Tuesday, November 29, 2011

The TOP kids have learned so much!

They have learned that we must take care of living things.
That any job is easier with friends to help.
And  that a job can be fun if friends help out.
 These are tenets that will take them through the rest of their lives....

While hiking today the blue group decided  to stop and dig in an old stump.  They told me they were searching for treasure and dinosaur bones!  We also found a brown and black fuzzy caterpillar while we were looking at a drainage pipe.  We couldn't tell if the caterpillar was very scared of if he was dead, so we put him in our bug box for further observation. 

The yellow group was intent on visiting their some of their favorite places for one of the last classes of the fall session.  So they climbed their favorite tree.  Added sticks to their "firepit" and on the way back spent some time philosophising over why there was a tree in the middle of the stream.  Ideas:  It fell from the sky.  It was always there.  It wanted to be there.  When I suggested that the stream may have moved and was not always near the tree they thought long and hard about why it would do that.  Jakey said, "Because the rain falls and it goes on the rocks and moves around the tree."  Exactly!  The heavy rains made the stream grow right up to the tree!  I loved it that you could see that they were all concentrating and thinking hard about the "why" of the question.

Jen and I have been so blessed to be with your children this fall.  Their laughter, enthusiasm, excitment for nature and willingness to be out in all weather is so fulfilling as teachers!
We'll see you at 1215pm on Thursday for our little show.  I hope you have had time to sign up for the next session!




2 comments:

  1. Love your site! Funny enough, I moved from the Northwest to California! Love both places, but certainly for different reasons.

    Thanks for joining the great cause of exploring the outdoors!
    -Kristin

    http://exploringtheoutdoorclassroom.blogspot.com

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  2. Love the article, you must be so proud of your future environmental stewards. And you are right these tacit lessons will hopefully form cornerstones of their future lives, it's the ultimate pay it forwards. You must be exceptionally happy about what you've facilitated.

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