Daily Diary 11/19/19

Today was a different day with a different teaching staff. Many students remembered Amy as the teacher of last year’s AFK, and pedagogista for this year, and Robin was back in the forest after an absence last week. Amy led the students in an activity on “animal gait” while we were waiting for all the kids to arrive. The students attempted to replicate certain complex animal movements, and suggested imaginative animals, creating their own imaginative gait. In circle, after introductions, we sang our good morning song, and discussed the previous kid-led making of different types of eggs and nests. Amy mentioned a book she brought with her about nests of ALL kinds, and Robin mentioned the VERY large nests of bald eagles. Students seemed enthusiastic about these topics, although seemed to be having a few challenges with listening well and keeping their bodies in control. Amy entrusted individual feathers from her feather collection to the students for them to carry into the forest and help focus their attention. 

Once in the forest, Charlie and Jarrett played a variety of imaginative games together, Larkin and Eden gathered a great deal of moss for a rich moss “cake” during a mud kitchen session, while singing familiar and silly songs. Beck, Sammy and Wendell also began a series of imaginative play games, until the swirling wind caused colored leaves to shower and float like snowflakes from the sky, The boys were transfixed and delighted, and abandoned their fantasy scenarios, to race from spot to spot attempting to catch the leaves before they touched the ground. Eventually only Wendell and Sammy remained, chasing leaves on their own for a long while. 

At snack time we read Amy’s all animal nest book (A Nest is Noisy by Diana Hutts Aston and Sylvia Long), and a book Robin brought about a boy who helped with an eagle egg adoption by an endangered bald eagle pair. Post-story time we extended an invitation to build a large eagle nest (6 ft. in diameter), in the future, (if not today), and to consider/and or draw plans on how to build wings, also noting the 6 ft. spread of a bald eagle’s wings. We also mentioned that the children could bring their own thoughts ideas and information to share on the topic to school over the next few sessions. Amy shared that children could see a real Bald Eagle nest in Georgia at Berry College, and visit the nest cam online to watch the entire life cycle. Adults can use this link: https://www.berry.edu/eaglecam/ to connect! The children chose to return to their own imaginative play from before snack. Amy introduced some binoculars with very specific instructions on their use. Larkin chose to do some quiet drawing with Robin, and was soon joined by Wendell and Sammy who were taken in by the illustrations of eagles in some of the book resources provided for the day. Students still work to control their bodies and voices, but did well today in their forest explorations, imaginative games, and creatively resolving differences as they arose.

Daily Diary 11/14/19

We started the day by heading into the forest to check on eggs and nests from Tuesday. Immediately, the children noticed something new in the forest. “Come look! We found something and it’s related to birds!” On one of the log bridges, they’d found the remains of a bird that we presume had been attacked by another animal. After an extended free play period, they decided to combine opportuni-TEA and snack, so we sat down for blueberry tea, trail mix, and a discussion about the many uses of feathers (sun protection, warmth, flying, digging, impressing others, camouflage, etc). After snack, some returned to pre-snack games, while others built nests with sticks and leaves. 

Daily Diary 11/12/19

Before going into the forest today, we told the children that we’d have a slightly different schedule. They had expressed an interest in birds, so after about 15 minutes of free play, we brought them together for an opportuni-TEA party---an invitation (Reggio Emilia educational term) offered with a warm cup of tea. We talked about about what they know about birds, then read some things they didn’t know, specifically about nests and eggs. The “challenge by choice” was to use their new knowledge about eggs to make some of their own with materials in the forest and house them safely in a nest. Everyone chose to try it out and their ideas about what eggs should look like, how they should function, and how to insulate them in a nest for incubation. There were many dragon eggs with amazing powers of protection! At snack, we read about Great Grey Owls, Bald Eagles, and city birds that adapt to human activity. After snack, they were excited to get back to their eggs! The work with mud also spurred some mudball play and mudslide surfing on our rainy day together. At the end of our forest time two children decided to take their eggs out of the forest and the others chose to leave them in the nests they had built. This led to some interesting speculation about what the state of the eggs would be on Thursday when we checked on them! Sarah and Nicollette were proud of the children on our rainiest day yet! 

