Forests

Originally published November 20th

Hello everyone,
We had a great week expanding our understanding of trees by examining a forest and what makes a forest community. On Monday we read The Night the Forest Came to Town and talked about what exactly makes a forest. On Tuesday we read Forest Bright Forest Night and we talked about nocturnal, diurnal and crepuscular forest animals. Then we pretended to be forest creatures through the day and night. We read A Log's Life, examined the cycle of a tree's life and death and return to the earth, and all of the creatures that depend on trees in their various stages of life. Then we dug around in some crumbling logs in our forest play area and found some very cool little plants, creatures and fungus. On Thursday we played a game with string and connected all of the forest plants, insects, animals and fungus that we could think of to make a forest web, and we talked about the interconnection of all things in the forest. We then made a school forest by making life sized portraits of ourselves as trees, and we cooked some stuffed mushrooms as a forest snack.

This week we enjoyed some fun explorations with snow and ice. We had a fire at circle time for the first time. We welcomed Jack Frost with a special story and song on Tuesday morning. The views of the frost topped mountains as we walked back and forth to the forest were enchanting. The forest itself was very quiet and still and the ground was damp and chill under us. Winter is settling in and it is nice to be here to witness it. Winter, darkness and cold can be unsettling for children, but finding joy and comfort outside while experiencing this coming season is a lesson that offers a lot of beneficial learning on a deep level.

Next week we have school on Monday and Tuesday. There is no school on Wednesday or Thursday. In preparation for Thanksgiving, we will spend the week talking about gratitude and what it means to be grateful, as well as the benefits and power of gratitude.
It looks like a good chance of rain on Monday, and some very chilly temps on Tuesday, with lows in the low 20s and highs only in the low 30s. Thanks for being prepared!
Check out @rewilded-child on Instagram for some photos of our school forest/tree self portraits that I couldn’t fit in this email.

Have a great rest of your weekend! May you be happy, may you be healthy, may you be peaceful, may you be filled with joy.

Jessica