Today was a warm and foggy day in the woods– 55 degrees! It was a day for finding animals: slugs, worms, roly-polies, centipedes, and spiders. We talked today about how we care for the wildlife in our woods by putting animals back in their homes and carrying them on wet leaves or bark. Though we get to play with them, they are wild and we can’t “own” them forever.

Char Fox, a Chewonki high school semester student, joined us to learn about environmental education for a project she is working on.

Our trees now have even bigger leaves on them!

Aisley found these fiddleheads on our trail. They will uncurl and grow into ferns.

Jaydon at home in his Sit Spot with his slug.

After Forest Fridays we studied some wood frog eggs that I took from a pool in my backyard. We touched them first, gently, and then became scientist writers recording what we saw in pictures and words. It was amazing to see how much they had changed from yesterday to today. Yesterday most of the eggs were round black dots, and today they were the shape of a comma, becoming little tadpoles.

Henry noticed that the eggs feel like jelly.

Ella noticed that the eggs were slimy and cold. Her picture shows how some were round and some already the shape of tadpoles.

Hugh noticed the wood frog eggs were wobbly and they have tails.

Reuben drew the life cycle of the wood frog that he already knew about. He also noticed when the eggs are in water the water feels cold.

Josie also drew “what is next” in the wood frog life cycle. They noticed that the eggs feel like jello and they take water (I think she means that the egg mass starts off small but absorbs water the longer it sits, so it grows).

Mollie noticed the eggs were “slimy and cold and tiny and some egg shapes and some like a line”

Alexis “touched a tadpole.” Her picture clearly shows that!

Next week we will see how much the eggs have grown!

Today I told the Kindergarteners that our days of blogging all together are over… because they are becoming such good writers that I am going to put their own writing up on the blog!

Every day before Forest Friday, each student makes a Forest Plan. This is what they want to play, see, or discover in the woods that day.

Josie wrote, “I want to see two flowers. Where the trees grow.” She added in a detail to explain where she would look for the flowers.

Beatrice wrote, “I hope to see a spider. I will try to find a spider in a tree.” Her words clearly match her picture.

Jaydon: “I see fire. I see pancakes.” He used the word wall to spell snap words.

We sure enjoyed our Pancake Day to celebrate maple syrup and spring. Mr. Johnson brought us syrup that he made from the sap in the cemetery. And my teacher friend Miss Kimberly kindly came and flipped pancakes for us, on a fire made by Mr. Seth! It was a team effort, and the results were delicious campfire pancakes.

What a busy day. Good thing it’s vacation, because we’re all going to need a long nap!

Weather: Today: Warm, 44 degrees, partly cloudy, a little windy.

Last time we were here, there were mud holes in the ice. Now the river is running and making a waterfall!

Guests: Ella’s grandparents, Ron and Nancy, and her dad Darren. Darren and Ron made the fire. Olivia and Beatrice showed Nancy around. (Thank you to all three of you for all the help watching tree climbing and buttoning Grundens too!)

Ella’s grandparents were impressed with how tough the Nature Kids are. Ice, streams, snow– no problem!

Nature and Play Notes:

• Hugh found a caterpillar. It was really small and green. We brought it into the classroom and all got a chance to look at it.
• Mollie played baby. She and Alexis were the babies running away from their parents (Reuben and Kinslee).
• Olivia found a stick that looked like an axe. She hid it under the seats at the end of Forest Friday.
• Alexis went all the way to the beginning of the river with Mollie and Kinslee. They found the source of the river!
• Malaky worked in the resource room with Miss Kristen today. He made pictures for Mrs. Melcher, Mrs. Russell, Ms. Burns, and Ms. Atkins.
• Jaydon found a thousand sticks that looked like guns. He was playing Star Trek and Star Wars.
• Reuben was working on getting ice, snow, and sticks out of the little gulley with Hugh and Kinslee. They took them out so the river would run faster.
• Josie was playing in Malaky’s Sit Spot but she didn’t realize it was his Sit Spot. She took some of his pine needles out of it (and Malaky said he didn’t mind).
• Ella built a fort with her grandma in her Sit Spot.
• Kinslee had a really cozy Sit Spot and she saw a spider there.
• Beatrice played “Seven Days to Die” with Olivia and they found a lot of weapons. She hid her stick in her Sit Spot.
• Henry found a stick that had two long branches on it and one little stick. He held onto the two bigs sticks and put the tiny part through the baby Y that was near his Sit Spot. He was playing Star Troopers.

Olivia washing her axe in the stream.

Reuben carving.

Henry’s game at his Sit Spot.

Jaydon’s rocket launcher.

Hugh and Reuben had to work together to move this big ice chunk.

Success!

And to end: What was Josie’s birthday wish?

“That every day was Forest Friday.”

We’re with you, girl!

Today we did a short excursion to check out the sap that Mrs. Johnson’s class is boiling. We got to taste the delicious sap and sang our song “Maple Sap.” Then we went into our old woods and checked our trees. None of the buds have changed yet, but some people told me their trees grew a little bit. We will see how they change throughout the spring! 

Ella and her tree.