Daily Diary 11/7/19

AFK is growing! Today we had a new friend, Aubrey, join us in the forest. She will be part of our community through the end of this semester, on Thursdays only. The new spot with the cut trees was the first “go-to” space for many yesterday. Balancing, jumping, and conversation were popular choices, welcomed by the variety of logs. Three clay slides were imagined and used yesterday, one being fondly dubbed as “The Belly Slide”, which was proudly discovered by Miles, after he accidentally slid down feet first on his belly and discovered the experience was delightful. Larkin and Miles engaged in a measuring activity, picking and choosing sticks to compare with the stick that is quite possibly the longest in the forest. Miles also used his super long stick to be “gatekeeper” (NOT “guard”!) and it was wonderful to see him discovering new ways of connecting with the older children. Wendell, Sammy, and Beck discussed their differing opinions over which is more fun: belly sliding or log leaping. Aubrey spent some time finding the best leaves amongst the crowd and shared a story about a red leaves whose green dots were “owies” from falling out of the tree. Charlie and Jarrett used a variety of natural powers in their game, ranging from fire to water to potato (which inspired a whole host of food machine robot attachments from all the AFK-ers). We read Wild Child and Sky Tree at snack and practiced a yoga-based “warrior dance” before leaving the forest for lunch. It was a particularly imaginative day today; perhaps the changes to site, weather, and students allows us to grow in new directions! 

Daily Diary 11/5/19

Today, we had an exciting start with a photographer from the Athens Banner-Herald joining us for part of the morning. But even better, some dead trees that had kept us out of one play area were finally cut down today! Children got to hear the chainsaws buzzing and trees falling just before we arrived, and then go to our site to investigate what changes had taken place. The children were thrilled with being able to explore the old space as new with the logs down. Lots of balancing took place over the new logs, jumping, and hiding in newly created spaces. Some got together to “film” scenes, which we’re hoping to explore more with them in the form of storytelling, theater, or perhaps videos. Larkin moved from guided flower drawing to choosing to draw independently today while narrating each part as she drew. Charlie and Jarrett spent some time reading a field guide together. Sammy taught Wendell how to jump off a log. Eden balanced on a log path. Beck moved well between multiple groups today, deepening friendships with a variety of peers.

Daily Diary 10/31/19

Happy Halloween!!! This was our first possible severe weather day, so we switched it up and did drop off at the building, with a warming run out to Kylie in the field. We walked across the rest of the field and opened our day at the tree line. We were so impressed that the children could orient themselves from a new spot to point East! They explored the area for a bit, and quickly settled into a favored location with some overgrown plants that felt hidden and a small bridge that led to an open grass area. They made fishing poles for the bridge with rope and sticks, created new bases to continue previous games, and enjoyed a variety of books at snack. We began to move back toward the building for a surprise “field trip”, but not before spotting a rat snake! We watched for awhile and discussed the shape of its kinked body, what it might feel with us so close, how it smells with its tongue, and how we looked like one giant creature because all our warm bodies were so close together! On the way back, we invited children to explore an on-site cemetery with graves so old, a Revolutionary War veteran was among them. We got a bit more than we bargained for when 3 of the children and an educator were stung by yellow jackets (who had not been present when the educators did the morning site check). Yikes! Stings were painful, and there was an initial fear reaction from most, but this was recognized as an opportunity to learn about nonhuman inhabitants of the Earth and how/why they responded to our presence. Part of this learning led us to enjoy an indoor picnic for lunch to make sure other yellow jackets in the area wouldn’t be attracted to the scent of the fresh stings and seek out our group. However, we felt confident that the yellow jacket warning pheromone had worn off, and we enjoyed the last moments of our day together playing outside.

Daily Diary 10/29/19

We started the morning with a game of extended “Red Light, Green Light”, which included purple, blue, and rainbow lights (for animal movements). We introduced a simplified version of our rules-- “respect yourself, respect each other, and respect the forest” before heading into the forest. On the way in, we briefly discussed oak trees and leaves. Once in the forest, all were interested in the field guides. Larkin continued work with the flower guide, while others used the wildlife and bird guides to identify animals they had seen in other places. Today, games were fluid, moving from plot to plot, including dragons, heroes, and family themes. Robin brought out her Animal Cards. Each child chose a surprise card and an intentionally-chosen card to draw on the “powers” of that animal for their game/s. At snack, we read a Clifford book that Charlie brought to share. We also finished a long Halloween story about “changelings” in Dublin, Ireland. In our closing circle Sarah suggested each child “make a shape that is relaxing to you” on their dot and hold it and breathe deeply while she rang the singing bowl. They chose three different shapes for the three different times the bowl was struck. Yoga without mats or lingo!

Daily Diary 10/24/19

We had drop-off in a new spot today (Parking 7), which offered a lot of excitement! The space offered a beautiful view and a great open space to run and imagine animal movements through the field. On our way into the forest, we paused to toss rocks into the lake. On our new path, some found a log and attempted to break it apart, while others collected sticks for use in a game once we reached the site. There was more negotiation as the children continued building on the ongoing superhero narrative. Kylie began collecting acorns and cracking them, which the children either joined or asked questions about. Larkin returned to her work depicting flowers from the field guide, which prompted the rest of AFK to explore the field guides we have and use them in their play. On our way out of the forest, Wendell lost a beloved plush friend, Red Pandy, and his friends were eager to turn back to comfort him and help him look for it. Mission accomplished! 

