Outdoor Sept 11 & 12

Thursday

Today we spent the morning in the backyard. We began with morning circle, diving deeper into actions that clear energy. After we sang our 7 Direction Song, we each chose an animal card and went to our sit spot for our first 5 minute meditation. Upon returning to circle, everyone shared the animal message they received during their quiet time. They were all spot on.

After our morning story of "The City Tree", we talked about different kinds of trees to extend learning from the Core days. We began discussing what we might find on our hike and decided to look for ball galls growing on Goldenrod to see if they are ready to be harvested for a special nature craft.

During free play time, I put our new climbing blocks up with ratchet straps on the biggest maple tree in our yard. Everyone had a blast testing their confidence, working through fears, and problem solving their next steps until they had all climbed higher than my head! So proud of their determination and resilience.

After lunch our nature hike began with a scavenger hunt so I could identify what was known to the students and what was not. We will come back to this same hunt throughout the year to assess student retention and inform further instruction.

We saw so many cool things! We didn't hike very far, and there were wonders all around us. We each picked an Apple from the tree and ate most, leaving our left overs for Squirrels in the forest. Enjoy the photos and little videos! We hiked right until 3 o'clock and had our sharing board experience in the park. Our day ended with walky talky play through the forest.

Here is a short video we took. The first is of the seed pods of Jewelweed, the antidote for poison ivy we found in our travels today. These seed pods launch the seeds far away from the plant and look super cool being activated.

Friday

Today we started in the backyard with a short morning circle and listened closely to our animal messages. We took the opportunity to hike around the park this morning, making up songs about the names of things, like Potter's Creek and different trees.

We built a shelter in the park and enjoyed Stellaluna for storytime, and learned about bats.

We hiked to the swings, the climbers and picnicked in the park too. We visited the ducks and checked out different spiders and bugs we discovered along the way. We also started learning about our energy today, and how quickly fear gets in the way of being calm so we can move on with our day (from bees checking us out, to feeling frustrated about not getting our own way).

Create the best weekend for you!