Outdoor Feb 26&27

Thursday

After our morning circle we read The Little Goose That Could and were introduced to the idea that animals have families.

After out story we have some free time working with number blocks, reading new animal books and lots of creative play. There was not enough sap today to collect, so we left it for tomorrow. The Squirrels were getting a drink from the dripping sap!

Our creation activity began with learning that all beings on Mother Earth are made up of the same stuff...that makes us all one big family. Everyone drew pictures of who they considered to be part of their family.

After lots of creative play we spent lots of time looking for cool rocks and playing on the snow hills....the creative play continued until the very end of the day.

Friday

Our morning began with Gordie choosing to play the dice game. We speak to the dice, asking them to give us the numbers we need...sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, however there are lots and lots of giggles about it. Gordie literally laughed so hard tears leaked out!

Our morning circle was beautiful with Gordie reminding me what happens, first, next and last. And we both pulled water animal cards today!

After circle we read Squirrel's Picnic, a book written by students from past years in the school. This story reviews animal homes, indicating they are all one big family, shares about what they eat and includes instructions to create a Squirrel picnic table. When we checked the sap buckets, we noticed a Squirrel picnic table in the backyard!!!

After, we returned inside and Gordie chose to make chocolate chip cookies. They were delicious!

We ventured outside to keep from smelling the delicious cookies while they cooled. While we were out, we checked for anything new growing in the garden, said hello and gave hugs to the Linden, Oak and Maple trees around the parking lot, and picked up some English Acorns that had holes in them to see if anything was living in there. We found an aphid that seemed to have made the acorn a home for the winter, and it had turned the nut inside into poop!

We collected our Maple Sap, measuring 7 cm of Sap in the bucket. Then we strained it into our holding bucket. All the sap in there was still frozen.

After lunch and clean up for the end of the day we went for an hour long hike, stopping at bridges over Pottersburg Creek to throw sticks, listen to the water, check out animal tracks, identify new trees and visited the many ducks. There were two Geese there foraging along with the ducks. For a few minutes, we were surrounded by ducks.

Next week we should have enough sap to start boiling it into syrup 🔥