Daily Diary 10/22/19

The day started with some rainy weather, which we decided was a good opportunity to switch up our drop-off routine and do our morning circle under the pavilion. Amy joined us in the forest and the children seemed very comfortable with her there. Before going in different directions, Robin briefly discussed how rain changes the forest to be more slippery. The older children picked up last week’s game and engaged in negotiations to ensure those playing were all comfortable and enjoying the games. Robin, Larkin, and Eden played a couple rounds of freeze tag. We read The Gruffalo and began “The Halloween Changeling”, a story from Ireland to be continued. After snack, the superhero game continued and some drew Georgia flowers from our field guide. We’ve been practicing a “Mindfulness Moment” before leaving the forest, where we gather back together for a quick, intentional moment of togetherness as the last thing we do before heading back. Today, we did a “dragon breath”. On the way back, we experimented with being different kinds of animals--animals with tails, animals that are nocturnal, etc. The children are getting more comfortable with our commitment to staying together in our closing circle to practice the art of conversation. They are all seeming confident with the procedures of clean up after lunch and proud of those skills: scraping their bowl, knowing what is expected to stack where, and finishing quickly to go play in their favorite holly bush!

Daily Diary 10/17/19

Today Sarah and Nicollette were the Educators, as Kylie was out sick. We started the day with magnifying glasses and a game of “Red Light, Green Light” before morning circle. Sarah led us into the forest with different animal body movements. The older children picked up where they left off with their games from Tuesday and continued into snack time. Some of the younger children were very much at home with quiet time this morning, with Miles creating a game for himself under the bridge, Larkin diligently filling a cake pan to the brim with tiny spoonfuls of dirt, and Jarrett discovering a peaceful spot where he rested in between sessions of wild play with the others. We noticed a nest in a nearby tree and a few children spent time finding more nests and showing others where to spot the nests. It’s powerful to see the impact of learning from peers in moments like this. Later, we decided we would take a new route out of the forest. It was interesting to see the kids each come up with their own realizations about where the trail was heading and where we came out. This is the magic of “place-based education”--the forest is becoming their home and they’re putting each new experience on their own mental map. On our way out, we noticed that at first, the path was narrow and we had to move in a line, but it became really wide toward the end. We are always experimenting with new ways to make the long hike across the field at the end of the day engaging. Today the children picked a favorite leaf in the forest and when we reached the field, they were given the challenge of walking with it balanced in their open palm. They had to walk slow, quiet, and mindfully enough to keep it in their hands! Some children made it as far as halfway across the huge field and many chose to go back to this quiet challenge even after their leaf had blown away. We enjoyed some time exploring the garden and pergola adjacent to the building. We are loving all the spacious fields available to us at SCP and we let children run to the far side of the field before lunch, where they discovered black walnuts and educated one another about what was inside! “Red Light, Green Light” got us back to our circle where we enjoyed having Beck’s whole family come for lunch.

Daily Diary 10/15/19

A day of firsts! It was our first day with seven Forest Kindergarteners (due to vacations, illness, etc). It was also our first semi-rainy day. The forest stayed mostly dry, given the overhang. Many children enjoyed having multiple layers to peel off and replace throughout the day. In our morning circle, we discussed Halloween costumes, which became an opportunity to embody those characters on the way into the forest. These wild characters and animals are learning to balance their wildness and the guardrails of staying between the adults as we travel to our site. AFK-ers baked a variety of mud pies and cupcakes. (So many flavors!) With the arrival of new people, children are working to broaden games to include close, long-time friends as well as new friends. Educators are helping them navigate this space as friendships grow and evolve. During snack, we read two long stories, which the children enjoyed. One about a Gecko in Bali, the other about fairies in Wales. After snack, the energy between children balanced and new teams formed and reformed in the superhero game. Wendell and Robin also had a conversation during some quiet time about how much zipper space the tooth fairy would need to access his backpack. We did some call and response clapping and made the sound “om” together at our closing circle. Sarah asked the children to listen for the sound of “ommmmm” in their houses and neighborhoods before our next session!

Daily Diary 10/10/19

We started the day by collecting “gold coins” that educators noticed on the ground in the drop-off area. We used this opportunity to bring joy to our responsibility of care for the Earth by collecting the littered confetti (aka gold coins). The children were engaged in and excited about this activity for the duration of the drop off period. We were joined in our morning routine by a stick bug and a daddy long leg spider, and each had a role in helping our morning move forward. Once in the forest, all the children jumped right into playing their respective games. Jarrett enjoyed “Monster Under the Bridge”; Charlie drew Leonardo (TMNT); Larkin looked up at the leaves with Kylie; Sammy, Wendell, Miles, and Jarrett found their favorite sticks for the day and agreed on a stick game with set safety limitations. Their respective games blended and separated as play evolved throughout the morning. Larkin was interested in writing her name and wrote an ‘L’ on her paper. Miles wanted to draw a special kind of dog, but wasn’t sure how to draw it. Kylie talked with him about the shapes that he could use to draw the dog. He started with a circle as the body, added lines for legs, circles for eyes and a nose. As we discussed the shapes his confidence grew in drawing the dog. 

