Timberwolf Trail - Week 3 - 2017-18 Edition

I absolutely love the fact that every time out in nature leads to new discoveries, new ideas, and new levels of excitement. This week, while we aimed to learn about the life cycle of the tree, we experienced so much more.

On our way out to the oak tree classroom, we encountered our first woolly bear of the season. We also quickly reviewed some of the prairie plants that adorn the trail. In an earlier hike this week, I pinpointed tow plants we see in abundance: showy goldenrod and Queen Anne's Lace. This proved a perfect way to introduce the idea of native and non-native plants, a  precursor to our look at invasives later in the year. I asked the children to find an example of each and let's just say they came up with their own way to showcase their findings.

We also took time to briefly introduce habitats by comparing what was different about being out in our prairie and under the canopy of the "hidden forest." This brief introduction was a great preview of next week as we learn about trees as habitats.

When we made it to the oak tree, we reviewed the differences between fiction and non-fiction books before reading a non-fiction selection on the life cycle of an oak tree. Combining auditory and kinesthetic learning styles, we connected the book's cycles with an action to help solidify the understanding.

We whispered SEED,

crouched and used a squeaky voice for SAPLING,

stood tall and proud for ADULT TREE,

shrunk a bit slowed our pace, and whimpered OLD AGE before

slowly lowering our bodies into the DECOMPOSING DIRT stage. We then talked about how a seed could find its way into that nutrient-rich dirt/soil to start the cycle all over again.

Reading and talking about the life cycles set us up nicely to search for each stage right in our own land. We found some seeds,

searched for saplings,

encountered adults,

located some old age trees, and

stumbled on decamping trees, both standing and already fallen.

After all that hard work, it was time for even more, this time in the form of natural play.

Using wood tools

Fungus anyone?

A happy tree

"Cleaning" the forest floor

While lining up after natural play, we found a critter hole and brainstormed what might be living there. And as is usually the case, once we found one, we found a million. Our hike back to the oak tree was peppered with children's declarations of their critter hole discoveries.

We experienced a lot, so we had to take the time to document it. We officially started our nature journals and I was very proud of their effort and creativity.

Our nature day ended as it usually does: with a good old fashioned tick check. We will see if the humidity of the last few days continues into next week.