Chickadees, 19 May

Megan's crew...

Themes Explored:

Exploration. We explored new areas, as a smaller group we were able to follow curiosity up the rope climb and into areas further afield. These little explorers, led the way, keeping the group together, looking out for each other, suggesting ways to navigate tricky spots and orienting us and determining when to turn back. I spy games and hiking songs sprung up naturally while on our adventures.

Dandelions. We found a bounty of dandelions and made dandelion tea. Some other imaginative recipes were made in our play kitchen by Chef Archer with the help of his sous chef Neil, I thought chocolate milk banana dandelion bread was especially delicious looking. Neil even taught us the Spanish words for lion and so gave a special name to our dandelion tea.

Tarps and shelters. The rain and hail gave us cause to string up a shelter. Teamwork helped get our shelter up and created a cosy space for continued toolwork and some wonderful storytelling.

Tool fun. A big log was a great source of inspiration for "making a fort". To this end saws and hammers and nails were used to great effect. They were so thrilled with how sharp their saws were, how fast they were going and the "back and forward motion". Quite experienced with tools now, these chickadees were so happy to sink their teeth, or saw teeth (pun intended), into a big log and make great progress.

Storytelling. The stories constructed by this group, were marvelous. Denan took the role of story leader, bringing together the different narratives and characters in a series of enchanting tales. A sort of round robin style story resulted with each adding to the story of the other. This type of storytelling is a fantastic way to cultivate imagination while fostering collaboration and appreciation of each individual's unique contribution. It supports social skill development in listening and allowing others to feel heard and valued in a story while also feeling confident to offer one's own ideas. This small group entertained me for ages as they worked with their tools and we enjoyed each other's company.

Skills Embraced:

Physical strength - rope climb and tool work.

Plant identification - dandelion foraging.

Social skills - storytelling and camaraderie on exploration.

Literacy, especially oral literacy and speech skills - storytelling.

Confidence - exploring, with risk on rope climb and also in storytelling and while working with sharp tools.

Connection Questions:

Tell me of your adventures up the rope climb and beyond, where did you go, what did you see?

Did you like dandelion tea?

What work did you do with the tools? Were you building something in particular?

What was the story you were telling? Do you remember Sam, the boy who went to space and made a hole in the moon that went all the way through to the other side...

Jessie's crew...

Today we explored a new spot and we found a very unique friend! After lots of observing we realized it was a porcupine! He was nestled in the base of some trees sleeping so we watched from a distance and then continued on our way.

Today we noticed and used some of the new plants coming up in the area, we found 4 of the stages dandelions go through and used them and other plants to make our butterflies.

We also tried hammering the plants onto fabric and hope to do more of that next class.

When it was raining we had snack under the tarp and spent time exploring. Collecting and noticing the new plants and flowers along the way.

To finish off the class we played a bunch of rolling games with the pylons and carried things on spoons.

Connection Questions:

Which type of ball did you enjoy carrying on your spoon?

Was it easy to roll the balls through the pylons?

What did you think of the porcupine, did you like him right away, was he a little scary at first ?