Co-regulation and the stages of play

This post was co-written by Nicollette & Sarah

Last week, we had an opportunity to observe how the children reacted to changes in the offerings we presented. Although we focus on unstructured play, the implementation of our emergent curriculum calls us to respond to children’s needs, interests, the dynamics of the group, and even situational factors, like the weather! Since the weather has been SO HOT, we decided to experiment with ways to co-regulate the children’s energy and emotions. On Tuesday, Robin offered a variety of quiet activities for the children to engage in, whenever they felt they needed or wanted a more restful activity. Eden was especially interested in stringing leaves together! Charlie was pleased to find the fairy house he built on the previous Thursday still intact and played with that for a while.

Educators witnessed some “play in proximity” unfold between Charlie's endeavors and the ever-evolving superhero/Wild Kratts-inspired game that Wendell, Sammy, and Beck invested their time in. Although such parallel play or associative play most commonly emerges in toddlerhood, it is not surprising to see our 5 and 6 year olds circle back through the stages of play as they settle in to new environments with new social norms and expectations. And indeed, we saw that after the snack break, these big kids were on to a full expression of social play, with Charlie joining the game! He was able to offer his interest in writing to create "plans" for the group. Eden came in and out of that play, sometimes running full speed down the hill, and other times collecting leaves of various shapes, sizes and colors.

Thursday the dynamics shifted yet again with several children out sick and the addition of our new friend, Miles. The experienced forest kindergarteners were compassionate and patient with the young newcomer and the modeling that happened between the children was more meaningful than anything we adults could have directed! We started the day with a focus on forest animals— enjoying both a frog Sammy caught and our observations of an enormous “cow killer” ant. The park manager, Bob, caught up with us to let us know they were taking a nearby tree down. This was exciting, as the children remembered the educators flagging certain trees of concern, and allowed us to venture casually into the topic of how wild spaces are managed by humans. We listened for the tree and discussed the many sounds we heard.

Deepening our connections to place

While observation is always important in an emergent curriculum, it is especially apparent in the first couple weeks of a program. Children and adults are observing space, materials, one another, and themselves as they begin to build relationships in and with the forest. The forest too, observes. Just as the deer leave evidence of their use of a ground nest we built for snack time, we leave evidence of our presence and play. We are in conversation with the forest.

In our third week together, educators invited the children to consider place in their play. What do games and narratives look like if we play in ways that only the forest allows? What does the forest make possible in our our imaginations?

1. Eden and Larkin observed a group of spiders under the bridge and, after counting them, spun a narrative about the family and each spider’s role.

2. The story of Little Buddy (the frog) trapped in a log with needle ants resurfaced several times as a physical, logical, and emotional pursuit. The children showed an interest in drawing/writing, and Beck, Sammy, and Wendell worked to draw up and follow plans to save their froggy friend.

3. Many times, the rocks of the forest have captured attention for their sparkly surfaces. We have rock collectors in Eden and Larkin! Charlie noticed that hitting one rock with another can manipulate shape to create tools.

4. Kylie introduced the possibility of building fairy homes on Thursday. Charlie spent deliberate and detailed time with his constructions, while others popped in and out of that particular invitation.

5. Of course, I cannot forget the dinosaur skull! The act of digging around roots produced this storyline of finding the fossils of a new species of dinosaur (name TBD)!

As we spend more time together in the forest, we notice the possibilities are endless, and we continue to look forward to all these moments and relationships in/with the the forest offer.

Week 2 photo fest!

I am belatedly posting this as a brief photo record of so many great things that happened in our second week at SCP! The continuation of the HEAT was a theme. Following the children’s leads allowed us to discover what “slowing down” to cope with the heat means to these energetic, curious, and creative friends! We saw extended teacher story times at snack, lots of writing, drawing, and map-making with their newly introduced clipboards, “kasplooshing” rocks into the lake, and quiet play after lunch in the shade of the bush. Also seen: Charlie invents a tool and teaches Larkin how to build one too, we continue to add nature treasures to our listening stick, a long tutorial from Sammy about how to “take a deep breath” to help Larkin get ready for the jump she was building up to do off the bridge!

Settling in to our first week at Sandy Creek Park

In reflecting about the wide range of strengths in our small class, this excerpt from the article Amy selected for this year’s parent orientation packet came to mind: 

“Unlike self-esteem, which often depends on praise from others, self-efficacy develops when children have opportunities to discover their personal strengths. These will range from child to child. Some children discover an aptitude for balancing on logs and ice. Others develop empathy for animals. Still others are good at making friends, at playing cooperatively, or at solving problems.” Even with our small group, it’s easy for the educator team to see a range of aptitudes and passions in the children! We strive to build on their inclinations and encourage them to discover new opportunities through the authentic opportunities that arise in a child-centered, play-based program. 

