Spark conversation with your child:
- what is a river bed, river bank, and mouth of a river?
- most minnows eat water based food (plants, water insects), but not redside dace! what do they eat? (flying insects)
- what things to redside dace need in their habitat (where they live)? (plants/shade, cool clear water, deep pools of water)
- what do redside dace look like?
- we have three main rivers in Toronto that have smaller creeks and streams that feed into them, let's review the names of the rivers! (Humber River, Don River, Rouge River)
We learned that there are a few things we can do to help the Redside Dace:
1. pick up garbage / keep yours off the ground
2. plant plants (especially near water!)
3. teach others about the situation...
Keep your eye out for an informative public art installment around Wilkinson to help others know all about our friend, the Redside Dace.
Some questions to ask your child:
- what were some of the signs of spring you saw?
- did you Learning Garden tea smell good?
- how did you experience the magnolia tree? (smell it, touch the fuzzy buds, pick up fallen flowers, etc.)
Some questions to spark conversation with your child:
- what is makakoon? (birch bark baskets)
- what gifts does wiigwaasi-mitig (birch tree) give? (canoes, wiigiwaam (home) roof, baskets, fire starter, sap)
- how does Nanaboozho change the ininaatig (sugar maple tree) gift? (adds water to the syrup in the tree to turn it into sap)
- where are there sugar maples growing at Wilkinson? (Kindergarten yard)
Some questions to ask your child:
- were you able to find your hidden squirrel food (popsicle sticks)?
- what was the name of Raja's squirrel puppet?
Here are some questions you can ask your child:
- what animals found their way into Nicki's new mitten?
- what do you like about winter?
Here are some questions you can ask your child:
- what do you like to use the milk crates for?
- do you like using the rolling spindles? (large, circular wooden spools)
Here are some questions you can ask your child:
- what are some things robins eat?
-why does a pill bug curl up?
- if you planted something in the Learning Garden - what would it be?
We enjoyed this book over the course of several Outdoor Education classes. The story encouraged us to explore the Learning Garden and led to an appreciation of all the natural wonders there! Each page led our imaginations and sense of exploration into gear!
Here are some fun highlights, we...
- choose which plant we would plant and where, then we watered it, and grew our bodies like it
- were snow that melted when the sun (Ms. Kathleen) started shining in the spring
- share what we think lives in the dirt here with our partners then spotted some in the book
- were chickens among the broken stalks of the sunchoke plants to spread de-com-posing plants
- were pill bugs, all roly-poly after a gentle poke
- were tunneling worms; spiders walking on puddles; and wet dogs shaking water after being 'soaked' by Ms. Kathleen
- went in search of leaves with signs of animal activity (e.g. chew marks, leaf galls, eggs) and found some!
- were flying robins searching for our next meal
- moved together like bats (never touching as we moved in many directions in a small space); flew like mosquitos then were eaten by a praying mantis; and slithered like snakes
- were spiders that made a web (out of classmates!) to catch a moth (another classmate!)
We had so much fun exploring our Learning Garden space together through this book!
Here are some questions you can ask your child:
- what was a fun part of playing at the balance beams?
- what leaf colours do you enjoy the most?
Here are some questions you can ask your child:
- what animals are examples of upper air creatures, on land creatures, and below land creatures like we read about in the story?
- did you try the cedar tea? did you like it?
- how do you feel when you hear the Cedar Song?
- do you like the smell of cedar and sage?
We learned about another plant called bergamot!
We had a great time spreading mullien seeds, seeing how golden rod changes into seeds, smelling bergamot (it's an anti-septic), listening and spreading evening primrose seeds, and checking out a snail a classmate found!
Here are some questions you can ask your child:
- what did the different seeds look and feel like?
- did you like the smell of the bergamot?
We learned more interesting things about medicinal uses, food offerings, and Indigenous use of more plants including: golden rod; aster; milkweed.
We found the 'friends' (golden rod and aster) growing together and enjoyed watching the insect activity that surrounded them. We know more about milkweed and can identify it by the way it's veins are organized (one centre vein and then a series of 'u' shaped veins from there) - we even got to help spread some of the milkweed seeds!
Here are some questions you can ask your child:
- did you see any bees working among the golden rod and asters?
- what colours to bees really like?
- what butterfly eats milkweed?
- why are their wings orange?
- how do the seeds spread?
After the hunt, we learned neat things about a few plants including their medicinal uses, food offerings, and Indigenous uses. This week, we learned about: highbush cranberry; mullein; chicory.
Here are some questions you can ask your child:
- where are the cranberry bushes?
- where is the fuzzy plant that is good for a sunburn? - is there really a plant that can make coffee without caffeine?