Spring Schedule

Spring is finally here! It sure feel like it in Seattle today :) The lessons for the rest of March, April and May will all be centered around spring. I've got a few ideas going for summer. I'd love input, if anyone wants to share!

March 19th- Signs of spring
March 26th- Water/Rain
April 2nd- Nests/Eggs
April 9th- Mud and Soil
April 16th- on vacation
April 23rd- Flowers
April 30th- Tadpoles
May 7th- Insects/Pollination
May 14th- Bunnies/Rabbits
May 21st- Butterflies/metamorphosis
May 28th- Trees


Summer ideas:
Growing food
Otters
Ocean life
Rocks
Solid, Liquid, Gas
Meadows
Clouds
Sunshine
Leaf ID
Leaf art
Bats
Ants
Frogs
Ponds
Wetlands
Sand
Ladybugs

Pictures from yesterday's hike

Lesson Plan- Signs of spring

Nature School, March 19th, 2012
Signs of Spring

Spring will be here in two days! How can we tell that spring has arrived? What happens to our world in the spring? (days get longer, days get warmer, spring rain, tulips, daffodils, Easter, etc.)

Spring words: Here are some words that remind me of spring. Talk about the words with the kids. What do they think each word means and how it relates to spring.
Bud
Blossom
Flower
Stream
Melt
Green
Sunshine
Warm
Easter
Smell
Nest
Birds
Insects

Role Play: Find a place near a tree or bush.
Let’s pretend to be little seeds. We dropped from this tree last fall. We fell down to the ground and got covered up by leaves and dirt. We lay in the ground all winter long, feeling very cold and small. It was dark! The rain fell, the wind blew, the snow piled on top of us. Now the snow has melted. The rain falls, seeps through the soil, and we get wet! We are swelling up! Our tough seed coat that protected us all winter is getting soft. We burst through our seed coat!! Now our roots are uncurling deep into the soil. Then our stems begin to grow up, up, up, toward the soil’s surface. This is hard work! We have to push through the crusty, frozen surface of the soil. Finally! We break through and see the sun and feel the air. We begin to grow toward the sun. Our stem reaches upward higher and higher. Using the sun’s energy, we make food for ourselves which help us grow more. Our stem grows strong, our branches grow outward, our leaves begin to unfurl! We are now grown up plants with strong roots, stems, branches and big leaves!!

Hike: Let's take a hike around the wetland and look for our very own signs that spring is here. Give each child a laminated "signs of spring" worksheet and a dry erase pen.  

Signs of Spring

bud	blossom	nest
bird	water	frog eggs
pussy willow	thimbleberry	indian plum

Link to "signs of spring" scavenger hunt worksheet

Rachel Carson quote

"A child's world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood.

"If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchant-ments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength.

"If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder without any such gift from the fairies, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.

- Rachel Carson

Lesson Plan- St. Patrick's Day

Nature School, March 12th, 2012
St. Patrick’s Day

Supplies: Popsicle sticks, markers, cotton balls, glue, Popsicle stick puzzles (rainbow, leprechaun, and pot of gold), treasure with coins, clues hidden in the forest, 5 paper shamrocks.

Welcome to nature school today!! We are going to have so much fun!

Let’s sing our welcome song to everyone-

Our letter of the day is “S” for St. Patrick’s Day, which is this week.

Game:
Let’s play a game called “Hiding the Shamrock”. I’m going to call on a child to be it. He or she will hide the shamrock while the rest of us close our eyes. When the child is done, I’ll say “shamrock” and everyone tries to find it. If you find it, you get to be the next to hide it and so on.

Hike:
Leprechaun treasure hunt:
Today I have a very special adventure for you. First, I have to tell you a little bit about leprechauns. Does anyone know what a leprechaun is? Leprechauns are little Irish fairies that look like little old men. They wear a red or green coat and they enjoy being a little bit mischievous. Leprechauns spend all their time busily making shoes, and store away all their coins in a hidden pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. If ever captured by a human, the leprechaun has the magical power to grant three wishes and they will tell you where their treasure of gold is, in exchange for their release.

Well, I was lucky enough to catch a leprechaun and talk to him. He told me that his treasure was hidden here in this forest! He gave me some clues. So we are going to work together to find his treasure today! We will all share the treasure once we find it. It won’t be easy. We will have to search deep in the forest to find it. Are you ready?

