Sturgeonfest 2019

Every year, we look to our calendar to see when we get to return to Sturgeonfest. Today was the day and we are already looking forward to next year.

Sponsored by the Riveredge Nature Center and located at Milwaukee's Lakeshore State Park, this event is a way t celebrate urban nature and history while aiming to improve the future of quite an amazing fish species.

When we arrived, our first stop was at the sponsor tables. Loaded with nature artifacts, recreation information, and games for the little ones, we made sure to visit each one.

We tried on skunk hats,

learned about creatures from the lake,

fed a duck,

acted out the migration of a sturgeon,

befriended a Butler's garter snake,

played a pollination game,

and visited many animal friends.

But the most important activity was next: meeting the sturgeon.

Of course, we completed a sturgeon art project first.

The time for our annual "name the sturgeon" had come. With two sturgeons sponsored this year. Embry decided on Freckleface and Pimpletoes. Oakley even enjoyed picking one up, even if only for a split-second.

After saying goodbye to our fish, we went adventuring along the lakeshore. Embry went for the rocks while Oakley stick to a few logs.

We had to make a return to the children's activity area for some kayaking photos and another game, which we won. What was the prize you might ask?

Sturgeon of course!

Oakley felt compelled to check to see if these new sturgeon were swimmers.  They were not.

Nature followed us to the parking lot. We found a beautiful and friendly butterfly.

Plus, the best bumper sticker I may have ever seen.

Based on the silent ride home, I think all three of my naturalists-in-training enjoyed themselves.

Timberwolf Trail - Week 4 - 2019-20 Edition

Autumn has arrived and I couldn't be more excited to spend my favorite season with this group of nature kindergarteners.

We spent our first morning meeting of the week on the trail. We used nature greetings, played a nice round of Coconut, and brainstormed some life cycle of  a tree actions.

Later in the week , we investigated acorns and read a story titled Because of an Acorn. This story tied in beautifully to the life cycle of trees so it made sense to practice our actions.

We started off as seeds.

After getting our needs met, we grew into hopeful saplings.

Continued growth turned into strong, confident adult trees.

Even Mother Nature has to face Father Time. We became old age trees.

Lastly, as all living things do, we met our make, died, and decomposed into dirt.

With trees on our mind, we looked for these stages of life. We found lots of seeds,

saplings,

adut trees,

and old age and fallen trees.

On our way in, we even found a new friend.

Sometimes, unexpected opportunities come our way. Nature kindergarteners are extremely flexible so we relish these opportunities. We were fortunate enough to have  Touch of the Wild trailer from Wisconsin's Outdoor Heritage Education Center (https://www.outdoorheritageeducationcenter.com/) be stationed outside our school. Needless to say, we took advantage of this special surprise.

Every day, we enjoy being outside, working all over the curricular spectrum. That being said, writing outside is my favorite.

We broke out the nature backpacks and did some journaling with our nature notebooks. Just a lovely experience!

The end of our week brought us to a closer investigation to the final stage of the life cycle: decomposition. While we read articles, watched video snippets, and chatted about decomposers, the best part was going out side to fund some fungi.

We found plenty but the most exciting time might have been showing off the gigantic puffball mushroom brought in by another teacher.

We had to take it outside and start our decomposition observations.

We might have had some child-led play outside as well. Just a little!