature keeps us all amazed. Check in with your child about how sap travels inside the tree. When does it flow and where? What makes the sap start this ‘whoosh’ trip?
The snow today had a perfect hard crust, great for making shapes and cutting blocks. See what was created and how tools were used to do the work (play). Snow trays, snow pizza, snow sausage and even snow lasagna started our morning.
The learning today was about the inside story of trees. There are six names we learned along with an action and sound or words. See if your child can recall these tree parts and demonstrate what their special job is. Find out the answers in nature journals along with key words for each. You can make a ‘human tree’ at home with a larger group or family. Simply have one or more people take the role of each tree part, add the actions and sounds or words and get ready to have as much fun as ‘karaoke’ night!
Our hike today was a wandering ramble through forest and fields. See if you can get a story about our travels to tree friends (what changes did they notice today), Christmas forest (what did we build - what happened to Cedar), our snow slide near groundhog hole, and sit spots at Raspberry Hill. After our creek crossing with budding branch ticket to pass, we circled up at deer carcass. Who had visited here (raccoon) and what different tracks did we see near the creek (bird?). We are engaging our keen observation skills to notice small yet beautiful details in nature like ice crystals on white pine boughs.
Sit spot is a time for quiet and taking some memory pictures. Ask about what pictures your child took with their ‘finger camera’ and who might be living in the big stick nest spotted by Monarch.
The kids are asking to take some artist shots of scenery and snow art like these ones envisioned by Raccoon and Monarch. Love the clouds today!
Snow drifts as high as a teenage spruce tree gave a fun challenge and some interesting moments. Who got stuck at the bottom and what did we try to help them over the drift?
Eagle’s Nest is our new favourite restaurant serving the best packed lunches in the county. How nice to get out of the wind, enjoy sunshine and fellowship. A new place that may be requested on our next breezy day.
Let’s talk sap. Once the fire was lite in the evaporator, how did we get all the unwanted pieces of bark, leaves or bugs out of the sap? Why do we heat the sap, how hot should it get, and how long might we need to boil it? So much learning around this journey from sap to syrup.
Journaling in the Curiousity Cabin was a mix of games and writing. See if your child can tell you about the tree cookie and how we added names to make a diagram. What always goes at the top of each journal entry and how to do figure out a title. The picture today was called a diagram, why? This is our way of adding language skills such as making field notes with titles, labeling, key words, and headings.
Our day ended in perfect style with some time among the hay and straw. Our piles are slowly dwindling but still offer awesome opportunities for forts and jumps.
Our final feat was to make a story of our day in sequence around the circle. This is harder than it sounds when SO much happens in our days. Good luck getting an arrival until departure itinerary, but do enjoy all the juicy bits brought home along with wet pants and muddy mitts. Thanks so much to Erin (Hawk) for volunteering with our group today, we just couldn’t do it without this support.
Happy March Break and see you on March 22nd Forest Friends.
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