When I'm feeling prickly as a porcupine, how might I be feeling? Today, Chickadee felt like wind through the trees, while others like water flowing along a stream, quiet like a mouse or curious as a squirrel. I guess we do have great imaginations! We practiced imagining with eyes closed, thinking about what we have experienced in nature that has made us feel something special, warm and wonderful. Talk about the picture that comes to mind. Mine was the crows playing rough and tumble across the bright blue sky.
Now we get a chance to express our imagination through poetry writing, and share this work with our community. Watch for our poems in store windows along the streets of St Marys and on display in the Station Gallery. Check your inbox for an invitation to our exhibit and ‘live’ poetry reading by CNS students. Many thanks to St Marys Poetry Circle, especially members Alizon (Chipmunk) and Joanne (TBNNamed) for reaching out to see if we had some poets who want to shine. Of course we said, YES!
Our nature school theme over the next couple weeks flows with the guiding question, ‘Where and how are plants and animals waiting or sheltering when the weather turns cold? Well, you should be able to tell your families all about the Goldenrod Gall Fly and the very cool way they get a free place to stay warm in winter. How did this home (gall) form? What are the dangers, besides us, to the tiny larvae hiding inside the gall. Not only birds might eat through the gall, something else may lay an egg that is not a nice house guest. (wasp)
Talk about what you saw through the magnifying lens. How did the Goldenrod stalk look and the gall? Some galls had a hole and when you looked up close at it Cardinal said it looked like a black hole in the universe! This black hole is a winter home. How does the Gall Fly get out when spring comes? This takes some preparation in the fall and a final balloon push. That little fly only lives 10 days before laying eggs in new spring goldenrod plants. Did you find a larva inside your gall?
What can you do on a chilly, wintery day when given the choice? Blue Racer and Frog decided to use a stick to see if they could break up the cover of ice on the stream, The rest of you got busy carving toboggan runs while trying to avoid running into the cattails along the sneaky trail. Acorn patrolled the hill, looking for anyone who wanted to buy some snow from him. He did say that business was pretty brisk even though he was charging $5!!!
Other Fun Stuff
Climbing, swinging, jumping, as well as some dramatic play helped you warm up for the afternoon. Talk about all the other fun things you did today.
We know that being safe in winter may mean knowing how to start a fire so we practiced our fire lighting skills in the arena using matches. What materials did we use for tinder? Show someone at home how to set and light an imaginary fire. What are some of the do’s and don’ts for lighting a fire safely? Talk about how it feels when you get that first little fire going all by yourself.
There was much excitement about our new whittling project! Tell your family what you’ve started to create and how you want it to look. Many of the First Nations people in Canada, including the Haudenosaunee who lived in our area, celebrated the end of their annual winter hunting trip with a competition to prove which village had the best hunters. Each of you got a block of Basswood which is really soft for carving. Here is Dave cutting the boards into 2ft long snake pieces for you to start molding into the fastest snake.
Today was a sanding day to start getting our snake ready for smooth sailing on the ice. You'll have to get this critter finished before our last day of winter session so we can hold our own Snow Snake contest. Which Chickadee do you think will be able to slide the snow snake the farthest?
As with any village, its strength is in how many different people are part of it. The same is true at nature school. We are so lucky that each of you excel (do well) in many different ways. We are even luckier that you are willing to share your skills with each other. Frog got a caring message about this skill at our closing. Together we are stronger!
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