Themes Explored and Skills Embraced
Exploration and Adventure - we embarked on a small exploration together. Stoking the embers of adventure in the children, we found new paths, remembered the fundamentals of exploring (staying together and making sure you are near a teacher) and gathered leaves that we thought were special. The bucket was full of yellow, white, red, purple, black and bright green leaves, some mountain ash berries and leaves with caterpillar holes or coiled leaves that are homes for bugs. Parker found some fascinating specimens. Gus told us all about how these leaves were "caterpillar lunch".
Rope skills - some of the class wanted to learn how to tie knots as part of our shelter building exercise. Triumphant, this activity is always so satisfying. Priya and Clay dedicated themselves to mastering the overhand knot.
Shelter building with tarps and ropes - to create a space to stay dry and hang out as well as keep our backpacks dry, we strung up a tarp shelter with ropes. The irresistible draw of a fort led to this being an intimate space for the children to chat and tell stories.
Throwing skills - developing our throwing skills we threw frisbee discs over a rope, the challenge increasing as the rope moved higher or we stood further away. We also played a version of ring toss with the frisbees trying to get them to land on a vertical pipe. Archer and Austyn were excited devotees of the game.
Fall Leaves - we collected striking leaves on our adventure up the hill to our spot. We then nailed some of our favourite leaves to the big log at our spot to see if they are still there next week and to display the leaves we thought most beautiful. This activity was also an opportunity to hone fine motor skills, hand eye-coordination and develop strength, hammering the large nails into the log.
Tool work - hammers, nails, screwdrivers, drills, chisels, rasps and saws were all explored in tool circle today. In particular the power drill and screwdrivers, as well as the chisel and mallet, were very popular. Clay and Cruz were able to make "drumsticks" by splitting sticks with the mallet and chisel. Callum was skillful with the hammer, even learning how to remove the nails!
Feeding dragons in the culvert - measurement and imagination. Imagining dragons in the culvert and hypothesizing about them was a lot of fun. We fed the dragons sticks that were the size of our pinky finger and so there was much measurement going on and conversation about sticks that would/wouldn't fit in the small holes.
Emotions around winning/losing and competition - Gus proposed a running race up and down a hill... this fun activity stimulated some conversation about winning and losing and allowed the children to explore these concepts freely. The fun of running was a thrill for all and led to lots of squealing and laughing.
Connection Questions
- What tool did you use in class? Was there a favourite tool you liked using, why?
- Did you play the throwing game with the frisbees? What did you like about it?
- How did you feel when running in the race? Was it exciting, scary?
- Some beautiful Fall leaves were collected at Forest School, are there Fall Leaves in your garden or street that you find interesting or beautiful?
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