Timberwolf Trail - Trail Camera Captures- December 2016 Edition

Enjoy some of the December trail camera captures from the Timberwolf Trail. With two new visitors this month, our species total is approximately 12.

Sneaky fox

Chickadee in front, Cardinal in back

Hello Deer!

Running Deer

Stationary Deer :)

Rodent

Squirrel

Triple Deer

Weasel?

Timberwolf Trail - Week 15 - 2016-17

Below zero days don't suspend nature kindergarten. They just alter it. Connecting back to our study of wants and needs, we wanted to something special for our winter animal friends so we made a round of seed feeders to give them some easy snacks.

Finding the perfect spot for our seed feeders was a bit tricky, but we all ended up finding a spot that fit our wants. Hopefully, the animals did too!

The temperatures shortened our time outside, but since we got all bundled up, we might as well play for a while.

Once we got back inside, we decided to take a closer look at one of classroom corner nature center's resources: field guides.  Having some experience with non-fiction texts, we looked at a variety of field guides to peruse what they had to offer. From wildflowers to songbirds, trees to caterpillars, and butterflies to birds of prey, we took a closer look at this resource as we will dig deeper into them when we do some non-fiction nature research later this year.

Tyke Hike #34 - First Day Hike 2017 - Lapham Peak

Tyke Hikes got off to a wonderful start as the Waukesha/Milwaukee County Chapter of the Ice Age Trail Alliance hosted a First Day Hike at Lapham Peak State Park.  An estimated 150 hikers enjoyed a variety of different options throughout the park. The Tyke Hike was graced by approximately 44 people and 4 four-legged friends. This brought the total number of Tyke Hikers since we started 33 hikes ago in June of 2014 over 1,000! Here's to another 1,000.

With the melt and thaw cycle in full motion lately, we stuck to the paved trail for the safety of the tykes.  We still had plenty of time to go off trail and play as well.

Natural play

Natural play will be a feature of the Tyke Hike program this year. In my opinion, it's a lot easier to fall in love with and appreciate nature by immersing yourself in it.

A tree a day keeps the doctor away

Risk is a necessary ingredient in natural play. It is important to allow children to assess their own risk and make decisions along the way. Of course, knowing the difference between a risk and a hazard is crucial.  Also, avoiding "yellow snow" and "chocolate jellybeans" on a winter walk are always helpful.

Deer love to hike too

Snowball target practice

Near 40 degree temperatures made for a super stroll through one of the area's spectacular parks. After the hike, it was time to head inside the nature center for snacks and information., Of course, my little tyke had to go experience some of the resources the center had to offer.

Just right. . .

Birdies and buggies

"I climbed this tower. I love the tower!

 The excitement and exercise of the day made for one tired tyke. Let a new year of nature begin!

Last Day Hike(s)

2016 has been a pretty amazing year for my family and our outdoor adventures

• We had a spectacular family trip to California. enjoying John Muir Woods and Yosemite.
• Many day trips throughout the Badger State to new state parks and natural areas, including multiple visits to the Baraboo area, a family favorite.
• Countless visits to our local favorites: Lapham Peak State Park, Pike Lake State Park, the Monches & Loew Lake segments of the Ice Age Trail, Retzer Nature Center, Mequon Nature Preserve, and our "neighborhood nature," the Weiland Preserve

This year has also been wonderful for my own growth as an outdoor educator and volunteer.

• Our first nature kindergarten class "graduated" and the program expanded to four kindergarten classrooms this school year.
• I've had the pleasure of leading about a dozen or so presentations to school staffs, outdoor enthusiasts, nature center professionals, and other interested parties at conferences, schools, and nature centers.
• The Tyke Hike program I coordinate as part of my volunteer work with the Ice Age Trail Alliance's Waukesha/Milwaukee County Chapter led fifteen hikes and nearly 550 hikers.
• Our school has built collaborations with the Retzer Nature Center and Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources
• I've read numerous articles and books on outdoor learning, made wonderful connections with an amazing set of people, and added so much nature to my classroom curriculum through play-based, place-based, project-based and personalized learning - my 4 P's.

I've got plenty of ideas and plans to keep me busy in 2017. Most importantly, the arrival of a second Tyke Hiker to join Embry, due in March. Until then, we enjoyed a few hikes over the last few days to celebrate 2016.