A particularly smooth and easy moment for our foursome of older children happened this week when they found a small frog and wanted to find a good home for it! The emotionally taxing work of negotiating roles in their superhero/bad guy/explorer games just moments before melted away as they came up with a plan for why, when, and how to get the little frog established in a moist and safe new home. They got water from our dispenser, scouted the area, and worked together to get (this year’s!) “Little Buddy” somewhere safe. The Educators took note of some of the prosocial work happening for these older children in the context of Little Buddy. We will be helping the children increase their social-emotional self-efficacy by helping them draw on this moment for ideas of how to use similar language to solve problems and deepen friendships. 

Learning and negotiating social norms is a big part of how new groups form, and in play-based early childhood programs like ours, children expend a lot of energy on building community. However, it manifests differently with different age groups. We saw Larkin and Eden crossing the bridge near our play site over and over and observed complex rule-making in the process. They were moving like butterflies and working out how they would take turns, where each would stand to watch the other, and what they would say after they were done watching. 

Our emergent curriculum means that we are not just willing to change our plans but actively looking for direction from the children for the most meaningful next steps we can take. We saw a theme emerge throughout the week, which showed us the children’s deep fascination with plant identification. Kylie shared some of her knowledge and passion about plants when she was with us on Thursday, helping children identify muscadine vines and make jewelry from it, dig up and delight in the strong scent of wild ginger, and learn some of the characteristics of poison ivy so they could better identify it in the wild. We we will be incorporating some new invitations and provocations so they can expand upon their interest.

Some children were unhappy on Tuesday about the safety vests we added this year, so we talked to them about ways to make the idea work better for them. Everyone had their own improvements in mind, all of which had to do with aesthetics! So on Thursday before lunch we spent about 20 minutes outside personalizing vests and collecting bags with fabric paint! 

Likewise, we followed the needs of the group after a particularly hot and subdued snack time on Thursday. The children kept asking for one more story from our new book of world folk tales. It was such a small and beautiful thing to be able to follow their interest and stay in our cozy circle for nearly 40 minutes listening to Nicollette read! It was a welcome respite from the heat and the children were ready to explore afterwards because the break fulfilled their need for rest more than the loosely allotted 15 minutes would have. 

We are happy to have each of your families along for the process of co-creating the best version of forest kindergarten possible!

Discovering Springtime through Bugs and Birds

We had a small group this week, with 9 children in attendance, which made for some very focused small group time after snack. Kylie offered children a chance to catch bugs, while Amy offered a bird walk and nest building activity.  Our small group time is a chance for teachers to get to know children and their interests more deeply, and for children to get focused attention from the teachers. Small group time also helps us plan for the next week of Forest Kindergarten, as we can take what we learn from the children and incorporate it into our discussions with the children the next week and look for provocations in the forest that might help children extend their learning interests.

Amy’s small group started with a bird walk where we looked and listened for birds. The children directed the walk and the direction we took, deciding which spots would be the best places to see birds. They felt like we should find a high spot so we could be closer to where the birds were, and that would give us the best chance to see one. We spotted a downed tree that stuck up into the air, and the kids climbed up it like a mountain. When we couldn’t spot any birds from there, Amy asked if there was another spot we might try. The kids walked us up a hill through the woods until we found another downed tree that made a bridge over a depression in the forest. The kids were all able to sit on the tree, and then we took turns using the pair of binoculars that Amy brought for bird watching. It was exciting for the kids to use this special tool for birding, and they tried out looking at each other and looking from both ends of the binoculars. They also agreed to the challenge of using the one pair of binoculars that Amy had. The 4 children in the group passed the binoculars on to each other when Amy prompted, and willingly shared the binoculars while we birded.  The binoculars also led to children investigating other activities happening in nature. When the kids used them to look at the log we were sitting on, they found ants traveling around and a very large mealworm!

Bugs are frequently a provocation that engages children with nature, and just as our birding group got interested in bugs our bug group came back with several of their finds! The children shared their finds with the whole group, and we had a chance to observe how some of the smallest creatures can help children learn skills of nurturing and gentleness.  The bug group found several eastern tent caterpillars that are safe for children to hold. They are very soft and most children feel very comfortable holding them. Almost all of our children wanted a chance to hold one of the caterpillars and once the caterpillars were in their hands, the children slowed their movements and calmly watched them move. When another child asked to hold the caterpillar, the children wanted to be the ones to pass them on instead of a teacher helping them. Each time they passed the caterpillar, they very carefully picked it up and gave it to the next child. At one point, the teachers were able to just sit back and watch the children share the caterpillar experience with each other. They showed an extreme amount of care for the living creatures, and asked questions about how they moved, what they ate and if they could take them home. We discussed what the caterpillars needed for living, and the children agreed that we should find homes in the forest for the caterpillars before we left the woods for lunch.

