During class next week we will be learning about Monarch Butterflies and launching a service-learning project. We will create Milkweed Monarch Butterfly Gardens in three locations around camp. Students will work at tilling soil, using recycled material to edge and planting milkweed in garden beds. As we learn about Monarch Butterflies this semester, we will create signs to display at the gardens with information about their lifecycles, habitats and their amazing migration. We will continue to spend a portion of our classes over the semester tending the gardens and nurturing the milkweed plants to create a space for Monarch Butterflies.

Feel free to add photos from today's class to our Google Photo Album. Thanks for sharing!

This week in Juniors, we spent our morning learning about wonderful trees and how they help us and so many other insects and critters! We spent some time getting to know a tree and making bark rubbings and other tree observations in our nature journals. After we planted some trees, we picked trees out to plant at home! Happy Earth Day everyone!

Please remember to bring your worm jars back. Next week we will be planting a Milkweed Garden for Monarch Butterflies!

Hello Parents!

We are so glad that your kiddos could join us for tree planting and wilderness bonding this week. Because of the cold weather, we made a quick change to the schedule and decided to plant trees this week (and move the monarch garden planting until next week). Your children did a great job contributing to the conversations about trees, the celebration of Earth Day, the all the steps for planting the sugar maples. I will admit, when we dug the holes, 80% of the students were enamored with the wiggly worms uncovered!

We had a longer sit spot today, and the students drew in their natural journals pictures of the trees they were sitting near. I remember last semester (for those who were here) the students LOVED the activity we did with discovering a tree. (The exercise where they were blindfolded and had to get to know their tree such that they could find it once the blindfold was off). It seems that trees can really 'speak to us' they are often much older than us and carry within them a knowledge of the land and seasons far deeper than we do. Personally, I feel very grounded when I am near trees - especially the large oaks!

For those who took a sugar maple home, I hope it is a joyful experience planting it. Keep it watered and why not consider giving it a name!?

Best,

Ms. Loo

Next Week: We plant our Monarch Butterfly Gardens!

Happy Earth Day! We celebrated today by focusing our attention and gratitude for the trees around us. Students are getting good at building fires at this point of the year, and they enjoyed roasting some of their snacks on the fire today, as well as some wild spring edibles! We spent time in the woods playing a Get-to-know-your-tree Game where students were blindfolded, getting to know their tree, and then later had to go find their tree. We then spent time in sit spot drawing the details of a single tree. We made Earth-Day Moss balls- living globes to decorate your home! Hang them in a window and spray with water every few days to keep them alive and growing in your home. :) We stayed warm by playing several games of eternal tag today as well. Students roasted wild leeks and onions over the fire and then we planted sugar maple trees during class! Ethan baked an Earth Day cake to share with students as well. Thanks Ethan!

Next Week: We plant monarch butterfly milkweed gardens!

Thanks parents and families for sending your kids to us each week! We are looking forward to an awesome Spring Semester at Forest School!