Gray Squirrels 2017-2018 : Week 22 - Pine Needle Oil
Today we learned an amazingly powerful and important skill: How to safely wildcraft plants and make herbal extracts from them. Actually, we started with one safe and easy to identify plant. Each plant is unique and so the only generalization to working with wild plants is that there are no generalizations. Working with plants can be an incredibly rewarding experience. It can also be potentially hazardous. Safety is our primary concern. We want children to enjoy working with
Gray Squirrels 2017-18: Week 21- Animal Games
Brrr! It does not feel like Spring! On the bright side, we had so much fun making a fire and shelters in wet conditions, the weather just makes things interesting! It was just cold and wet enough to really appreciate having a tarp shelter and fire, and warm enough that we (Ms. Devin and Ms. Kathryn) let the Gray Squirrels work with making fire in wet conditions and explore setting up camp when conditions are a little more challenging. We got a fire going that kept us warm and
Gray Squirrels 2017-2018: Week 20 - Boats and Spiders
Our backpacks felt so light without all of our cold weather gear in them! The overcast day turned sunny and almost downright hot! It was good that we spent the day exploring by the Frog Pond. On our walk into opening circle, Ava and Maebel noticed a strange kind of web or cocoon. When we got closer it looked almost like the caterpillars we could see inside were dancing! We noticed when we got to Opening Circle that a falling-down tree in the woods outside our circle, that we
Gray Squirrels 2017-2018: Week 18- Adventures in Botany
After such focused compass and mapping work (which was still fun!) it was nice to have a relaxing day to explore our imaginations and play games. It was quite chilly so a fire was the first order of the day. We've been learning how to safely use tools, so anyone who wanted to try could practice using the hacksaw on some of the now-seasoned cedar branches and trunks that were harvested last fall to thin the forest. We all worked together to build the fire and then took turns w
Gray Squirrels 2017-2018: Week 17 - Mapping Challenge
Those pesky Wood Gnomes were back with another challenge! This one had a sweet reward at the end, but there was a catch - they needed our help to plan the adventure! Each clan had to use all of the mapping skills we have been working on - songlines, compass bearings and picture maps to create a scavenger hunt for the other clan. This was an edge activity for everyone, meaning that their focus, knowledge and creativity were stretched, but they worked together as a team, each
Gray Squirrels 2017-2018: Week 16 -Salamanders and Compass Explorations
It was nice to have a return to weather that felt a little bit more like March! The air was crisp and clear, small plants were budding, but not quite out yet and when we arrived at opening circle, there was another note from the Wood Gnomes! We also had another visitor - one of the first salamanders of the season. Jay has a special relationship with all animals that live in the ground and in the wet, muddy places and he has learned a great deal about how to take care of them.
Gray Squirrels 2017-2018: Week 15 - Forest Gnome Scavenger Hunt and Frog Pond Explorations
We started out the day with gratitudes and a surprise! A mysterious Wood Gnome had visited our circle and left us a scavenger hunt! We had a wonderful time figuring out the descriptive clues and finding the treasure! We ended up at the Frog Pond and had a magical afternoon. We took turns with the treasure - A magic stone that revealed our Nature Super Power! Some of us could hear the birds better, someone else would use their power to help foxes and someone else could use th
Gray Squirrels 2017-18: Week 14- Journaling and Exploring
We had a beautiful day! It was a little chilly and overcast, but that made movement games fun! Having the cloud cover was a good exploration of Community Compass and how to tell directions if there is no sun. We shared gratitudes at our opening circle and had a conversation about the Community Compass activity we had played a few weeks ago. One of our students had "Heritage Species". He wasn't sure what that meant, so his Tale-Home Challenge was to work on what he thought it
Gray Squirrels 2017-18: Week 13 - Ecological Inventory
Our community is really getting into the "swing" of things! We had a fun day exploring and revising our sense of direction! Part of taking healthy risk is knowing how to establish what we are capable of and what is safe. We learned today that grapevines can make great swings, but there are a few things to check before trying them out. We talked about how to make sure it is safe and how to test the vines before putting all our weight on them. After opening circle and sharing g
Gray Squirrels 2017-18: Week 12 - Fire and Community Compass
We opened our Tuesday gathering with the Deer Bounding Challenge!. This game allows us to leap like deer over our backpacks. The challenge is that the obstacle gets bigger with every additional backpack! This week we were responsible for creating the fire with guidance from Ms. Kathryn and Ms. Devin. Through asking "yes or no" questions to Ms. Devin and Ms. Kathryn, we successfully laid down a pine straw bed, built a foundation, and successfully lit a fire! Owen and West look
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