Shoreview Park

It was bound to happen this year at some point, a day that we did not all come fully geared up for an unexpected shower. On our trip to Shoreview Park/Boeing Creek today some of us (mostly Teacher Erin quite honestly) were quite surprised by the rain (really it wasn't supposed to after all!). We had an adventurous time anyhow, trekking through new trails,

hanging out in the big trees,

wearing sticky weed crowns,

  

tasting salmon berries by the lake

and of course throwing rocks into the water and watching the ripples.

It's always fun to play and learn in a new space, even if you come out a little soggy at the end of it all (says Teacher Erin speaking for her own silly self... ;)).

Flowers Week ~ Friday

Well the theme of not following the theme this week worked out perfectly! We had a great class, but it was more of an insect hunting class than a flower searching class.

We certainly found a lot of little creatures under that one and half a dozen others!

The kids also had fun at this rock pile, sorting, constructing, generally doing well working together.

And there was some great log balancing going on today.

We had a chat about the lifecycle of beetles when we found these larve.

Then we saw more babies in the woods, of the squirrel variety.

We all love froggy holler, no matter what we are learning about!

Flowers Week ~ Tuesday (With a FH Explanitory Aside)

Every week at Froggy Holler is a learning experience for Teacher Erin as well. Since nearly every week this year has been on a new topic, it's been interesting to see which fly and which flop. This week focusing on flowers and seeds didn't so much flop as just didn't give us quite enough to focus on in the woods, seeing as not that many flowers bloom under the forest canopy! There are certainly the salmon berry flowers, the oregon grape, the salal just coming out, some dandelions, those tiny field daisies, and other sweet little ones I'm learning to identify.

Then there is always following the students' genuine  interests that comes into play as well. Like allowing the whole class to work together to fight back again the big bad wolf who was clearly the distructor of one of the big forts we loved in the woods.

I'm writing all this now coming from attending 2 educational nature walks this past weekend. At those sessions I learned so much I can reteach to my own students, and boy am I excited to. At those sessions though there was an expectation that the leader teach, and the kids and parents listen and learn. At FH the expectations are different, I expect to instruct but also to listen, to watch, let play and learning happen naturally. This is a parks program after all, I want the students to love these woods, care about having spaces like this in our community, get messy in nature, be imaginative, play together and have fun outside. You likely know all this, but maybe not, and maybe I've just helped clarify the program to anyone out there who might want to know!

A was into creating zig zags in the dirt today, good writing skill I say!

I. helping her pal balance on a log

Log balancing is both a physical skill and confidence booster! Mr. A here is 3.5 and he's becoming a rock star at it!

So, anyhooo, we did read about flowers this week, even attempted to go on a "lion hunt" for dandelions, though again woods does not = grassy area those little beasts love now does it? So, I guess that's how we ended up on a wolf hunt instead.

Later this student even took off on her horse!

Oh and a highlight of class today was coming upon this tiny baby salamander:

Oh it was so sweet, much cuter than flowers!

Richmond Beach ~ Friday

 

 We really lucked out this week, getting a low tide beach day one of the warmest day of the year so far! The kids and I enjoyed a bit of peaceful time on the beach before a pretty healthy crowd of fellow beach/sun seekers joined us. 

The low tide was later today than Tuesday so the beach experience was completely new and different for Teacher Erin and Q. The kids had a great time building with sand, and were so interested in searching for small crab under rocks. 

We'd find tiny little ones, bigger ones, all variety of colors, and they were all as exciting as the last one. 

We learned to be gentle with them, making sure to place them back in their homes and put their "roof" back on top where it had been. 

This rock crab molt gave us lots to chat about

There was also much discussion of gender since Q insisted on identifying each one. Later while snacking we read together and again enjoyed the day to it's fullest!

Richmond Beach ~ Tuesday

We couldn't have lucked out more with the weather this week, not only do we get to be at the beach during low tide, but also in the sun! Who would have even guessed it?! The kids had a fabulous time of course and we found all sorts of interesting plant and animal life, had fun in the sand, and enjoyed every moment in the sun! Here is the story of our day in photos:

And they're off!

 What could be the more perfect snack for the beach than dried seaweed?!

 Letters are everywhere, AY identified this C excitedly!

 Miss I. was very engaged in beach drawing and storytelling with a. today!

 A crab molt (with our busy fishing friend Heron in the background):

 Using gentle wet fingers to touch many an aneome:

 A fun find of a sunflower star, it was hidden in the eel grass:

 Lounging in the low tide petting an anemone:

 One of many little friends (a hermit crab here) that we found, studied and then put right back:

 You never know what you might find at the beach, maybe even a ladybug:

 And perhaps you might be particularly thrilled at the end of the morning to play paint the driftwood with water bottle water as these kiddos all were!

 

Or make sand angels:

 

Oh what a joy it was!

Butterfly Week ~ Friday

We had a lovely day at FH today, full of sun, butterfly learning and playing, and exploring in "blackberry meadow". It was pretty cute the way the kids acted out the life cycle of butterflies all on their own:

I. thought these guys were pretty funny:

 Then he tapped them awake:

She went into her chrysalis:

 

Then slowly came out as a butterfly:

oops missed the bit where she spread her wings

 I learned my lesson on Tuesday and opted for doing the butterfly art at the beginning of class so they could hang and dry while we were out playing. They did a lovely job on their squirt and fold symmetrical paintings, and the resulting butterflies were nice to see strung up on the line fluttering about. 

We flew off while they were drying to explore blackberry meadow, where I imagined butterflies might like to be on a sunny day. There we made ourselves at home among the scotch broom, settling down on our mat for a snack and story.

I. working on some grass knot tying

Considering scotch broom's mighty invasive nature, I have no problem with the kids breaking and playing with it, so they did. Although I'm sure no one would be able to tell given we were inside of the huge patch of it at the meadow, and they were mostly breaking already dead plants. Should the park ever decide to get rid of these beasts, they might consider asking a class or two of kiddos to help, they love attempting to hack away at things! This spot also allowed for some fun running around since there was a little trail one could take behind the scotch broom and meet back up in the meadow, the kids had fun doing that over and over. It was a lovely day at FH today!