How high can you toss a friend, without harm, together with your community like the Innuit did to honour a successful hunter. Imagine challenges like this to celebrate neighbours who have helped someone out, or a leader in your town making good decisions so everyone succeeds. We learn that Innuit games are a show of cooperation and skill, just like our snow snake project. Did you need any help to get through tough spots, did you find sanding hurt your arms or hammering in the nose tricky. Challenges are good for us all and we love to celebrate when we accomplish something for the first time, just like First Nations people before us.
Poetry writing fills our brains with pictures and from this comes words that are musical. Talk about the challenge of creating your own poem from scratch. Would you like to read it for our showcase in St Marys? We sent home your rough copy to practice over the break. Maybe you’ll want to add a couple more poems in your journal to share with us in the spring.
Thanks to Robert (Ant Man) who came with some gritty sand paper and tools to help us finish our snow snakes. Did you see his walrus tusk or beaded skin mittens? We love having him visit to tell his stories and help us learn new skills. What skills would you like to learn this spring? We also met Vanessa (Painted Lady) who lives nearby and wanted to see what we are up to at nature school. People love to know that kids like you want to become friends with and protect the bugs, plants, forest animals and trees on the land.
What was the most surprising change you noticed when we hiked out to our winter shelter? We talked about how to be safe around fast-flowing water as the winter melt begins. Squirrel and Eagle made sure to keep a giant step away from the shore line as they tested how fast the water was flowing. On the way out, Chickadee also noticed that the frog ‘pond’ has started to form. Looks like we’ll be able to catch more than just crayfish before too long!
It was also lovely to get out to our lean-to shelter again. Do remember all the hard work you did to help drag boughs out to the site through the deep snow? We tested it to see if everyone would fit inside and we did! How did some of you use the shelter during wander time?
We followed Raccoon’s big footprints back to the barn and met around the picnic table in the arena for our winter celebration. Beaver made delicious mini cornbread loaves that the Haudenosaunee may have eaten at their celebration? Did you have a cup of creamy hot chocolate with real jersey milk melted bars in it. If you forgot your mug, maybe this will encourage you to remember it next time.
Chickadee, Raccoon, and Coyote worked hard to lay down a good snow track for us. Can you remember all the different ways they tried to pack it down? We also laid an 8 foot long measuring tape beside the track. How did your snow snake perform? Did it slide even farther than the tape? Congratulations to everyone for being such good sports and for having fun. An additional If you are looking for a whittling project over the summer, you might want to make more snakes so that your family can have their own competition next winter!
Congratulations goes to Deer whose snow snake travelled the farthest (almost 13 metres).
The end of winter makes me think about all the fun we had in the snow this season. Did you have some favourite things you loved doing this winter?
Imagine how high the creek will climb when all this snow melts. You may see the bridge has floated away when you return in April. It's only a blink of time by the earth's watch until we meet again. The snow drops and forget-me-not's will be peaking out to greet you!
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