
Megan's class...
Themes Explored:

Bugs!.. We investigated bugs especially millipedes, centipedes, snails and other critters that hide in moist, dark environments under logs and rocks.


Edible plants. We identified dandelions, alfalfa, clover and creeping bell and practiced differentiating between similar looking plants that are not edible. We took our edible plants into kitchen and made delicious creations.
Kitchen. The marvelous dandelions, alfalfa, creeping bell and clover were key ingredients in our kitchen creations.
Bridge Building. We played by a little stream with a bride over it made from branches and logs. We added to this bridge and worked on our own construction project.


Letter Bingo game. Leah introduced us to a game where she would write a letter and then we would try to guess what letter she had written. This was very popular and became a kind of bingo game. Thanks Leah for the suggestion!
Happiness, Kindness and Generosity. We read the story "Have you filled your bucket today". This led to some of the children organically sharing moments of happiness or sadness that they had experienced. It was precious hearing how they shared authentically and listened empathetically to each others' experiences and offered advice or similar experiences in their lives.
Toolwork and construction projects. Tools were enthusiastically taken up in class as a plethora of projects were started. We used hammers, nails, saws, rasps, and handheld drills.
Skills embraced:

Identifying insects. We used fields guides and several brilliant books on bugs to identify the bugs we found. Everyone picked up a bug to inspect and identify.
Identifying edible plants and their unique features.
Creativity: creating edible concoctions with edible plants in our natural play kitchen.

Literacy skills practicing letters in Leah's Letter game.

Emotional awareness; discussing instances where we felt our buckets were filled or emptied (that is experiences that stimulated feelings of happiness or sadness). Sharing thoughts on generosity, consideration and kindness and how being kind makes us feel.
Connection Questions:

What bugs did you find today?
What edible plants did you learn about today? Did you eat any of them? Can you describe features that help identify creeping bell leaf? How did creeping bell leaf feel on your tongue?
What did you make in tool circle today?
Did you make something in kitchen today?
Did you climb the tree at our meeting place?

Jessie's class...
Themes explored:

Bugs!.. especially ants and spiders. Attracting, feeding and capturing ants. We used oranges to entice them. Discussing the anatomy of the ant, their roles and homes.
Spring discovery, in addition to many wonderful insects we also found a robin's egg, this initiated a search for the robin.
Kitchen. Using play kitchen to make soups, teas and any number of creative delights.
Spider web crafting. We used yarn to wrap sticks to create our own spider webs.
Rope building. Making various construction projects with ropes.
Skills embraced:


Confidence and strength with risky challenges on rope climb.
Identifying bugs, learning about their homes and roles.
Edible plant identification and differentiation.
Play Kitchen creativity.
Knot tying and familiarity with ropes in rope building activity.
Coordination in weaving, in our spider web stick wrapping activity.
Connection Questions:

Did you build something with the ropes, what did you build?
Did you make something in the plant kitchen? What were the ingredients, were they edible plants?

Where did you find the robin's egg? Did you find the robin?
What kind of ants did you discover? Were they attracted by the orange?

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