Clue #1:
Cross a bridge
Over the creek
On the other side
A clue you will seek

Clue #2
Use your legs
To climb up the hill
You’ll have to work hard
To find a clue still

Clue #3
Left or right
Which way to go?
Head uphill
where the tall trees grow


Clue #4
Here is a place
where the path splits in two
Look for my footprint
of a leprechaun shoe

Clue #5
You are getting closer
You are almost there
If you go downhill
You’ll not find it anywhere

Clue #6
Look near a tree
Around at the ground
Near the base of its trunk
My treasure will be found


Song:
FIVE LITTLE SHAMROCKS
Place 5 paper shamrocks on the felt board or on the floor.

5 little shamrocks growing outside my door,
(child's name) picked one, and then there were 4.
4 little shamrocks, green as green could be,
(child's name) picked one, and then there were 3.
3 little shamrocks, sitting by my shoe,
(child's name) picked one, and then there were 2.
2 little shamrocks, enjoying the sun,
(child's name) picked one and that left 1.
1 little shamrock for Saint Patrick's Day fun,
(child's name) picked it, and that left none.
(Author unknown)

Group activity/problem solving
Popsicle Stick Puzzles:
Make up three of four Popsicle stick puzzles ahead of time. I made one with a leprechaun, a pot of gold, and a rainbow. Ask the children to split into groups of three or four and solve the puzzles as they work as a team. Then have the groups swap puzzles, until the children have has the chance to do every puzzle.

Game:
Who’s Sitting on  Gold…
A gold coin- chocolate foil covered, plastic, or a quarter wrapped in foil. Have the children sit on the ground in a circle or line. One child is designated as the leprechaun. Ask him/her to sit with back facing the children and gold coin sitting on the ground behind him/her.  Signal for one child to run and pick up the gold coin and sit on it. Then have the children say:
“Leprechaun, leprechaun where is your gold.
Someone stole it from your home”
The leprechaun has three guess to reveal the child.  The child who stole the gold than becomes the leprechaun.

Craft:
Popsicle stick rainbows. Give each child a popsicle stick and markers. Let them color a rainbow on it, you can tell the the color order or just let them be creative. I made an example ahead of time but I’ll encourage them to color theirs whatever way they would like. At the end of each popsicle stick, glue on two cotton balls.

Issaquah Fish Hatchery

On Monday, we took a tour of the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery- http://www.issaquahfish.org/. It was fantastic! I learned a ton and I can tell my boys did too because they've been asking me questions about fish ever since we went. Our tour guides were great and very patient with our active troop of kiddos. It was pouring for the first 15 min. of our tour so our guides talked to us a bit inside of an aquarium area and had us watch a little video on salmon spawning and life migration. After that, we walked around the hatchery and learned about the various areas and functions of the hatchery. As a side note- March is not the time to go to the hatchery if you want to see actual salmon swimming through the ladder and up Issaquah Creek. It's best to go in the fall :)

I found a few pictures on the internet of the hatchery. I did not take these photos:

On vacation- ideas for hiking with kids

We've just returned from a week in Oregon hanging out on the coast and visiting my parents. A change of pace is always good for me and my kids.

We certainly did our own "nature school" while on the coast. Took a couple of hikes into the woods to searching for elk tracks. Chased some waves and collected rocks and shells on the beach.

My best trick for keeping my kids happy while hiking is to tell them stories and engage them in pretend play. I told them stories about elves and fairies caught in a rainstorm, we pretended to be knights and a fair maiden while we galloped through the forest on our horses (sticks), and my husband pretended to be a grumpy gnome and chased us out of his territory. It always keeps the kids moving, happy, and having fun.

I'm currently reading two books about children and nature:
The first is called Sharing Nature with Children:
http://www.amazon.com/Sharing-Nature-Children-20th-Anniversary/dp/1883220734
and the second is called The Green Hour:
http://www.amazon.com/Green-Hour-Happier-Healthier-Smarter/dp/1590307569

Mushroom lesson

About a month ago, we had a local mushroom expert come and teach us about fungi! He taught us how to put together our very own mushroom kits. It takes a few weeks for the mushrooms to flower, so we are all, now, enjoying our very own, homegrown oyster mushrooms :)

Here are a few picture from our mushroom lesson: