Chomp, Chomp, Collect and Chomp!

Deer with her chipmunk cheeks!

Another beautiful day as the Turtles arrived at Harrington Hall!  It still feels like summer!  Good news for all the forest animals, busy collecting, storing and eating as much food as they can before the fall weather starts!

Learning More About Our Friends!

It was wonderful to see the Turtles becoming more comfortable and joining activities with a variety of new friends. Did you learn something new about one of the Turtles today?  What was their favourite activity? During our nature necklace ceremony we all had a chance to share our nature name and why we chose that particular animal or plant.  Do you remember why Blue Spruce and Leopard Frog chose their names and why Deer changed his name to Bald Eagle? We introduced our nature names to Grey Squirrel (the librarian) and she was so good at remembering our new names. She read us a story about bugs. Can you retell the story in your own words to your family?

Looking for adventure on Yellow Gate!

You Are What You Eat!

After our morning circle and affirmation it was snack time!  What was your favourite food you had in your lunch bag?  Did you enjoy the trail mix that you created during our morning menu?  After enjoying a few bites of our snack and our GORP (Good Old Raisins and Peanuts), we ventured out to Mystery Forest to put out some trail mix for the animals.  Do you think our snacks we left out for the forest animals will be gone next week?  Maybe the animals will also enjoy the nature plates we left using food from the forest.  What did you do to help you remember where you left some food?  Hope you can retrace your steps next week.  

Did you notice that we like some of the same foods animals do?  Peanuts, raisins, cashews, seeds and almonds.  Dragonfly displayed all of the yummy items in jars and we learned which foods are the most nutrient-dense with the most calories.  Which food had the most nutrients and which had the least?  We made sure we kept the chocolate just for us humans.  Yum!

Today we learned that animals don’t always eat the same way as we do.  Do you walk on your food like a butterfly, stick your tongue out to smell your food like a snake, stuff your mouth full like a chipmunk or hide your food around the house like a chickadee?  What a mess that would be!

Can You Eat As Much As A Caterpillar?

Off we went after lunch to Butterfly Hill and Cedar Hideaway to explore, check out a new site and investigate the appetite of a caterpillar.  We sat on the top of the rocks where the new bridge will be built and could visualize getting across to the other side.  Exciting!  Were you even more excited to catch a glimpse of that frog in the stream and to revisit the water next week?  Who knows what we will find!

Maybe we will find some more caterpillars!  Our two groups, Nature Munchers and Caterpie, found lots of delicious healthy green and red leaves for our future caterpillar visitors.  Caterpie made such a tasty treat that one caterpillar already came to check it out!  Do you remember all the food the caterpillar ate in the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar?  He certainly got very big before turning into a butterfly.  Dragonfly confirmed with some interesting facts how much real caterpillars eat as they grow.  Do you remember how many calories?

Introducing…Nature Notebooks!

What was the first thing you wrote or drew in your brand new notebook?  Did you make a finger print caterpillar?  What colour did you choose?  What other things did you reflect on and share in your notebook?  Don’t worry if you ran out of time.  We will try to touch base with our notebooks every week and eventually take them with us on our adventures!  A great way to reflect and keep track of our learning on the trails, fields and forests with our friends!  

Talk to your family about your favourite activities and all the things you learned at Coyote Nature School this week! Do you think you can remember everyone’s new name next week?  Hope you are up for the challenge!