Goodness! We have had a whirlwind of discoveries this week. We’ve found “frogs” hanging out on our log circuit, mysterious yellow goo appeared on the wood chips, towers of blocks curiously refused to crumble, and the ramps in the construction zone have found configurations unseen before. Oh, and I almost forgot! There has been a rash of author sightings within these four walls. With so many options, it’s hard to choose what to research next…
The Nature Hair Salon
Taking appointments at your convenience!
Forest 4’s
This year, we are piloting a new initiative in Pre-K called “Forest Fours”. On each day four in our cycle, we are going to try to head out into the forest as soon as our entire class is present and we’ve completed our morning jobs. It is our hope that with a more extended period of time in nature, our students will have the opportunity to explore the natural world around them in a very authentic way. The students are free to play, explore, learn, and observe on our nature trails that weave around our beautiful campus.
Today we had our first opportunity to test out “Forest Fours” as the students spent almost 2 hours immersed in nature. We ate snack outside, climbed on our climbing trees, scooped up dirt, invented a new car game, played The Three Billy Goats Gruff, searched for walnuts, and learned new ways to care for the plants and trees on the trail. I’d say it was a success!
The Very Busy Caterpillar
Last week, one of our students discovered a big, green caterpillar who was walking along the sidewalk that leads to our parking lot. We brought the plump little guy into the classroom so that the other children could observe him as well. After placing him in a clear container, we noticed that he had positioned himself near one of the top corners of the container and had started making long strands of silk from one side of the container to the other. Some students thought that perhaps he was growing more hair, while others knew right away that he was making a cocoon.
With the help of our fabulous science teacher, Ms. Capezzuti, we learned that our new friend was a Polyphemus caterpillar and would eventually turn into a moth. We also learned that Polyphemus caterpillars are silk caterpillars and can easily be reared indoors, so we decided to let our him finish making his cocoon in our container and release him after his metamorphosis. According to our research, he should emerge from his cocoon in about a week. In the meantime, we observed him while he finished making his cocoon and have been noticing what he looks like now that he is in his pupal case. We are looking forward to seeing him emerge from his cocoon, stretch and dry his wings, and then release him back into the wild! Yay, science!
The Animal Restaurant
With each new year, and new group of students, I’m always so fascinated to see what types of games the students create with one another. Sometimes it’s a classic game of tag or “cops and robbers” but more often it’s a game that they created from their own imaginations. This year, many of the students were interested in collecting seeds from around the nature playground. When asked why they were collecting the seeds, they responded that they were for the animals to eat at the animal restaurant.
Since that day, the children have been working diligently to create different confections for the animals to eat. Some children helped by gathering a variety of natural materials for the kitchen such as rain water, grass, sand from smashed rocks, wood chips, acorns, pine needles, dirt, rocks, and what they had decided are lemons (but are actually walnuts). Once the materials were gathered, they students took turns adding them to the concoction they were working on at the moment. Some days it has been a cake, other days it has been a stew or a salad.
As other children have been inspired to join in the fun, new animal kitchens have popped up around the nature playground as well. A new animal restaurant was created yesterday in what we refer to as the”mud kitchen”, except that this restaurant has a twist. The animals that eat the food from the mud kitchen gain special powers like rainbow powers and storm cloud powers. Animals that wish to dine in this restaurant can use their special power to ward off bad guys that they may encounter in the woods.
We are very excited to see where this game will take us in the following days or even weeks. Tomorrow we will be working on making signs for the restaurants. We will continue to observe the children working in their animal restaurants and hopefully we can find a way to turn this wonderfully imaginative play into a full-blown unit of study. We will keep you posted as the play progresses!
This Moment
Climb Aboard!
Our new playground is open! The children in each grade level are helping us experiment with the equipment as we discover its “climb-ability.”
Day of Gratitude
Today, we celebrated our Day of Gratitude at the North Hills Campus at WT by doing some spring cleaning around the campus. Each grade worked on different projects to show their appreciation of wonderful seven acres of land that we are lucky enough to have at our disposable each day. The Pre-K class worked to move all of the sticks away from the pathways on the Bear Track Trail and then they covered it with a fresh layer of hay. The students had to use teamwork to pull the hay apart and cover as much of the trail as we possibly could. We discussed how it is important to take care of our school and the environment so that we can continue to play and learn in the nature that is around us.
Flying Machines
Our interest in flying birds has sparked an avalanche of engineering ideas. One student suggested that the best way for us to study the birds would be to build a flying machine. This way we could observe our feathered friends more closely.
Many of the children have begun creating prototypes (their word, not ours).
On another day we asked them what materials they would need for their machines. (We want to make sure we’re prepared!)
“metal, string, more metal, and gas”
“We have to do little wires to make them work.”
“very small metal pieces”
“We need some wire that carries electricity to keep the boosters working.”
“We need a plug as big as this building so we can go far.”
“Or, we need to make a fire on a stick and it attaches to the wire.”
“We can make a seat out of fabric.”
“We need shirts to make a buckle, it buckles in front and in back.”
“June is when the birds come out.”
“We need a parachute and a lighter, in case the boosters go out.”
“And metal cages to catch the bird, with food in it.”
“fabric for the wings”
“We need feathers for the wings.”
“space gears”