We enjoyed our Friday together as a small group of 9, but we really look forward to next week and more of our friends being back with us as we look for more signs of spring in the forest!

Prosocial Behavior in the Forest

Working at Forest Kindergarten is a fantastic opportunity to observe what I have read in the research on environmental education and nature play come to life. This week, I was struck by the many instances of prosocial behaviors I saw among the children. Whenever I attend a conference or read a blog advocating for nature play for children, evidence of how nature play promotes cooperative behavior amongst children and reduces conflict is almost always put forth. For example, a recent research article I read about how children play and use natural schoolyards found this:
”The young elementary school students overwhelmingly chose wooded areas over a playground for play during recess. Reported benefits include physical independence, supportive social relationships, and imaginative play. Children learned physical and social competence, formed complex cultures and alliances, and developed autonomy. Teachers and parents observed enhanced attention and decreased anxiety among the children.” You can read the full research summary here.

What I thought was especially interesting about this article, was how children chose the wooded areas over playgrounds. Play is important and when children play on traditional playgrounds at school, they do develop prosocial skills. Yet, when given the autonomy to choose their play, this research shows children prefer the woods.  How exciting for us at Forest Kindergarten to have evidence that the environment we are offering children for learning and experiencing the world honors a choice that children seem to prefer.

Of course, what is also exciting is seeing the research in action- and there was ample evidence this week to support everything I have read!!  From simple acts of helpfulness to the formation of new relationships, the children’s actions together showed how our regular time in the forest has provided opportunities for children to develop prosocial skills. One small story was between Will and Larkin.  Will kept losing one of his boots this week, and needed help getting it back on. Teachers try intentionally to encourage children to seek the help of other children, instead of always relying on us for help. We also encourage children to notice when someone in our group needs help. In this instance, when Will’s boot fell off, Larkin was very close by. Amy asked Larkin if she could pass Will his boot. Instead of just passing it to him, she picked it up and told him she would help him put it on. She then gently pushed it on his foot and helped him stand up in it. From our experience with lots of rainy and muddy days, the children know how important boots are to playing comfortably in the woods. Larkin took an extra step of helpfulness that made sure Will could keep playing easily with the group.

Forest play also offers children opportunities to challenge their physical abilities, and develop physical independence that they are deservedly proud of. The pride children have in mastering a complex physical challenge that they chose for themselves is something they want to share, and this can also lead to prosocial behavior. On Friday, Luke wanted to move across a steep slope, a task made even more difficult by the slippery mud coating the slope. Luke asked Amy for help, but Wendell was nearby and had just made the crossing. Wendell was very proud of his skill, and offered to show Luke how to do it. Wendell took on the role of teacher, and told Luke how he used a root to hold onto and talked Luke through how he moved his feet to keep from slipping. Both children were able to cross in this way, and share a sense of accomplishment together.

The many different components of the forest also provide children a chance to develop new relationships, based on shared interests. Not every child will be interested in mushrooms, but two children who have not played together much before may find a new way to share play based on an interest in mushrooms. The same goes for acorns, leaves, squirrels, sticks, and the many other natural provocations we find and could not replicate in an indoor setting. During small group this week, Sammy chose not to play with his regular playgroup and picked doing a mushroom hike with a few other children and Kylie. Margaret also enjoyed finding mushrooms and this shared activity created new bonds among children. By lunch time, Sammy and Margaret wanted to sit next to each other!

We don’t get to see every instance of children cooperating, helping each other, and building new relationships but we keep watching each week to see what happens between and among children as we play in the forest. New opportunities for children to work together will arise, and as spring progresses over the next 3 weeks, changes in the forest may provoke other children to play with new companions and celebrate shared interests together!

Our emergent snail curriculum

One of the things I most enjoy about Forest Kindergarten is how being outside exposes us to so many inspirations for sharing our thoughts, feelings, and ideas. We get to hear from the children what they are learning about and wondering about as they explore. We get insight into who each child is, in the moment, and realize how fully capable they are of directing their own learning. The discussion we had at morning meeting on Friday reminded me of the Reggio image of the child that we hold in Forest Kindergarten, and that I shared with you in last week’s blog:  

“At the heart of this system is the powerful image of the child. Children are not empty vessels that require filling with facts. Rather children are full of potential, competent and capable of directing their interests and building their own theories”.

Amy, our flag, and a line of sweet children!

