Preschool: Fall 2017

We had such a fun adventure this week! Lucas brought his microscope, so this morning began with gathering items to observe with it. We looked at leaves, seeds, and what might have been a little egg sac. It was really fun to see things magnified!

At the creek, Luiza found a great climbing tree. We played on the creek bank and found some animal tracks. Raccoon and a small canine. We practiced climbing on the creek banks and learned about testing the strength of roots before you grab onto them.

At opening circle, we listened to Ms. Brinkley play the flute, and we sang a couple of songs. After singing and being silly while acting out different animals in a song, we shared our gratitudes for the day. Many of us were thankful for the trees. We also read a story about little mice and their homes in nature. Luiza saw an illustration of some acorns that were nibbled by mice, and she ended up finding multiple nibbled acorns throughout the day. Maybe they were mice? We decided that they could have been nibbled by squirrels, too.

We played a few of our favorite games – Fox Stalks Rabbit and Camouflage. Both of these games help with our nature awareness skills like fox-walking, sit spot, and awakening our senses. After the games, we stopped for snack.

When we resumed our walk, we stumbled across a bean trail! Were they magic beans? We were so excited about this and collected the beans for a pretty long distance! The beans led to a message in a bottle that was nestled into the roots of a big oak tree. A real message in a bottle! Ms. Brinkley read the note. It was from the wood gnomes! They said they were happy we were there and that if we found a special spot in the woods to sit quietly, we might see magical happenings in the forest.We eagerly found quiet places to sit, and patiently watched the woods for a little while. The breeze blew through the leaves, some leaved danced to the ground, a bird pecked a tree, and we also noticed that one tree had beautiful red and orange leaves. Those seemed like magical things to us! We have been practicing our sit spot each week, and we can stay quiet for longer and longer each week. It is really fun to share the stories of our observations afterwards!Then, we walked to a favorite spot in the woods, where there are some good climbing trees and vines. Our group loves to climb and swing! We built a shelter there, too. Jonas, Quin, and Lucas really enjoyed finding the sticks for it. Luiza enjoyed making curtains and leaf decorations.

We decided it was lunchtime, so we walked back to our blanket where we listened to Ms. Kate tell a story about wood gnomes. We each contributed to the story, which was exciting.

After lunch, we went back to the creek for some more exploration. Lucas enjoyed throwing leaves into the water and watching them spin around. The rest of the group made mud faces on the trees. This made us giggle a lot!