Timberwolf Trail - Week 31 - 2017-18 Edition - Retzer Visit #6 - Spring has Sprung. . .sort of

Our friends from the Retzer Nature Center came to celebrate at Woodside one last time this year before we visit them the next two months. Today, we were planning on celebrating spring, but Mother Nature had something different in mind.

Despite snowstorms outside, we practiced our search for spring inside and kicked it off with a plant discussion, dissection, and dramatization.

After discussing, handling, and divvying up real and paper flower parts,

we learned the value of insects (mainly bees) and the need for insects in our world by practicing pollination.

Then, we reviewed the life cycle by meting some frogs and toad and discussing metamorphosis and the "double lives" of amphibians.

Of course, since we recently learned many bird calls, we felt compelled to repeat the process with frog and toad sounds. Practice makes perfect so we gave it a try with a variety of different calls before wrapping up the indoor portion of our day with a "frog chorus."

Then, it was time to head outside for signs of spring. At least that was the initial plan. Nature Kindergarten is all about flexibility so we searched for colors, shapes, and textures instead.

We found plenty of each and even had some time to play.  It's hard to believe there are less than two months left, especially with all the snow on the ground. Hopefully, in our next Retzer experience, well see some signs of spring and even more frogs and toads as we head to Retzer and visit the pond.

Timberwolf Trail - Week 30 - 2017-18 Edition

It was a great work week at nature kindergarten. Besides more practice sessions for the Natural Resource Foundation of Wisconsin's Birdathon, the introduction of a new service project for Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, and more work with our six-legged insect friends, we set up a new outdoor learning spot and planted over one hundred pine saplings.

With outdoor stations on the horizon, I'm always looking to make some of the outdoor spots a little more user-friendly. One area I've always thought about incorporating onto outdoor stations is an open area between two fallen tress in our wooded area. When my neighbor lopped down his backyard tree and chopped it up into beautiful sections, it wasn't long before I was able to take those stumps and set up this area, with the help of my class of course.

The kids love the new space. They even found a few seeds to join them.

Later in the week, we discussed insects in winter. We researched what happens to insects in winter and came up with four possible scenarios.

1. Hibernate, like our friends the Woolly Bears
2. Migrate, like Monarch Butterflies
3. Die, but leaving eggs behind
4. Hiding - the kids favorite option

Since they liked the hiding aspect and we have an abundance of goldenrod galls, we investigated galls to see if any of the larva had already escaped. :)

Then, we went on an insect search. Turns out that insects are incredible hiders. Luckily, we found plenty of worms and spiders, a perfect lead in to a review of what makes an insect and the following discussion about why our animal discoveries were not insects.

We also previewed an activity scheduled for the following day, searching for pine saplings. f the nearly sixty or so, planted in this area. we found thirty-three still standing. With this area butting u against the are behind our school decimated for development, it will be nice to hopefully created a new little forest that buffers our space from the noise and distractions that will inevitable arise from development.

In our indoor work, we continued to add to our Insect Investigations Board. Lots of new learning and more and more questions and wonderings!

As mentioned above, we also had a planned activity with some of our 4th grade buddies. With the 4th grade social studies curriculum focused on the state of Wisconsin, my 4th grade teacher memories reminded me that the DNR had a program where each 4th grade student could get a sapling.

With the help of 4t grade students and teachers, we planted about 125 pine saplings. We got muddy, found worms, and had a lot of fun in the process.

Old Man Winter is playing a late April Fool's trick on us all, dumping inches of snow all over the land. Hopefully, this will act as a nice blanket for the saplings. While the snow is pretty, it will postpone the outdoor stations schedule I planned on starting this upcoming week. Oh well, I am sure we will find a way to enjoy the snow instead.

Horicon Marsh

People have happy places. Maybe these places hold special memories. Maybe they have unique features. Maybe there's just an unknown and unexplainable connection. One of my happy places is Horicon Marsh.

I remember oldies being blasted from the family car as we trekked for our weekend road trips, stopping on the side of the road to take in views of the marsh. I recall visiting with my wife and coming across turtle hatchlings. I recollect seeing a huge snapping turtle and countless other creatures on a beautiful trek with my daughter. Now with two daughters, there will be many more memories to be made.

While today's might have been forgettable, we wouldn't let it stop us from memory-making. The marsh has a state wildlife area and a national refuge. We began at the state's education and visitor center. Battling bone-chilling wind gusts, Embry made sure our first stop was to show Oakley one of her favorite mammoths.

We took a snack break in the visitor center and watched the weather take a dip. While we would have loved to hike these grounds, we decided to drive over to the national side and take in the sights from our car as we traveled to the three-mile auto tour loop.

While on the loop, we saw numerous ducks and geese and even a small flock of sandhills. As we approached the boardwalk (a must see on the national side) the sun peeked out just enough to convince us to get out and walk around.

While the boardwalk was a nice break from the car, the walk was rather brisk as the winds picked up and brought the temperatures down.

By the time we got back to the car, we were all quite cold. But, we decided we weren't done exploring so we headed back to the visitor side on the state side of the marsh.

Once inside, we took a child-led tour and found an activity room full of books, arts and craft, and unfortunately, an empty snapping turtle tank for Marsha the snapper. We made a campfire craft, read a story, completed a coloring page, and snacked.

We enjoyed lots of bird art and sculptures before spending time at the turkey table.

Hoping the weather might allow at least an abbreviated hike, we checked the window and decided an indoor tour was all we could muster up today. It's OK though. I have a feeling we will have plenty of opportunities to explore even more in the future.