I want to share with you our discussion in this week’s blog, and reflect on just how valuable it is to listen to children’s ideas, allow them to express their theories, and give them the space and tools they need to test these theories out for themselves. It is so important to allow this process to happen, instead of just telling children information and expecting them to absorb it. During our morning discussion, I learned so much about the children in the group and how they think and feel. It made me excited to see how they were incorporating information from so many different experiences to have a lively discussion about our topic: snails!

We did not start out talking or intending to talk about snails. Our discussion got started with the topic of our new play space. The teachers decided to move the children to a new side of Ayeli to play on in the morning, and we wanted to know what the children thought about it. What did they discover? Did they get to explore it much? What other parts of it did they want to see? We didn’t have much time to explore and play this morning, so we wondered what were the things they might want to do when we play there again? Some of the things children had done that morning were climb the trees, check under logs for insects, and find some very big snails.  Amy asked what they thought about the snails, and thus our snail discussion began.

Wendell mentioned that he thought snails did not like dirt, and Amy asked why he thought that. He explained that he had seen a show and that snails didn’t like dirt in it. Ellie chimed in to say she had seen a show and that snails lived in water and could move and swim with bubbles. This idea seemed to reinforce Wendell’s idea that snails didn’t like dirt, but Cristian spoke up and mentioned that he thought snails did like dirt. Cristian repeated his idea, and did not allow any of the other children to change his mind. He had seen snails in the dirt, and so he knew snails liked dirt. Several other children agreed with Cristian, that they had seen snails in dirt. One child mentioned, “but they make slime in dirt.”  Amy wondered at this point if some snails could like dirt and some snails could not like dirt? Our children who had already taken sides on the dirt vs. no dirt were not ready to budge their thinking, but some of the other children in the group thought that they might. Amy acknowledged both Wendell’s thinking and Cristian’s, and then put forth the thought that perhaps there might be a way to figure out an answer out in the woods. How could we test out our idea? Children mentioned that we could look for snails, and Amy ended the discussion with the lingering thought that we could try and see where snails were living in the woods to test out our ideas.

During this discussion, the children illustrated how they are actively thinking about the natural world and trying to use information from many sources to figure things out. They are also willing to enter into discussion and disagreement with each other, and to stand firm on their beliefs. At the same time, they remain open to the idea of testing their theories out and getting more evidence and information to evaluate their beliefs. How fantastic that we are able to spend time on these discussions, without having to rush the children to learn a certain fact or standard. Amy will definitely bring up our snail discussion again, perhaps this week since we might have a rainy day again- and the snails might be out for us to investigate our ideas!! It is especially exciting to think about next year, when we will meet twice a week and we can return to our ideas and hypotheses right away to continue investigating and extending our learning!

Margaret initiated a poignant moment checking on a friend who was upset, asking her about her feelings and not rushing to distraction the way so many adults might. She was just there to be with Eden who was sad her mommy went to the bathroom.

We did read a book at snack time, and one happened to be a book with information about snails: About Mollusks, by Cathryn and John Sill.  (completely coincidental. The book is one of Amy’s daughter’s favorites and it just called out to Amy in the morning to be brought to AFK!)

One other reading that I think may be of interest to parents is some new research that has come out about encouraging girls in science. During our discussion above and when the children are outside playing, we are always doing science. This new research supports just how important it is to get girls doing science: https://naaee.org/eepro/blog/what-should-inclusive-science-education

It is always interesting as a teacher to read information like this, and think about how we approach it in our own space. Certainly looking for snails and wondering where they like and don’t like to live is doing science, and I will keep looking for all the other ways we do science at AFK!

Making Marks to Make Meaning with our Flag

Returning from Spring Break is a good time to introduce a new element to our Forest Kindergarten. This week, we introduced the idea of a flag for Forest Kindergarten. The teachers want the children to know the flag, and always look for it as a marker of our place in the woods. But the children also got excited when we introduced the concept.  We explained that whenever we are at a site, we will plant the flag and the children have to always be able to see it. To make sure it is fun to spot, we asked them how we might decorate it. Immediately, children had ideas. Sammy said the first thing we should do is put “AFK” on it. When asked, he explained that AFK was for Athens Forest Kindergarten. Several children suggested we use markers to color it, and others wanted to paint it. We let them know that we would decorate the flag in the forest, and let them continue to think about what they wanted on it.

Out in the forest, we practiced finding our flag. The children were engaged in making sure they could see it from whatever spot they were playing in- and several wanted to help Amy plant the flag in the forest. Mabry helped Amy dig a hole to put the flag in, and several children (Cristian, Margaret, and August) searched for a big stick to tie our flag to.  They all still wanted to know when we would decorate it, and we let them know we would do it after snack time. We could see the attachment to the flag as part of our group growing, as we incorporated it into our routine at Root World.