We kicked off at the Retzer Nature Center. Embry loves clearing the trail so she did her best to make sure the trail was void of pine cones. Of course, we had to stop at fallen trees and stumps along the trail for some easy natural play. Embry especially enjoys the stump jumps as long as they don't lead to rump bumps.

We walked through various habitats. From prairie to the pond with woods along the way, we always enjoy a good trip to Retzer.

Them to cap off the year, we enjoyed a trip to our neighborhood nature spot, the Weiland preserve.

Embry always enjoys being the hike leader, though her tendency to want to stop and explore everything she sees does make for an interesting hiking pace. It compares to stop 'n go traffic, but with a lot more enthusiasm.

We took our usual route, enjoying and not avoiding what Embry calls "slip sloppy" ice. We saw tracks, scat, and collected every stick we could handle along the way.

I absolutely love the winter scenery. Being able to see into the woods from this barren perspective makes it seem the trees go on forever. There's just something so serene and calming about a winter walk.

Of course, the chuckles and silliness of a three year old tend to break the serenity quickly.

Near the end of the trail, Embry was mesmerized by the ice. She counted the leaves trapped in the ice and was especially enamored with the frozen footsteps and the bubbles trapped inside.

But, nothing is more fun than "ice skating" on the curb line ice and cracking as much as possible on the way home. Bring on more adventure 2017!  We'll be ready!

Timberwolf Trail - Week 14 - 2016-17

Tis the season of giving, so today, the nature kindergartners gave our 4th grade buddy class the opportunity to join us on the trail for snowshoeing.

We enjoyed a nice winter stroll through the trail. With about a foot and a half of the white stuff, it was a bit tiring, but all students managed to trek around the trail.

Along the way we saw some signs that our animal friends had been enjoying the trail as well. In one of our barren trees, we saw what appeared to be a red-bellied woodpecker. However, after doing some research, it was too small. It was large enough to be a pileated woodpecker, but the coloring pattern was a bit off. The camera doesn't do it justice, but I hope to get a better look ever the next few days and make a better identification.  Speaking of avian friends, two separate teachers have mentioned spotting a bald eagle flying over the land.  I am desperately to have my class share in that experience sooner than later.

When we were near the woods where we had placed our mouse houses decorated with tasty treats, we found scat. Apparently, the animals had been enjoying their feast.

Reaching the natural play area was quite an accomplishment, Many students took the well-needed break to rest their weary bodies while other. . . . played. :)

After saying good bye to our 4th grade friends, we continued natural play. Digging in the snow, discovering snowy areas off trail, and making snow angels, we certainly enjoyed our final official nature kindergarten day  of 2016.

See the splash of winter coats in the sea of goldenrod?

Many. many more nature adventures to come in 2017.

Timberwolf Trail - Week 13 - 2016-17

Snowshoeing is always an adventure. Add children and it gets more adventurous. Have it be 25 kindergartners and you've got more than adventure. . .you've got an undertaking. With temperatures dipping as the week went by, we moved nature day up to Monday.

Though practice with snowshoes had been completed both in and out of the classroom, Mother Nature was underestimated and the cold chill and blustery breezes made it more of an ordeal than an adventure. While it took longer than expected and tested our resiliency and patience, everyone eventually got shows strapped on and trekked on our trail.

Despite it not going according to plan, the children responded very positively and asked about snowshoeing again on Tuesday. Though it didn't fit into the schedule for the day, we decided to give it another go on Wednesday, with some adjustments. Practice makes progress. . .

With Monday's debacle behind us, we came up with a new plan. We got the snowshoes on inside and had a "trail of carpeting" to the snow to assure the snowshoe blades were not dulled or damaged. I think everyone appreciated the warm comfort of inside when strapping on snowshoes.

We stopped at the grass class to discuss the day's plans. With our mouse houses gone, we wanted to provide our forest friends some treats for the winter. With snacks abounding, we headed for the woods.

Popcorn, Raisins. Chocolate chips. carrots, Corn kernels.  Quite the feast for our animal friends.

Then it was off to the open field to do some snowshoe writing. We practiced writing letters using just our feet.

B

S

Claire

A

Of course, it made sense to have some natural play and exploration time along the way.