Today Sarah and Kylie taught Wendell, Larkin, Sammy, Beck, Jerrett, Charlie, Miles, Mabry, and Willa. The day began with very cold temperatures; the children ran laps around the drop off area embodying different animals to keep warm; dragon, kangaroo, falcon, etc. We gathered in the sun for the opening circle and, by Wendell and Sammy’s lead, laid on the ground to sing our morning song, using feet instead of hands to create the movements. Once standing, we sang the song one more time at “medium speed.” We welcomed Mabry into our class. Each child introduced themselves using their own unique voice (e.g. grunty, operetta, squeeky, etc.). The children enjoyed the playfulness of morning circle and gathered relatively quickly to enter the forest. We followed a more direct path to the play ravine and quickly decided to play in a different area because of the branch hanging from a tree we are waiting to have removed by park staff. The children were enthusiastic to explore what they found. Willa was nervous to climb into the ravine by herself and seemed to “test gravity” by throwing things into the ravine and watching what happened to them; leaves, sticks, and kicking at dirt. She came so close to sliding herself down the wall of the ravine, but got nervous and asked for help to get out. We read Crinkleroot’s Guide to Walking in Wild Places and Millie’s Chickens during snack time. A tradition has emerged where the children try to guess the flavor of the herbal tea each day at snack. Beck, Sammy, Wendell, Larkin, and Miles were very interested in coloring with the oil pastels after snack and smudged the colors together to create a different effect on their paper. A new lunch tradition has emerged too in which the older children want to assert their independence by moving their dots out of the circle to sit facing away from the rest of the group! Rather than turning the communal aspect of lunch into a power struggle, we welcome this; particularly after a day spent cooperating, caretaking, and co-constructing the meaning of their education through play.