Snack time and small group time came really quickly this week, perhaps because of the amazing sunny weather. Our morning at Root World was very settled, and we transitioned easily into snack. We read a book called “Spectacular Spots” that illustrates many patterns and brightly colored animals, and enjoyed reading “Bear’s Loose Tooth” at snack too!  After snack, we offered the children two choices: 1. Decorate our flag with Sarah or 2. Go on a Spring Color hunt with Amy. The children make their own choice about the small group they want to go to, and August, Cristian, Wendell, Felix and Sammy decided to decorate the flag, while Charlotte, Luke, Larkin, Margaret, Eden, Mabry, and Ellie came on the color hunt.

We enjoyed looking for colors on our color hunt and spotted the purple on the redbud trees, that was close to a color match with Amy’s jacket! We also spotted purple violets, green baby leaves, and Luke really looked hard for the color red. Brown, of course, was still the predominant color we found. But the colors themselves were not even the most exciting part of our color hunt. We decided to go off the trail to look for more colors, and as we navigated through the woods we came across a big, rotting log.  The children took an immediate interest in it. Amy drummed a little on it as we waited for the group, and the children became interested in exploring the different sounds that the log could make. It was interesting to see how they interpreted music through the log, and to hear what the log sounded like to them. We noticed that it sounded like a helicopter passing overhead, and that it sounded different on the sides than on the top.

Once the children were engaged with the log, their exploration of the log took off and so many more interesting ideas began to emerge that made the log a place we could have stayed for the next hour. As Amy watched the children exploring and sharing in dialogue together, it made her think about what our image of the child is.  So often, we want to look at this type of exploration as an opportunity for the teachers to step in and take advantage of a “teachable moment”. Amy could have started to tell the children all about the many important ways that rotting logs contribute to the forest ecosystem, and then asked them several questions to collect data on what they had learned- or to make sure they were growing concepts that would make them ready for school. Had Amy started talking here in the moment, several children probably would have listened, and she could have felt satisfied that she filled them with knowledge.  However, she chose to watch and record what the conversations were that were happening between children and what dialogues the children were having with the log through their words and actions. Our image of the child at Forest Kindergarten is that each child brings their own knowledge and capabilities to the experience, and we as the teachers learn alongside them and honor their methods for bringing meaning to their experiences. While watching, Amy observed this dialogue emerge:

Ellie found a place on the log to sit, and immediately noticed there were some holes in the log. Without seeing any beetles, she announced that the holes were probably homes for beetles, and she began to feel protective of the space she inhabited on the log.  Further down the log, Luke had been taking many small pieces of the log off. The destruction of the log was also a very satisfying activity that several other children and our Forest Helper, Graham, became deeply involved in. Many pieces of the log had a very spongy texture that the children delighted in, and our Forest Kindergarten children know from experience that all sorts of creatures and other treasures might be hiding in the log.  But, when Luke came up to the area where Ellie was sitting, she defended her space. She did not want him to destroy the area of the log she was sitting on, because she wanted to protect the unseen beetles home. Luke still wanted to pull off more of the log and Amy helped Ellie and Luke work out an agreement so that he found other spots on the log to continue to pull apart, while Ellie could continue to protect her area. Around this time, we heard from the children at the top of the log that they had found a beetle! Amy came over and helped pick up the beetle, and we all wondered at the beetle. Some children only wanted to look, but Eden was immediately comfortable with the beetle and wanted to hold it and show it to the other children. Which encouraged several other children to try holding it in their hands. During this time, Amy heard Ellie say “Its body shines when the sun hits it” which was a beautiful description of what we were seeing that came entirely from Ellie’s own feelings from seeing the beetle in front of her.  We then found a second beetle, and Amy noticed how Ellie became more excited. For Ellie, her idea that the holes in the log were the homes of beetles was being confirmed. She immediately stated that it was a mommy and daddy beetle, and then noted that maybe the holes were for their babies and their babies were hiding, since the mommy and daddy were living in a different part of the log than the area she had been protecting. Seeing this process unfold, and Ellie have the opportunity to feel comfortable announcing an idea, and then getting an opportunity to put all the pieces of what she had hypothesized come together was exactly what Forest Kindergarten is about. Ellie has started synthesizing her experiences in the forest by connecting it to her own life experience and telling stories about it. She is grasping important concepts about habitats and ecology through telling her own stories, and the teachers are excited to continue to see how Ellie and the other children in Forest Kindergarten use the experiences of AFK to tell their own stories as they build their understanding of the world.

The image of the child and how we understand children and the way they are interacting with their world is so important to guiding us as teachers at Forest Kindergarten. Especially as we move towards the end of our first year together, Amy wants to touch more on this topic. There is much more to examine than what I have provided in this weekly blog, and I would like to suggest all our families also read this short blog post as a way of gaining more understanding of how we approach the image of the child in Forest Kindergarten: https://www.nordangliaeducation.com/our-schools/houston/british-international/article/2017/1/6/the-image-of-the-child

Then, let us know if you have questions or your own thoughts that come out of this!