The Life of Trees
Aside from some unexpected rain on Monday, it was another beautiful week to be in the forest talking about leaves and trees. On Monday we read Leaf Man and made some leaf creatures.
On Tuesday we read the Little Yellow Leaf and acted out the story of a leaf deciding to let go from the tree in the fall. Then we made some leaf rubbings.
On Wednesday we began to turn our focus from leaves to the whole Tree, and we read Be a Tree, a beautiful intro to trees that makes many parallels between their bodies and ours, and their lives and families and ours. We spent some time focusing on the trees in our forest clearing, touching them, looking at their crowns and roots, and even trying to listen to them. They are so still and quiet, but they have lives like our own in many ways, just on a very different time scale. It’s a good exercise to slow down and try to listen to a tree.
On Thursday we visited the chickens, went to the gardens and tried kale, parsley and spinach leaves. We harvested some kale leaves and then we cut and seasoned them and baked them into kale chips.
Some of us made drippy tree paintings, but some of us were too busy playing. The Wednesday/Thursday group especially this year is so capable and functional in whole group play. They have been doing some beautiful learning and growing together. We have plenty of time for play every day, and have wonderful child-led games going on at multiple times of the day, each day of the week, but sometimes there’s a special alchemy happening, and it’s exciting for the children, and for us teachers too to see all the learning that is coming from each other.
It’s always good to be outside. I find that it’s especially valuable to have that daily exposure during these seasonal times of intense change. Every day the colors, the light, the depth of the leaves on the forest floor are changing. The jewelweed has gone by, the asters are faded, the husk cherries in the garden are not sweet anymore without the sun’s warmth to ripen them. These are all good things to experience and notice to really get to know the seasons and the shifts of the year. Although it looks warm on Tues and Wed next week, it’s pretty much time for gloves or mittens and long johns. It’s good to have 2 pairs at school in case one gets wet. It looks rainy on Monday and Wednesday next week, please have all the rain gear and layers under it ready. We may not end up going to the forest on Monday, I'll keep you posted.
We got 10 new chickens this week! They are a variety of year old layers. They are getting along nicely with the old chickens. Unlike our super friendly preschool raised chicks, these are still freaked out by crowds and their new situation, but I’m sure that they will settle in soon and start adding to our weekly egg collection. All chickens slow down laying in the winter when there is less sunlight, but many of them will continue straight through the season.
Next week we will continue to talk about trees. On this Monday we will be celebrating Diwali at circle time with Malika, Seher's mom which begins our many celebrations of light as we head into the darkest time of the year. On Monday the 31st we will be celebrating Halloween at school. Children are welcome to wear costumes that can stand up to a day at forest school. We’ll be having a party from 12:30 to 1:00 at the school, all families that would like to attend the party are welcome, even if you don’t usually come on Mondays. We’ll have pumpkin bread, and Vir, Seher’s Dad, will be DJing a Halloween dance party for us. Wear your costumes!