Leafy Learning K

 We started off our "Leafy Week" at Hamlin on Tuesday where the kids had lots of fun helping me gather all sorts of leaves. We started off in a direction we rarely travel, over by the high school, there they are working on a new trail and this group always enjoys a good viewing of construction action:

As we were reading our books nearby the work, a big dump truck went right on by = action!

Then we went back to the spot Mr. A said he knew there were lots of leaves, right by the west parking lot, indeed there were! I sure wish I had some video footage of the kids leaf collecting as gentle winds blew the leaves right out of the trees. We got to make a wish when we'd catch a maple "helicopter"! It was one of those little moments I felt lucky to be able to be able to play along with the kids, and watch their eyes light up as they caught the leaves and helicopters in flight. 

Then went went on up to the big fort and played while I made another set of crowns, 

somehow I only got good pics of these two, though A and K had theirs on too for a bit

It was a fun kick off leafy learning day.

On Thursday, we went to Boeing Creek and the kids had a great time! They took off down the trails, 

 

finding fungi and this little millipede along the way,

 

They raced down to the creek,

 

had a ton of fun crossing back and forth it, and throwing boat leaves and rocks in it,

At the lake they had fun on the banks, 

  

Q did some journalling,

and the whole group played chase together around these bushes:

 

Then we headed on up the hill to Shoreview Park where they got to play at that playground together. They had such excellent cooperative skills today, it was hard to interrupt their play at all, and so I didn't much, and I'm sure they loved this, and learned a lot from this free play. What fun there is to be had a Boeing Creek, we love this park!

Leafy Learning at Boeing Creek, Thurs. Pre

It was another perfect day to be at Boeing Creek on Thursday! We got to enjoy the absolute beauty of fall in this scenic spot together. We set off together, exploring at the creek along the way (though it was all hands on deck to keep little L out of the water, so not too many pics...;)). Then we make it to Hidden Lake where we watched the ducks,

made little sand castles,

and brought Teacher Erin leaves for our leaf crowns,

The way little 2 year old L says "teacher" would melt your heart!

Then we warmed up our chilly fingers while adorning crowns,

Oh Mr. H was adorning his new (he was a Birthday boy yesterday!) parrot costume:

They were all pretty adorable in their fall crowns:

Then the boys and I ran back up the hill together. L and her Mama followed at their pace. 

Actually I should say I was chased back up the hill, seeing as I was "bigfoot" after all and the boys were trying to catch me!

We had to make a quick stop to chat with this mycologist who showed us her "shaggy parasol" find:

Then, we ran on to meet up with the Moms, running thgouh Fall beauty on the way:

It was a Happy Leaf Day indeed!

Leafy Learning at Boeing Creek, Tues Pre

We were the "princesses and fairies" of the park today on our field trip to Boeing Creek with just the girls in attendance! We had a wonderful time together and took our leafy walk all the way to and from Hidden Lake. On the way we stopped to read, snack, and learn a bit about deciduous trees in our area.

Then we headed on down to the creek, 

the girls had a wonderful time at the passing,and at the little waterfalls, throwing leaves and rocks in, and playing in the sand

I appreciate that since fungi week the students have been quite observant of fungi along the trail, as I. was on our way to Hidden Lake:

Once at the little lake the girls were hamming it up for me:

 

We saw a kingfisher, bufflehead ducks, and mallards of course on the lake.
I made them crowns with our leaf collection we had made along the way, and they wrote in their journals and played lakeside:

They certainly looked like princesses and fairies to me!

 

Then we had to hightail it back up the hill to meet back up with our families! Time goes by too fast when you're having fun in a new place! The girls gave Grandpa Fir a hug for strength and wisdom on their way up the hill:

 

We look forward to coming back here to the Creek later this school year!

A Fungus Among Us, Thurs Pre

Whether we are looking for fungus among us or interesting nature art created at the park, we do tend to find it at FH!

 

And also twigs and such in the shape of letters:

 L's Mom joined us today and we enjoyed her company! 

We spent a good chunk of time at Boat Fort today and read, snacked, journalled, and played all around it. Then set off again for more fungus hunting!

Fun with Fungi, Tues Pre

 We started off the session after our mushroom reading diving right into "going on a mushroom hunt":

 Looking into this stump started a whole slew of thoughts on potential topics for FH that we kept returning to the whole morning. This list by the end included: "stump day", "bark day", "rotting log day", "dirt day", "cooking in the woods day", "slug day", "snail day", and oh I'm sure they could go on and on! They had SO many creative ideas, and we will indeed be doing some of these days for sure! Then, we looked really closely and it turned out this stump had some tiny orange fungus on it, thanks kids for helping me see it!

 We took our fairies into the woods and they helped us find fungi:

 "They are not all "conks" one of them is a "tonkalongkus"." ~ Mr. H our imagination expert!

 Upon really searching we did in fact find a number of different fungi, even though there hadn't been much rain recently:

 We practiced writing "M" for mushroom, and "F" for fungi in the dirt.

 We even observed a downy woodpecker today, which was fortuitous given I'd just been given a new bird id guide written by a student's grandfather. What a treat, thank you Mr. Morse! If you don't have it Birds of the Puget Sound Region is an excellent resource!

There was mush room for fun in today's play in the woods, thanks kids!

Feathered Friends, K

We flew into action for feathered friends week K style with our bird masks on!

 

 even with freshly glued birds masks on...

We perched on big logs for snacks and stories...

pointed out evidence of birds in trees

and had a hillarious game of "Angry Birds" FH style:

 That was one of those moments I wish someone had a hidden camera on us. The kids would "slingshot" themselves at me from that forked tree (behind I's head in the above pic) and when they'd reach  me I'd explode. It was really fun!

Then, on our way back to the shelter we helped the birds of Hamlin by collecting some of the motherload of "power beads" near the trail entrance. Now our feathered friends won't eat them!

 On Thursday we started off this sunny FH day by crafting these bird puppets. They ended up being pretty involved, so we were flapping with energy by the time we were done!

 It turned out there were lots of other kids in the woods that day that FH kids knew so a few joined us in our construction play.

 These bird watchers perched on a "ship" today:

 This one was a drumming bird watcher:

 These ones were operating the controls:

 This one was showing me his "dinosaur claw":

Sometimes bird watchers have to take a break from ornithological pursuits you know...