Apr 3-4 (OUTDOOR)

Thursday

Pam joined us today to get the true feel of a 90% outdoor day! Roman is also now with us on Thursdays.

This morning we revisited our learnings from last week around woodland animals and their eating habits. Students shared responsibilities while we reviewed and then shared their newly learned knowledge. We played an ecology board game afterwards called ‘A Beautiful Place’. The goal was to work together as a team to clear the pollution and reveal the natural beauty of the land. We connected this to the needs of the animals we had learned about and discussed the domino effect of pollution.

Creation time is always a blast.

Chris (landlord/pastor) stopped by to remove some fallen branches from the storm that were resting on the power line. We got to watch him climb the ladder and then we foraged buds and twigs from the branches for the mud kitchen.

After lunch we soaked up the sun on our hike and were surprised to find that the creek had completely overflowed in the park! Students got to observe firsthand the effects of heavy rain and melt. This was a fun spot to play though!

Friday

It was a chilly, but sunny start to our day outside. After our morning circle, we collected sticks to make our garden windows which followed our story. We agreed that it was too cold to be creative outside without our mittens, so we moved inside to warm up.

After a quick snack, we gathered together for a beautiful traditional story from Denmark about The Discontented Pine Tree. An engaging conversation followed about accepting ourselves.

We then sat together and began making our garden window frames. These frames helped us look outside and see the garden as it is today.

After lunch, we took our garden window frames outside to the front garden. We laid them down to frame and draw what we observed.

Our goal today was to plant spring peas around the teepee. Together we looked at the dry vines and the condition of the teepee. We removed the old vines and set them aside for mulching the garden later. We discovered spiders, worms, and a ladybug awakening in the sunshine. We used new jute twine to wrap the teepee, and we were ready to begin planting.

We talked about what the pea seeds needed to be successful to sprout and grow. Everyone had their dibbler, making holes for each seed and buried them safely. Everyone was excited to water and set germination in motion!

We then decided that we were warm enough to go for a walk to the Southside of Kiwanis Park and headed off for an hour's adventure.

We found coltsfoot flowers blooming and talked about why we shouldn't pick the early spring flowers.

We ventured to the creek for a peaceful few minutes listening to the babbling brook.

We had a good Sharing Board and we talked about how coltsfoot can be used as a medicine to clear our lungs and noses as a tea.

Our garden window frames are in the windows looking out to the garden. Oakley thought that was especially neat, looking through two windows.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Next Friday, we will use our garden windows to see if our peas have sprouted and we'll draw what we see. We will plant another grouping of peas so they will be ready to eat at different stages. 😋 We are excited to see the first sign of their growth!