Tuesday brought us a sunny, warm afternoon after a chilly morning! We welcomed Jessie, Leo’s mom, for her first Forest Helper session, and Kylie’s children, Matilda and Silas, joined us to play!
A coffee shop (complete with mochas and dark roast!) popped up at the play site, mud kitchen play turned into building elaborate fairy houses, and human-sized structures were built from sticks.
Kylie read Yoga Bear and Yoga Whale by Sarah Jane Hinder and several friends jumped into forest yoga!
At snack time, we enjoyed reading Plants that Never Ever Bloom by Ruth Heller. We learned about some of the earliest plants on earth, and the way fungi use spores to reproduce instead of seeds!
Eva and Hamlin joined us on Wednesday, and although we had a smaller class and missed the friends who were away, we had a very fun and explorative day! Lots of friends have been enjoying experimenting with finding safe distances to jump from various stumps and logs.
A few friends worked together to create paintbrushes from bundles of pine needles and painted their “treehouse” with a mixture of water and mud!
We enjoyed a lunch together of quinoa, great northern beans, baby spinach, and sauerkraut. The students have really been enjoying a new staple of circle time, “sharing the news”! Each child has a turn to share their news, or something on their mind. It’s so wonderful to hear what they have to share, and they’re doing such a wonderful job of giving each other their attention and practicing patience while their friends share!
On Thursday, the wind made for an exciting day to play with silk kites! Students took turns waving silks around on sticks and catching the wind in the cloth. Before long, the silks were taken off of the sticks and became capes. Climbing trees as super heros became a common theme among friends.
We also spent time in the garden, harvesting tiny carrots and radishes that made it through the cold snap.
We moved inside after snack time when it became a little windier outside. We borrowed a Mammal discovery box from Sandy Creek Nature Center for students to explore during our indoor time. The box is filled with information and learning opportunities about mammals, from furs and pelts, skulls and skeletons, and books and puzzles! So far we’ve explored bear fur, a beaver pelt and skull, leopard fur, a mammal puzzle, and a preserved field mouse!
An extra special invitation to bake bread was offered on our indoor day. We read Good Bread by Anne Moller and Brigitte Weninger, which took us through the process of bread making from the planting and harvesting of the grain to enjoying the bread with loved ones. Ask your child more about how we made it!
Students worked on fine motor skills by creating their own board game using pegs from a battleship board game and placing them the game board in their own inventive ways.
Friday’s cold, residual wind brought us to the Crow’s Nest for extra shelter. We enjoyed a warm snack of oatmeal and the bread we baked the during our indoor day, which was a huge hit! Several students banded together as forest superheroes and chanted, “Save our city!” together. We’ve noticed so much caring and cooperation between the students lately. Their connections are very strong at this point in the school year, it’s just so very special!
Here is the recipe we used for the yummy bread this week, if you’d like to try it at home! This is such a simple, low-mess way to make quick bread with kiddos! Happy baking!
We’re wishing everyone a cozy weekend! Stay tuned for an updated location for the optional MLK day of service on Monday! An email and update on the Trailhead are to follow.
