Our second Forest School day at Cliveden. This time we allowed the kids to explore a much larger area. After discussing and practicing our gathering call in case of emergency or for anytime we needed them to gather we let them free! The olders in the group from last year sharing their favorite spots, and the youngers exploring everything for the first time. Many of the children were interested in identifying some of the leaf, acorn and walnut treasures we kept finding on the ground. Using some tree identification books we put names to trees we admired. One of the most special experiences of the day was seeing the children sit quietly in their chosen "sit spots" for an entire moment of silence. Never underestimate what 4, 5 and 6 year olds can do! They did an amazing job! Afterwards, Lana came up to me and said: "sit spots are a lot like meditation like when we do yoga at school." Many of the children nodding in agreement and showing connection signs. As a teacher, I love seeing them make these connections! Just like last week, the kids were super excited to share their silent experiences in our circle before settling in for lunch. As always Forest School continues to humble me to see how much learning and joy happens when you let go and let them explore and experience things on their own terms.

After spending several days looking into the lives of ants back at school we found an ant home
nestled between the bricks as soon as we arrived at Cliveden.

 Last week a large branch from this tree was being cut down and milled into lumber.
Joan even managed to snag a thin slice thats really beautiful.

It was really fun to discover a gigantic saw dust mound. Using our fingers and feet to dig about and smell
that amazing sent of freshly cut tree.

Boots worked out well for this exploration in the saw dust!

You can see where the branch once was before trimming it.
Many of the trees on the property are over 100 years old.

Nahiem and Izzy check out the remaining log chunks.
You can see the scale of this tree compared to the children's size.

On our way to "base camp" this is what we call where we lay the tarps down and put our lunches.

This low lying tree was fun to run under.

Peyton and Ericka.

Anya, Ericka and Rafiq help spread out the tarp together.

Dontrelle and Koen walk with special guest Misha, Izzy's little brother.

Lana drawing in a sketch book and looking at some nature color swatches
Joan brought from art class.

Joan and Anya identifying a Magnolia leaf with one of the books we always bring.

Nahiem takes a close look to help identify this tree in our book.

We discover that the "bean tree" is actually called the Northern Catalpa tree!

close up of the Catalpa tree leaves and beans.

Evidence of a Black Walnut tree.

Izzy finds a leaf and we identify it as a Norway Maple.

We brought a can to play as a drum, Joan uses it to call the children over to sing a song.

Chana and Misha take off on their bike, it was so nice of them to visit us!

Dontrelle drums and sings his favorite thing about Forest School.

James takes a turn while everyone listens.

Anya and Lana listen to the beat.

Peyton takes a turn at singing his favorite part of forest school.

Ericka sings and drums!

Nyasiah sings while Nahiem and Joan listen and smile.

Before lunch we each find "a sit spot" under a tree where we sit for one minute of silence.
Using our sense of sight, smell, touch and hearing to take in our natural surroundings and be peaceful. 

sit spots, the kids did an amazing job.

Could this be a Buckeye?

Izzy, Ericka and Lana create a castle in the saw dust.

Rafiq helps Nyasiah get a stone out of her boot.

Gil in the saw dust.

Our closing circle where we take turns sharing about our observations and discoveries. 

Nyasiah, Izzy and Gil listen quietly.

Peyton and his Dad Rafiq listen together.

James shares while Nahiem listens.

closing circle:)

Anya takes her turn.

Koen and Dontrelle wait patiently.

Dorian and Ericka in the circle.

Before we go, Dontrelle puts on his tail.

Ericka finds the letter "F" in a stick, we decide to take it back to the classroom to start a collection
of "letter" sticks to create the whole alphabet. 

Dontrelle finds a lower case "r" and "l."

Anya finds a "Y"

Walking back to school we see Genean, Nyasiah's mom.

Ants have found this lollipop!

We take a good look at the lollipop feast.

Anya and Nahiem hold hands before getting ready to cross the street to go back to school.