Timberwolf Trail - Week 6 - 2016-17 Edition - Retzer Nature Visit #1 - Nature Discovery

Nature Kindergarten expanded this year to collaborate with Waukesha County's amazing Retzer Nature Center. With the support of the Friends of Retzer organization, the Hamilton Education Foundation, and my school's fantastic Home & School, we will be able to take our outdoor learning to the next level by working with Retzer's naturalists both at their nature center and out school site.

In this first visit to Retzer, we focused on Nature Discovery. After a quick discussion of the importance of ecosystems and the food chain, it was off to to the trails to discover nature in a personalized by way creating our own collections of nature. Using a nature checklist as a guide, students sought out seeds, evidence of animals, varieties of plants and trees, and special natural surprises. The seeds collected will be used to help restore our land at school.

We then headed back for lunch and a visit from Peaches the albino bull snake before venturing back on our own to explore more of the grounds.

It was a spectacular start to a yearlong collaboration. Please enjoy our visit through the photos below.

Mr. Larry kicking off the day

My class was led by Ms. Kathy and Mr. Bob

Investigating a nest

Collecting  prairie seeds

Slug time

We love milkweed

A day without natural play???? Never!

Climbing a fallen tree

There was fungus among us

"The Moosehead"

Mr. Larry and Peaches

The pond

Milkweed fluff

"The Composting Cannon"

Lots of hands on learning

What beautiful antlers you have

Timberwolf Trail - Week 5 - 2016-17 Edition

The rain didn't stop the exploring. We kicked off our day with a look at how our oak tree classroom and the surrounding forest floor had changed over the last few days. Besides the floor being littered with leaves, the tree was now a rainbow of colors. We chatted about why leaves changed colors and introduced the term dormant. We also read a nonfiction book on leaves. After adding  leaves to our ever-growing "biggest leaf pile ever," we started a collection of sticks and took them out to the grass field to make sight word sticks.

can

and

to

I

the

my

you

Then, the nature kindergartners kicked off their collections of nature science unit with a wonderful art project made from items they collected on and along the trail.

After dropping off leftover sticks near our outdoor classroom, we took to the prairie to collect seeds, mainly from our showy goldenrod plants and our big bluestem grasses. We also went on a hike in search of some milkweed plants.  We found some, along with plenty of surviving grasshoppers.

Watch out for raining corn!

After bagging our seeds, we snacked and went to natural play.  However, with sporadic downpours, most kids stayed under the shade and natural umbrella of the oak tree.  There, we have some donated corn kernels stored. We enjoyed finding hiding spots to place the kernels, but not nearly as much as we enjoyed creating "corn rainstorms."

Once the rain le tup, we all hiked for some more playtime near the "inside tree."  Here, we recently discovered a very nice and open area with a few fallen trees and plenty of nearby wood available to make a wood shelter.

Unfortunately, the rain wasn't as sporadic in the afternoon, so we stayed inside.  However, we made lemonade out of Mother Nature's lemons and took the inside time to work on some great things. First, we used some sticks, seeds, and leaves we had collected in the morning to make our "Collections of nature" collages.  The sticks became trees, the leaves became smaller leaves, and the seeds became blooming prairie plants.

Work in progress

Completed project

Then, with the nights getting chillier and the trees getting barer, we knew Old Man Winter was coming to visit Wisconsin soon, so why not practice with our snowshoes for the very first time. Snowshoeing is an awesome winter activity that adds so much to our program, so taking the time to get familiar with these tools is time well-spent.

Tyke Hike #31 - Pike Lake

Twenty-two chilled but prepared hikers set out for a trip to the Pike Lake tower at the latest Tyke Hike. Once we got into the woods, the beautiful trees blocked the brisk breeze and offered plenty of opportunity for fun and exploration.

It was great to see so many returners from previous hikes. It wasn't long before the experienced Tyke Hikers took the lead.

Of course Embry had to inspire some silly face making. :)

Not quite peak, but wonderful nonetheless.

On the trek back, the tykes took time out for some natural play, enjoying stump jumps and rock climbing.

One of the biggest pleasure was watching the kids self-assess their own risk and jump from a boulder to a tree, a perfect way to get comfortable with nature and all it has to offer.

Beauty under our feet. . .

. . .and above us.

Despite the barely forty-degree temperatures, the hikers were warmed by the spectacular sights and happy sounds coming from the kids. With the temperatures only expected to dip even more, our next Tyke Hike at Loew Lake on November 5th will definitely have to include even more natural play.  I look forward to it!

Timberwolf Trail - Week 4 - 2016-17 Edition

With the arrival of autumn, our nature kindergartners dug deeper into our study of trees. We've discussed parts of a tree, types of trees, life cycles of the tree, and needs of the trees, so today we focused our attention on how a tree changes over a single year and how animals might use the tree throughout the seasons.

We read A Tree For All Seasons by Robert Bernard. It provided examples of a how a maple tree changes throughout the year, We then compared to that to our big oak tree that serves as one of our outdoor classrooms. Then, on our special hike, we stopped at some new and some familiar trees to see how the tree might be used. Our first stop was at a new tree just off the trail. When we inspected the side normally hidden from view, we found a large cavity and some critter holes near the tree's base.

We stopped by the "inside tree" and noticed many bugs, moss, fungi, and even plants growing out of the fallen trunk.

We then stopped at the place the kids now call "sapling forest" because of the young trees. Besides enjoying meandering through the maze of thin trunks, students enjoying shaking leaves out of the trees.

While there, we saw even more examples of how animals might use trees. With many trees full of tiny holes, kids made predictions that woodpeckers and/or bugs had made a visit.

We put it all together and realized that a tree is used throughout the year for different reasons. From nests in spring, shade in summer, and food storage in the colder months, trees are important.  Plus, even trees that have fallen and are dead can be full of life.

After snack, natural play time led to some new adventures. At the rock pile, students figured out that some rocks could write on others.  It was fun to see kids using their self-proclaimed "chalk rocks" to draw designs on other rocks.

Over the last week, I used funds generously donated by a school family to add some storage benches around the trail. In one of these benches, I put another generous donation: corn. With a basic introduction to how animals were preparing for winter, we decided to each take some corn and find a spot for our animals to get a treat.

Most thought the floor of the oak tree classroom was a fine spot.  We will check in tomorrow to see how much remains.

Last year, throughout the month of October, the students collected leaves from all over the land and created a pile of leaves to connect to a picture book about a huge leaf pile. We started this year's collection today and found lots of things along the way. From fungi to rocks to what we think was a decomposing opossum, we certainly explored nature up close and personal.

We'll continue to add to the pile throughout the month and see how it grows as the weeks progress.