Do you ever think about what lies beneath your feet? As you walk, do you ever wonder about the life systems busy hiding, sleeping, birthing, surviving mere metres from where you stand? We do!
Once again this week map reading skills helped in our search for words to find out which critter was our theme. See if your child can recall the eight words we found and how they help us describe the life of this animal. Ask about the word they added to this list, do they remember any others?
At this time of year Groundhog has dropped its body temperature to near zero and slowed heartbeats from human normal to single digits per minute. These true hibernators peaked our interest today as we became constructors of a complex burrow. Ask your child to share the mystery of this designer dwelling, using their journal diagram as a guide and show you all the features made by this crafty digger.
Roleplay is a great way to take on an animal form and feel the tension of survival especially in winter. Tunnel building involves math! The change in heart rate of gopher during hibernation, diameter of the entrance and exit, length of the burrow, total of lives and number of pieces of food collected. Maybe your child can give you some number facts. Chat about our groundhog game, what foods were they searching to add that fat layer, which predators were lurking in the forest. Did they lose any lives? How much food did the each team accumulate? Ready or not for winter hibernation?
Groundhog goes by many names. What are they? (Woodchuck, Gopher) and who are their close relatives (rodents - squirrel, chipmunk, beaver…). What other facts can be recalled from this book?
The sun was warm and snow sticky, so of course we had to enjoy it. Check in on this spontaneous wander time. Share the pictures and their happiness in remembering our winter frolic near the backwoods. Snow trays are fun to make and delicious!
Loose time at the farm is so much fun! Enjoy walking through these pictures together.
We celebrated a birthday today for Acorn who turned eight. No better place to be then up a tree!
Sometimes we run into critters we are surprised are out in winter....any guesses?
Decomposition is happening in real time at the farm. We made our stop at the deer carcass and chatted about what animals might be coming and what they are using this deer for. You may get some interesting stories from this conversation. There have been loads of visitors to this site.
Valentine's Day lovey stuff is not only for humans, wild animals of different species also show caring and help each other. We found pictures and worked together to figure out who these heart matches were. See what your child can tell you about why and how these animals are connected.
It was report card deadline today for public school teachers here, so Daisy and I feel pretty lucky to be free to enjoy children learning in the great outdoors. We are already dreaming up the next adventure.
Happy trails until next time Forest Friends:)
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