Today in the woods the rain held off. I had put up a tarp over our fire circle just in case, but we didn’t end up needing it. It was chilly and overcast, with some wind. Kids found new leaves and plants sprouting out of the ground in their Sit Spots, heard birds and the wind creaking in the trees, and many more slugs and worms. It is like Earth is really “waking up from her rest” like our May poem says.
These kindergarteners are getting really good at creating (and executing) their Forest Plans! Some examples:
Reuben did just what his plan said: he worked on the stream with Hugh. Along with Kinslee, they worked to take rocks out of the stream so it would flow better.
Some of the rocks on the bank that they hauled out of the stream.
Stream engineers
Alexis wrote: “I hope I see a snail in the woods.” She knew how many slugs she had found last week, but unfortunately did not find a snail this week.
Aisley wrote: “I hope to see a paw print.” She used spaces between her words and had to fix up some of the words she knows in a snap, like “to” and “see.” You’ll have to ask her if she found a paw print!
Our trees have huge leaves!
Aisley’s fiddleheads are growing fast. We found a ton of them all along our hike.
Olivia made me a bouquet of fiddleheads and “seed flowers” (last year’s ferns).
We were so happy to get down to our log to play. This is a ship (morphing into a bus). Can’t you tell?
Bus/ship drivers were in Portland saving a lot of people from the water. And now they are tired so they are taking a nap.
We had a whole slew of visitors today: Reuben’s Grandpa Frank (below) as fire tender (and climbing watcher), Ms. Petteruti and Mrs. Mackenzie the first grade teachers who were interested to learn what we do in the woods, and Kinslee’s mom and dad, Tegan and Brett. It was Kinslee’s birthday circle today and we all packed in under the tarp and celebrated her, despite smoke in our faces. It was so cozy!
What a great day for a birthday. Can you see the cape Kinslee is wearing?
We’ll have to wait for next time to test out our tarp and fire in the rain!
Bowdoinham Forest Days 
What a fantastic experience for these lucky kndergarteners!!!! I am in awe of their fabulous teacher, Ms. Atkins, for organizing Forest Fridays for her class. Anita
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